RedWolf_WolvesontheRefuge_Clapper_Russel_AnahuacTexas_20June1998_Reel1018.mp3

Russel Clapper [00:00:00] When I first moved here, it was March of '63.

Russel Clapper [00:00:05] Well, I was talking to a neighbor, Joe Legault. He said something about we've got some wolves in this country, and said, "I want you to come over and see one that the trappers just caught and scalped."

Russel Clapper [00:00:20] I went over and took a photograph. It was a big animal. Wasn't a coyote.

Russel Clapper [00:00:26] He said, "We think they call them red wolves", he said, "but they can be different colors."

Russel Clapper [00:00:34] So. I heard about it. And then a rancher, one of the ranching people, Jim Bob Jackson, lived down the road from here, and he mentioned that they, they had wolves on the Refuge. And he said, "They're not coyotes." He said, "They're wolves." And occasionally you'd see an animal.

Russel Clapper [00:00:57] Then they got interested in the fact that it might be endangered.

Russel Clapper [00:01:01] Now, the wolf was being controlled along with coyotes. And the trappers, if they caught a bigger animal, they would report it as a, as a wolf. And if it was definitely a coyote, they'd report it as a coyote.

Russel Clapper [00:01:17] But if you were up in Grayson County, like where I was at Hagerman Refuge, everybody up there always used the term, "wolves": "the wolves are bothering my calves." They never would talk about coyotes.

Russel Clapper [00:01:31] And there was a guy from the college there at Sherman, Texas, Howard McCarley, I believe, was his name. He did a study up there and everything that he could find and samples that he could get, they were all just coyotes. But that was just a term that they used all through East Texas, a wolf was a wolf, it wasn't a coyote.

Russel Clapper [00:01:54] And so the Predator and Rodent Control trappers, if they were knowledgeable, and they got an animal that they recognized as different from a coyote, they'd report it as a wolf and otherwise report it as a coyote. And so all these records were accumulating in Washington.

Russel Clapper [00:02:11] And so, Joe LeGault was a county commissioner, and he encouraged trapping because they were also ranchers. And maybe somebody had a loss, but right across the street, well, another rancher said, "I never, I've lived here all my life, I've never had any trouble with the wolves. They're here, but they never bothered us."

Russel Clapper [00:02:32] And so you had these conflicting stories about it.

Russel Clapper [00:02:37] Well, commissioners promote things sometimes, and they like to get funds to please their neighbors. So there's always some countey money, balanced with federal money and state money, for predator control. And our predator control office was in San Antonio, the headquarters. And at that time, the boss was Milton Caroline.

Russel Clapper [00:02:59] Well, finally, somebody got some interest in these animals, and this trapper came down. I think his name was Boyd. He caught about 50 some animals in this area, and some of them were much bigger than others. In fact, he was so proud of some of the big ones he caught, he violated the rules and he hung them on a gate on the highway down here, next to the Bear Ranch, just to display what he caught.

Russel Clapper [00:03:30] So we started reporting in our narrative report that there were probably red wolves on the Refuge.