248 RECREATION. 
A DEER, A WOLF AND A COUGAR. 
Joseph Schlee, of this city, is one of those 
old timers who came to Oregon when it 
was a wilderness and the Indian held full 
sway. He was a noted hunter and trapper, 
but of late years he has been living quietly. 
Recently Mr. Schlee was visiting a son- 
in-law on Mosby creek, a tributary of Row 
river. One day, while fishing, he was 
surprised to hearethe bleat of a deer. In a 
few minutes he saw a large buck stagger 
into the water, almost immediately fol- 
lowed to the water’s edge by a large gray 
wolf. Mr. Schlee held his peace and 
watched for developments. Evidently the 
wolf had been chasing the deer and the 
latter, hard pressed, had taken to the water. 
He had no time to seek deep water, but 
plunged in the nearest place, which proved 
only about 18 inches deep. The channel 
was narrow and whenever the deer made 
an attempt to pass down stream the wolf 
showed almost human _ intelligence in 
thwarting his prey and confining him to 
shallow water, waiting an opportunity that 
would mean the downfall of the buck. 
Several times the wolf plunged in and 
worried the poor animal. Finally the wolf 
made a desperate effort, and succeeded in 
catching the buck ’on the top of the neck 
and forcing his head into the water, drown- 
ing him in a few minutes. 
3 The victor was dragging the buck to 
shore when Mr. Schlee decided to take a 
hand in the matter and drove the wolf 
away by stoning him. The buck was a 
fine 4 pronged specimen. Mr. Schlee se- 
cured assistance and removed the carcass. 
An after thought impelled him to take 
his rifle and return to the spot, where he 
thought it possible the wolf would return. 
All was quiet, and he was in the act of 
returning to the cabin,-when he heard the 
scream of a cougar. By that time the old 
gentleman’s hunting blood was up and he 
was out for game if any came along. The 
sound was near, and before long he saw 
a mountain lion crossing the creek a short 
distance up stream. He took a hasty shot, 
but missed, and the cougar made into the 
bushes. Mr. Schlee started his dog up the 
creek. They had no trouble in striking 
the trail and only a few minutes were ne- 
cessary for them to tree the animal. At 
that point the timber was large and dense, 
but no time was lost in coming to the 
tree in which the dog had located the 
cougar. Mr. Schlee carelessly approached 
the tree thinking the animal had climbed 
to probably the highest point to be reached. 
He came near the trunk of the tree, try- 
ing to locate the animal. Not seeing him 
he was in the act of changing his position 
when he saw, within 10 feet of him, the 
cougar crouched on one of the lower limbs. 
Schlee leveled the rifle and pulled the trig- 
ger. The shot went home and the cougar 
fell dead at the root of the tree. 
J. S., College Grove, Ore. 
A doctor’s wealth: 
change. 

ill-gotten gains. —Ex- 
IN YEARS GONE BY. 
Thirty-five years ago the woods of Alle- 
gany county, N. Y., were full. of game, 
consisting of foxes, rabbits, squirrels, ruffed 
grouse, wild pigeons and coons. The 
streams were teeming with trout, and it 
was a paradise for the boy who loved gun 
and rod. 
Well I remember one bright morning 
in late October; a light snow had fallen 
the night before and several of us boys, 
accompanied by Andrew, an old hunter 
and trapper, started out for a coone hunt. 
After ascending a hill a mile and a halt 
from a small village, we struck into an 
old chestnut grove, and found by the 
numerous tracks in the light snow, that 
coons had been abroad the night before. 
Old Andrew made a careful inspection 
of the tracks,.and soon located the coons 
in a chestnut stub. He cut ironwood 
poles about 6 feet long, and 3% of an inch 
in diameter at the butt for each of the 
boys, and said they were to be the only 
weapons used in despatching the game. He 
told us that if we could hit a coon on the 
nose just below -the eyes a slight blow 
would kill it, but if hit elsewhere their fur 
would protect them. We stripped off our 
coats and made the chips fly cutting down 
that old stub. 
When the stub began to lean and crack 
we dropped our axes and grabbed the 
poles. As the stub struck the ground it 
broke at the bottom of the hollow, and 
6 coons made lively work trying to reach 
other trees. It was the first time most of 
the boys had. hunted in this manner, 
and they whacked one another nearly as 
often as they did the coons, but we syc- 
ceeded in killing 3 coons before they 
reached other trees, Two ascended a large 
red oak,~3 feet in diameter; the other 
climbed a small basswood stub. We soon 
felled the tree and secured the coon. We 
dared not cut the other tree without per- 
mission from its owner, so one of the boys 
went to him and got his consent. We went 
at that tree as only boys after a coon can 
work, but by the time we had it down we 
were a tired and hungry lot. When it fell, 
we soon despatched the 2 coons, and then 
forgot out hunger, blistered hands, and fa- 
tigue. With 6 coons we returned to the 
. little village, proud and happy. 
Yesterday I passed the spot where I 
spent that happy morning 35 years ago. 
Not a tree crowns the mountain top, the 
spring is dry, the soil barren and worth- 
less and a deserted house where the grove 
ended in a meadow, shows that man can 
not survive the ruin he himself has 
wrought. Not even the lone phoebe can 
brook to build her nest and rear her young 
amid this desolation. The chestnut grove 
has disappeared, and with it all that made 
the mountain top so beautiful. 
W. J. W.,, Wellsville, i WER fe 

Cannot eae get along without ReEc- 
REATION. John R 

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. Taylor, Freeport, Pa. — 
