The Running of the Wild Dog Packs

 I remember the running of the wild dog packs (as a child in the 50s) in the early Spring when the snow was still on the ground. We would hear them coming through the woods and my parents told us to stay close to the house. They said that there were packs of wild dogs (probably coyotes too along with any dog that happened to want to join in, I suppose, since there were no leash laws to speak of, back in the 50s) and that they were hungry and killing deer weakened by the winter.so that only the strongest and healthiest would have babies and that would ensure that there was enough food and shelter to keep the herds from dying out... I remember that happening in the early Spring when the snow was still on the ground. We would hear them coming through the woods and my parents told us to stay close to the house

But as progress moved in more and more, with wild dog packs becoming a thing of the past, leash laws keeping other dogs from joining in, and only the coyotes still around, mostly in small numbers for a long time, and with fewer people hunting, the herds grew and in the 1980s I remember many of them were scrawny and sick and began to die off (again) which is why they have the 'events' such as the culling at Vassar Farm these days... and we who live in the Hudson Valley know that the herds grow very fast around here, these days, even so, considering we find them in the streets and on the lawns in cities and towns, as even more of their natural space is diminishing

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https://www.americanheritage.com/.../return-white-tailed...