Stockmen requested help from United States government wildlife managers and also hired private freelancers (known as “wolfers”) to kill wolves and other larger predators across the West. Hide hunting became a profitable occupation. In 1914, wolf bounties topped $1 million, which is equivalent to $18 million today. Wolves that evaded traps became known as “outlaws.” The Custer Wolf, one such outlaw, caused an estimated $25,000 worth of damage to cattle ranchers. An early newspaper article about his death reveals how relentlessly he was hunted and how deeply he was hated.

"The master criminal of the animal world, the Custer Wolf, has at last been killed. The death of the cruelest and most successful animal outlaw the range country has ever known was announced with a sigh of relief. For nine years the Custer Wolf struck terror in the heart of ranchers. The wolf possessed both the cruelness and the craftiness of Satan himself."