The Cougar 



baiting. I have tried baiting a number of 

 times, but have never found it successful. 

 Others, I understand, have found it so; but in 

 a score of cases, where I have provided tempt- 

 ing morsels, and lain out all night in hopes of 

 getting a shot at the marauder, in none have I 

 been rewarded, and in only one or two have 

 I got a glimpse of a pair of shining eyes, that 

 disappeared in the gloom almost on the in- 

 stant of my discovering them. 



Probably the most successful method of get- 

 ting a shot at this wary beast is by hunting it 

 with dogs (though I never had the experience), 

 for the mountain lion has small lungs and 

 makes a short, fast race. With dogs on his 

 trail he is likely to take to a tree after a not 

 very long run, which rarely occurs when he is 

 still-hunted on foot. Yet, if the hunter values 

 the lives of his dogs, he must be sure of his 

 first shot, for the cougar is a tough customer 

 to tackle when in his death throes ; and I have 

 been told, by those who have hunted in this 

 way, that many a young and promising dog 

 has had the life crushed out of him by the 

 dying lion. Their forelegs are short and very 

 powerful ; but, curiously enough, unlike the 

 bear, they do not use them in cutting and 



247 



