This day would be fine for hunting
The mountain air cool and clear
The stars still shinning up in the sky
As First light began to appear

I saddled up old Buckshot
Had all my riggin in place
We headed up that mountain valley
At a slow and steady pace

I love the mornings in the high country
Hooves padding over moistened ground
I stop and listen to the evening silence
Giving way to daylights sound

The far off howling of a wolf pack
Piercing the morning air
Made the hair stand up on the back of my neck
It gave me a bit of a scare

The wolf sounds getting closer
They were ghosts among the trees
A wolf pack had worked its way around me
Buckshot snorted ill at ease

The big buckskin laid his ears back
As a black wolf appeared on our trail
Its hackles up with fangs and snarl
I felt myself turn pale

It’s unusual for that canine critter
To even show itself to a man
But this brazen lot was different
This wolf pack had a plan

I pulled the rifle from my scabbard
Took aim at the big blacks head
Squeezed the trigger and felt the kick
As the bullet knocked him dead

The pack tore at me from out of the trees
I felt sure my time was done
They should have scattered and run away
They should be frightened by my gun

But it wasn’t me that they had in sight
As Buckshot reared and tossed us back
The wolves attacked their dead leader’s carcass
They tore viciously into the black

Wheeling around I dug heels to flank
Spurring old Buckshot on
But the old mount needed no coaxing
That horse was already gone

A few miles down the valley
I took old Buckshot’s head
Pulling the reins in I slowed him down
Looking back at the woods we had fled

I could hear a symphony of wolf song
As the pack once again converged
It was clear to me what had just took place
A new leader had emerged

That incident as it happened
Is forever burned into my mind
Another reminder to me that life is tough
Don’t expect nature to be kind

That’s the way of the mountains
Nature is wild, random and free
Though the old wolf met its end that day
It could have just as easily been me

DB Marsh