Another old photo, "Who's going to turn him loose"?

[rangerider7]

This photo was taken in Wyoming in 1887. I'm betting that gray wolf is just a little upset off!

[RIHMFIRE]

I'm sure those guys collected the bounty....
and spent it at one their favorite saloons

[Mike D.]

One of those "colorized" ones, eh? Hand tinting of photos was popular until "Kodacolor" film came out in the '30s.

[gundownunder]

I'm guessing someone would've given him a lead "sleeping" pill before anybody went near the ropes on his neck.
What I want to know is why in blazes did they rope him in the first place

[mescalero1]

gundownunder,
You would have to know and understand cowboys, they will try to rope anything...................once!

[Buffboy]

Quote: What I want to know is why in blazes did they rope him in the first place

Not many wolves around here, never were. Coyotes we got. Not all cowboys around here carry guns with them on a daily basis but you find darn few of them that don't have a rope. Most will dab a loop over about anything they can, like a challenge, work in coyote inhabited areas so it's not hard to do that math. I know one rancher that's killed coyotes off horseback with a fence post, a claw hammer, and a rope(the horse stopping broke it's neck, poor thing ).

[RKrodle]

My oldest brother (21 years older) was cowboying up in Colorado when he was just out of high school. He and a buddy came across a bear and decided to try and rope it. He said they were game but they couldn't get the horse anywhere close enough to toss a loop. When they got back to the ranch house the old timers explained to them that the horse's were much smarter then they were . The old hands said a bear will come right up the rope til it reaches you, then they are hard to let go of .

[rjohns94]

that picture is definately worth more than a 1000 words.

[1886]

That wolf did not live long enough to see another sun rise. More's the pity. 1886.

[cowboykell]

The only thing that stopped me from roping a lot of things I shouldn't have.....a smart horse.

[model55]

They may have caught it to fight something else.For sport-no peta then.

[airedaleman]

Another great picture. Please keep them coming!

[JerryB]

I reckon that Australian cowboys don't carry a catch rope. When My dad was in his teens him and and older brother worked on a ranch in northern Montana. They both told a lot of stories of all the critters that they roped along with the other cowboys.If they could get a cowpony close enough to throw a rope they did.

[Bogie35]

I think it's neat that, while the cowboys are posing for the camera, the horses are watching the wolf.
SMART HORSES!


bogie

[Bogie35]

The buckskin reminds me of the one sober guy in a group of drunken idiots; annoyed about having to deal with the bad choices of the others.

[Jaguarundi]

That Buckskin rider is think'n when is the "exposure gunna be done"on that camera.

[Blaine]

Dumb would be trying to tell any of them Boys what they should be ropin' or not

[Hillbilly]

I've had folks tell me that they roped coyotes and I though it was BS... I guess maybe there was somthing to it.

I have a hard time catching a heifer... but then my horse is slow and my rope is short...........

[JJ_Miller]

Ah......I think the jokes on us. This was made in 1887 I'm sure. But I think it was a post card sold to " tenderfeet " coming west who didn't know any better. Cameras in 1887 did not quick enough shutter speed to catch a wolf fighting a rope and not blur...after 132 years those cowboys are still getting a good laugh on us. I bet they are setting around a campfire in Cowboy Heaven laughing in their coffee...... .............................JJ

[OJ]

I've had folks tell me that they roped coyotes and I though it was BS... I guess maybe there was somthing to it.

I have a hard time catching a heifer... but then my horse is slow and my rope is short...........

I dunno - I spent the first 15 years of my life as a cowboy in the Sandhills of western Nebraska and worked rodeos every year (as well as regular ranch work) and was as good as my friends with a rope so my question is not "why" but "how". My biggest ambition then was to rope a coyote and - I never got it done - a large loop they could jump through and a small loop they could dodge. Maybe a wolf is easier to catch - the coyote has demonstrated better survival skills than the wolf and it's possible it took more than one or two riders to do it.

In retrospect, I showed all the forethought of any young cowboy - dunno what I'd have done if I had roped one - guess I'd have had to drag to death - or let it go and hoped to retrieve my rope.

[J35]

They didn't waste any lead on that critter, when they got threw showing off they tightened those ropes up.

In the early seventies I kept a horse for hunting 3 months of the year the other nine I leased it to the Anaconda Mining Corp.

They had three security guards that rode the claim's in the Santa Rita mtns S. of Tucson, two on duty 7 days a week.

These guards were cowboys thru and thru, in Rosemont Canyon on the East side they roped, headed and heeled a black bear and stretched it out till dead. They talked it up took a few pictures and soon the law was on them, they got off with a warning.

When I was growing up, if you couldn't heel a chicken, you weren't ready for the bigger stuff.
Have fun

[mescalero1]

J35nut,
Are those not copper mines?
You could not pack enough of that stuff to make it worth stealing, why the guards?

[kimwcook]

Heeling a chicken? Now that, would be a fine sight to see.

[J35]

J35nut,
Are those not copper mines?
You could not pack enough of that stuff to make it worth stealing, why the guards?

The Santa Rita's have a rich history of Gold and Silver, Turquoise ,

the MTNs are honey combed with old mines.

The big copper mines are across the valley.

[J35]

Heeling a chicken? Now that, would be a fine sight to see.

Done it and seen it hundred's of times, you don't use a regular rope, my gramps started me and my brothers with one strand of supple rawhide about twelve feet long when we were 8 years old

Have fun

[mescalero1]

Could not figure how to steal enough base material to make it worthwhile for copper, I made a slight miscalculation in geography.

[AmBraCol]

What I want to know is why in blazes did they rope him in the first place

Young men (young being optional) + horse + rope + witnesses = some pretty stupid ideas bearing fruit... It's pretty much universal - guy on horse with rope sees (fill in the blank) and dabs his rope over it. It kind of goes with the territory. My guess is that down under the drovers have roped everything from dingos to crocs to emus to camels to you name it at one time or another...

[Hillbilly]

hahaha... hey , "hold my beer and watch this" was a phrase invented by cowboys......