Cowboys lived for months at a time on a cattle drive and had to contend with all kinds of threats. Sometimes it was rustlers, attempting to steal the cattle. Other times it was Native Americans, unhappy that they were encroaching on their land. Wild animals posed a threat too, especially wolves, cougars and coyotes that often sought to kill the livestock. Here we see a group of cowboys in 1887 with a grey wolf they captured on the plains of Wyoming.

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Evocative vintage photos of America’s cowboys