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Who's Afraid of
Virginia's Wolves? By Dan Gill,
Ethno-Gastronomist When
Europeans first came to this country, there was a healthy balance between predator
and prey populations. Other than man, the native wolf was the alpha predator
at the top of the food chain. There were no natural enemies of the wolf prior
to settlement by Europeans; populations were kept in check by the abundance
and condition of prey populations, such as deer, rabbits and rodents.
Predators kept prey populations healthy and in check by removing the slow,
weak and infirm; in turn, the health and abundance of prey regulated predator
populations. Native Americans respected the wolf: They had a semi-tame
relationship with some and used them on hunts for wild turkey and small game.
Europeans brought with them a deep-seated fear and
mistrust of the wolf, even an irrational hatred. In the ÒOld WorldÓ, wolves
had been hunted and persecuted for centuries. Think, for a moment, of all of
the old folk tales, nursery rhymes and superstitions that disparage the Big
Bad Wolf; from "the Boy who Cried Wolf" to the "Three Little
Pigs" to "Little Red Riding Hood"! It is no wonder that
Europeans considered the wolf as a threat to themselves and their livestock. Settlers
soon changed the natural balance as they introduced better prey: they brought
in hogs and cattle and turned them loose to forage on the abundant mast of
the forest: acorns, chestnuts and wild plants. They tried sheep, which are
even better prey. The result was wild population swings. First, the hogs
greatly increased in numbers followed by a dramatic increase in wolf numbers
in response to the increased availability of food (see the classic writings
of Malthus: a population will increase exponentially within the limits of its
food supply). It was reported that they (wolves) became so numerous that they
were "constantly heard at night in the vicinity of Jamestown as they
hunted like packs of yelping beagles in the neighboring woods; and it was
difficult for the planter, overtaken in the forest by darkness, and compelled
to go into camp until morning, to save his frightened horse from their
devouring jaws." Feral hogs became so scarce due to
predation, that in 1632, a law was passed prohibiting settlers from killing
"swyne" beyond the boundaries of their own property. If, however, a
wolf's head was brought in, settlers were entitled to kill a wild hog for
their own use. Thus began the bounty system that eventually spread throughout
the country (actually, the first bounty was established in the Massachusetts
colony in 1630). Every few years thereafter, the law was changed to encourage
the killing of wolves. Counties were initially required to pay 100 pounds of
tobacco, to be levied on the general population, for each wolfs head brought
in. Then, a few years later, counties could pay as much as they thought fit,
generally 200 pounds of tobacco per head. In 1668, York County disbursed 2200
pounds of tobacco for 11 heads. In 1675, Middlesex levied the population for
4 wolves heads and in 1681 for 5 heads.
Counties with many small farmers and poor
people protested that the general levy was burdensome on people not likely to
benefit, so the levy was based on the number of horses as a measure of
wealth. This solution was short lived because there were not many horses in
frontier counties, but plenty of wolves, so the levy was burdensome on just a
few planters. Next, Indians were recruited to help eradicate the wolf, but
since it was unlawful to sell firearms to natives, they had to resort to
traps. The wolf trap was a hole in the ground covered with thin sticks and
leaves with meat suspended over as bait. The wolf would jump for the meat and
fall through the cover and into the pit. In 1700, Henrico County authorized a
bounty of 200 pounds of tobacco per head if the wolf was shot but 300 pounds
if it was trapped. Wolf carcasses were of no particular value, shot or
trapped, except for the bounty. Only the head was brought in and the ears
were cropped so that it could not be reclaimed: So why, then, would a trapped
wolf be more valuable than a shot wolf except as an extra incentive for
Indians? These pit traps are the origin of place names such as Wolf Pit in
Henrico and Wolf Trap Farm, home of the Center for the Performing Arts, in
Northern Virginia. In
Chesapeake Bay country, the most familiar wolf trap is located over two miles
from shore, where no four-legged wolf has roamed since the end of the last
ice age, or about twelve thousand years ago. Off Mathews County, between the mouths
of the Rappahannock and York rivers, shoal waters extend far into the bay
ready to strand any unwary captain and destroy his ship. In 1691, the Wolfe,
a privately owned ship engaged by the British Admiralty to battle pirates and
privateers in the Chesapeake Bay, was ÒtrappedÓ on these shoals. The ensuing
misadventures of the Wolfe is another story entirely, was published in
Pleasant Living Summer Solstice issue in 2008 and is available online at http://pine3.info/Wolf%20Trap.htm
© Dan Gill - Published
in Pleasant Living March – April Õ10 Download Printer
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