DOES THE LYNX DESTROY DEER? 



L. D. GILMORE. 



Lovers of legitimate sport must look 

 with profound regret on the rapidly dimin- 

 ishing numbers of our game animals. The 

 pot, market and hide hunters and the tour- 

 ist ambitious of a record ally themselves 

 with those forces which Nature has set to 

 prey on the weaker side. 



Taking the deer as the type of our game 

 animals and examining the natural forces 

 just referred to, we find that the most com- 

 mon, as well as most formidable, is Felis 

 concolor, or the mountain lion. It is ad- 

 mitted by most hunters of large game and 

 by students of zoology that in the rapid 

 decrease of deer during the past few years 

 the mountain lion has been a factor of no 

 small importance. Are there not. however, 

 among our carnivores others which relish 

 venison, and whose depredations on the 

 deer, though not so noticeable as those of 

 the lion, still assume greater proportions 

 than one would at first imagine? 



Following is an incident which gave rise 

 to the question in my mind: 



Early one morning November last Frank 

 and Charley Allen and A. W. Muckey, all 

 of Dotsero, Colorado, while riding along 

 the old Defiance trail below Dotsero, ob- 

 served in the snow evidences of a fierce 

 struggle which had continued for some 

 distance down the hill side. Muckey dis- 

 mounted, followed the course taken by the 

 combatants, and soon came to the still 

 warm carcass of a deer. Leading away 

 from the body were fresh tracks of a lynx. 

 The beast itself, its repast thus rudely 

 interrupted, was seen, as it sped away, by 

 the Aliens, who were still sitting on their 

 horses on the trail above. 



A day or 2 later, being in the vicinity and 

 wishing to satisfy myself with regard to a 

 case, which, if true, I believed would be of 

 interest to many, I found the carcass and 

 carefully examined it. Contrary to my ex- 

 pectations there were no marks on the 

 body to indicate that the deer had been 

 wounded previous to its encounter with 

 the lynx. Nor is that supposition probable. 



for no blood could be found in the bed 

 where the deer had been lying nor along 

 its trail. The only wounds on the body 

 were those made by the lynx. It had bitten 

 the front quarters through and through 

 and unjointed them at the shoulder, thus 

 totally disabling the deer. 



Tracks in the snow told the whole story 

 plainly. The fawn, for such it was, had 

 been lying under a small cedar. Alarmed, 

 presumably by the approach of the horse- 

 men, it had risen and started up the trail. 

 It had gone but a short distance when it 

 came face to face with the lynx coming 

 down the trail. The deer sprang aside, 

 but too late ; the lynx sprang as well and 

 alighted on the deer's back. Then began 

 the unequal struggle. 



Either the force of the lynx's leap knocked 

 the deer down, owing to the steep de- 

 clivity, or else it threw itself down to get 

 rid of the brute on its back. Whichever 

 the case, it never rose again; down the 

 hill they went, rolling over and over. But 

 a little way and blood began to stain the 

 snow; a. little farther and the snow was 

 crimson; another step, and the track ended 

 in a pool. 



Having this instance in proof, is it not 

 possible that enough deer are killed by 

 this smaller member of the cat tribe to ma- 

 terially affect their numbers? The fawns, 

 of course, are the ones that suffer; indeed. 

 I much doubt a lynx's ability to kill a full 

 grown deer. 



Since learning of the case here narrated 

 I have discussed it with several old hunt- 

 ers. None could recall a similar instance; 

 all expressed surprise; and some even 

 doubted the truth of my assertions. All 

 had seen many deer, old and young, which 

 had been killed by Felis concolor; but by 

 a lynx, never ! Here, however, the ques- 

 tion arises: Might not some of this work 

 have been done by the lynx instead of 

 the mountain lion? I should like to hear 

 from some of our hunter-naturalists as to 

 the probable correctness of my inference. 





When courtship is over, it is over ; when 

 marriage is over, it is just beginning. — Ex- 

 change. 



338 



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