The Last of the Plainsmen 



thickets, he creeps upon his prey. His cunning and 

 ferocity are keener and more savage in proportion 

 to the length of time he has been without food. As 

 he grows hungrier and thinner, his skill and fierce 

 strategy correspondingly increase. A well-fed cougar 

 will creep upon and secure only about one in seven 

 of the deer, elk, antelope or mountain sheep that he 

 stalks. But a starving cougar is another animal. He 

 creeps like a snake, is as sure on the scent as a 

 vulture, makes no more noise than a shadow, and he 

 hides behind a stone or bush that would scarcely con 

 ceal a rabbit. Then he springs with terrific force, 

 and intensity of purpose, and seldom fails to reach 

 his victim, and once the claws of a starved lion 

 touch flesh, they never let go. 



A cougar seldom pursues his quarry after he has 

 leaped and missed, either from disgust or failure, 

 or knowledge that a second attempt would be futile. 

 The animal making the easiest prey for the cougar 

 is the elk. About every other elk attacked falls a 

 victim. Deer are more fortunate, the ratio being one 

 dead to five leaped at. The antelope, living on the 

 lowlands or upland meadows, escapes nine times out 

 of ten; and the mountain sheep, or bighorn, seldom 

 falls to the onslaught of his enemy. 



Once the lion gets a hold with the great forepaw, 

 every movement of the struggling prey sinks the 



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