The wolf problem featured in the short film, very much truncated from the original script, was inspired by the legendary wolf Old Three Toes who roamed western South Dakota killing hundreds of livestock in the 1910s-1920s.
The end of the film was shot in the Slim Buttes formation of Harding County, South Dakota. Now part of the Custer-Gallatin National Forest, the area is a long series of ponderosa pine topped 300-400 foot tall mesas about 2 hours north of the Black Hills. It was the site of the Battle of Slim Buttes between Lakota tribes and the US Army, which followed after the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The "Sheep Wagon" that Barry and Jane Morris abide in on their homestead is a genuine article, lended to the production courtesy of the Gano family through the Coal Springs Threshing Bee and Antique Show association. It was the living quarters for ranchers out on the prairie tending to their sheep.
Shot entirely on location in western South Dakota in early November, the temperature ranged from 9 degrees Fahrenheit to the low 30s throughout the production, with winds from 10 to 20 miles per hour.
The leather gloves worn by Barry (Robert Shields) throughout the movie are the director's father's ranch work gloves.