44 HUNTING AND FISHING IN FLORIDA. 
dry places usually delayed us until too late to continue the hunt. 
A panther when ‘ jumped” by the hounds usually runs but a 
short distance, and then climbs a tree, and in such cases may be 
easily killed by the hunter ; but sometimes the panther does not 
take to a tree, but conceals himself in thick undergrowth, and 
there it is more difficult to get at him and he is sometimes ugly. 
Panthers will rarely attack a man unless wounded or with cubs, 
but they will fight the dogs, which have little chance against their 
teeth and claws. One particular panther which I killed in the spring 
of 1895 was quite ugly, charging the dogs savagely whenever they 
approached her. 
Panthers are not uncommon in the wilder portion of the State, 
both on the east and west coast. The Indians report them numerous 
in the vicinity of the Big Cypress south of Fort Myers. During the 
winter of 1895 they were quite numerous near the cypress swamps 
about Long Hammock and Custard Apple Hammock and south- 
west of Lake Worth. John Davis killed six in one season. They 
are scarce now on the peninsula east of the Indian River, but were 
common there a few years ago. In 1892 I saw the fresh tracks 
of a large panther near Canaveral, and back in the ‘ eighties” 
Mr. O. A. Quarterman killed several in the vicinity of Canaveral, once 
making a double shot at two old males that he discovered fighting 
on the bank of Banana Creek. They vary much in size. Florida 
Panthers which will measure ten feet in length are exceedingly rare, 
and from what I am told by the hunters and Indians I am inclined 
to believe that a panther nine feet in length may be considered a big 
one in Florida. A good-sized male will weigh between one hundred 
and one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and I have seen full- 
grown panthers (females) which weighed less than eighty-five 
pounds. 
A PANTHER HUNT. 
I was awakened before daybreak, and after dressing myself and 
eating a light breakfast we were in the saddle and well away from 
camp before it was light enough to follow a trail. The grass and 
