Since taking ownership of the ranch, Wes Johnson has used the last three decades to expand the property''s open pasture. "When I bought it, there were maybe three or four hundred acres of open pasture," Wes recalled. Over the years, he cleared an additional 1,100 acres, making today''s ranch more than four times the size it was when he purchased it. The area is still surrounded by dense wilderness. And while the open country is excellent ground for raising cattle, the surrounding wilderness is excellent habitat for wolves, which is why they have always been a problem. Wes''s first experience with the predators was in 1971 or ''72. "I encountered wolves when I was working for the guy from Arizona," Wes said. "Before they were added to the protected list, they killed a bunch of calves.

" Wes reported the predation to the local conservation officer, who gave Wes permission to protect his calves. Over the calving season of ''71 and ''72, he was forced to shoot six wolves. It would be another two years before wolves were protected under the Endangered Species Act. Wes would eventually become intimately familiar with the USDA-WS. "When I first bought the ranch in 1993, I had no trouble," Wes said. At the time, he had a neighbor out across Highway 53 who also ran cattle. The neighbor had problems with wolves. By 2000, the neighbor decided to quit the business, and possibly the wolves that had been harassing that ranch--who may have been habituated to calves as a food source--began hassling the Johnson ranch.

Nearly every year of the new millennia, wolves would come out of the surrounding wilderness and kill and eat, or carry away, calves. If there was anything left of a killed calf, any evidence of the predation, Wes would contact the USDA-WS, who would come and verify a kill. But sometimes there was no evidence at all. In the instances they found remains, a federally designated trapper would come out to set traps. And Wes would be reimbursed for the lost calf. The trappers were usually successful, and the problematic wolves were removed. But then the cycle would start anew. Wes has no clear idea how many wolves lost their lives after killing his calves.

But he suspects it was around 50. Part of that vigilance involved Savannah''s early-morning ride to check on her calves. The eastern horizon was barely a glimmer when Savannah walked out to the barn. Her favorite horse, Tessa, had been a gift from a family friend. That, and the horse herself--which Savannah described as a "once in a lifetime horse"--made the mare Savannah''s favorite. Technically Tessa was an American Quarter Horse. She was strong, with black legs, a long black tail and a dark-blonde-colored mane. The rest of her was a beautiful grulla, a light gray-brown that shaded darker and lighter as it spread over her well-contoured body.

Savannah and Tessa circled the ranch, cutting up and down hills, crossing old road ruts, checking out the Black Duck River, where cattle liked to bunch and drink. After nearly three hours, horse and rider were approaching one of the remote borders of their property. This area had a small trail or old road 50 yards from the tree edge. The edge of pasture was demarcated by a thick green wall of trees. Between the far wall and the road, there was a copse of popple trees. Between the popples and the trail on which Savannah and Tessa rode stood 40 yards of tall grass. As they rode, the still of the morning was broken by a plaintive call. "I heard a calf bleating," Savannah recalled.

"Not a good sound, so I kept riding and riding and riding." While she spurred Tessa forward, she listened for the plaintiff calf. Eventually, she could hear the animal in the tall grass, maybe 30 yards from the road on which they were riding. "I couldn''t see the wolf right away because the grass was so long." But she could see the light-brown back of the Red Angus calf, alone in the tall growth. The calf appeared to be standing still, with its head lowered and unmoving. It made another agitated cry. Savannah rode closer.

And then she saw it. A wolf was hidden in the tall grass on the back underside of the calf. Savannah guessed its jaws were fastened onto the bottom of the calf''s throat. Once Savannah saw the wolf, she spurred Tessa forward and began screaming. "Hey! Get out of here!" She had often witnessed the remnants of a wolf kill but had seldom encountered an attack in progress. This was one of her calves, and the sight of the predation enraged her. "Hey! You.! Get outta here!" Her voice boomed across the grass.