Four-Mile Gulch

“A pack of wolves has killed at least three calves since Thursday night in eastern Baker County… seven others were either injured or missing…” Baker City Herald

​The rancher parks his truck,

reaches for his rifle,

hears a mother cow bawl,

walks toward the bloody mess,

and kicks the gnawed remains

of a calf’s foreleg.

He guesses what happened--

six maybe eight gray wolves

stalked his herd of cow calf pairs,

retreated up  Sheep Mountain.

He imagines an alpha  wolf

watching from an outcrop, gloating.