3 8o 



RECREATION. 



next crossing place. Sometimes the dogs 

 jump on a log and then go tearing through 

 the timber in full cry that means a hot 

 track; cat just gone by. 



Then the sport begins. The dogs tear 

 through brush, over logs, up hill and down, 

 their deep baying making the grand old 

 forest ring. I hurry after, so they shall 

 not get too much start of me, stopping oc- 

 casionally to listen. I hear the long, mourn- 

 ful cry of the hounds, the tree cry,' and 

 go more leisurely. Sometimes the cat is 

 just out of the dogs' reach, and at others 

 he is ioo feet high in a big fir tree. Some 

 "mornings the dogs take an old track that 

 they can barely follow. I never call them 

 off if they can trail it. They will get the 

 cat up sooner or later, maybe within a 

 mile, sometimes only after 4 or 5 miles of 

 travel. Sometimes the cat is easily treed; 

 at others he will run 3 or 4 hours and then 

 when he does tree he has tired hounds on 

 the ground. 



Lynxes are great fighters. I remember 

 knocking an old Tom out of a tree one 

 morning. He came down fighting mad; 

 the dogs lit on him ; there was a moving 

 picture of lynx and dogs for about 20 

 minutes, and then the old Tom gave up 

 the ghost; but he left 3 sore dogs behind 

 him. Toms are more easily treed than 

 females, but either will tree quickly, if it 

 has dined shortly before being started by 

 the dogs. 



The best dog for lynx hunting is the 

 deep bell mouthed foxhound. My dogs 

 are the pure white full blooded Cook's 

 strain. On an average I have killed 60 

 cats a year in this neighborhood for the 

 past 16 years, and yet there seern to be as 

 many now as there were 15 3'ears ago. 

 They keep coming in from the dense wilder- 

 ness West and Southwest, where hundreds 

 of square miles of uninhabited country teem 

 with cats, lions and wolves. 



At my suggestion, a few years ago, the 

 county commissioners put a bounty on 

 lynxes, cougars and wolves, which has been 

 the means of ridding the country of many 

 cats and a few cougars, but it will be years 

 before they are thinned out much, as the 

 Western part of Washington is thinly 'set- 

 tled. I rarely kill a lean lynx ; in fact 

 few that are not quite fat, more particu- 

 larly in winter. 



Lynx hunting is most exciting sport. One 

 travels through the dense forest as fast 

 as he can, over logs, through thick under- 

 brush and treacherous swamps, with the 

 baying of the hounds leading on and on 

 till the game trees. Then it is soon over. 

 One may get home that night too tired to 

 sleep, but he can lie in bed and think it all 

 over and imagine he hears the music of 

 the dogs still in full cry on the trail. 



Frank Mossman, Kamilche, Wash. 



A NEWSPAPER FAKE. 

 In one of our twin city papers an article 

 recently appeared to the effect that a party 

 of "big bugs" had obtained permission to 

 hunt a certain part of the State for any 

 kind of game, regardless of the State laws, 

 and with dogs. According to- the -article 

 in the paper, the time set was from the 

 first of October, giving them a month's 

 advantage over others who have to wait un- 

 til the first of November, and disregarding 

 all laws of game protection and decency. 

 I have written to Mr. Fullerton, asking 

 for information on this matter, and as yet 

 I have had no reply, but expect one soon. 

 As I do not think Mr. Fullerton is a man 

 who will sanction such acts, it seems as 

 if the report must be false, and I hope it is. 

 It has caused a great deal of comment here, 

 and has stirred up much indignation. If the 

 report proves true, there will be something 

 doing. The reason I write to you is that I 

 should like to have you interest yourself in 

 this matter, and as you are always aiding 

 the cause of game protection, . I know you 

 will do all in your power to help us sift this 

 matter to the bottom. 



Fred. W. Whittle, Northfield, Minn. 



I can tell you, without making any in- 

 vestigation, that the story you refer to is 

 a newspaper fake. I know Sam Fullerton 

 and the State Commissioners of Minnesota 

 too well to believe for a moment that they 

 would allow any man, no matter how 

 wealthy or influential he might be, to violate 

 the game laws of their State. As to grant- 

 ing a permit to do this, .they have no more 

 power than I have. Even the Governor of 

 your State could not legally give a man 

 a permit to kill one bird in close sea- 

 son. 



There are some Smart Aleck newspaper 

 men everywhere who like to get up wild 

 stories, occasionally, to help sell their 

 papers, and if you should buy a copy of 

 the paper in question, to send me, the 

 writer of the story would accomplish his 

 object to that extent. Mr. Fullerton is 

 very busy these days, and is traveling a 

 great deal of the time in an effort to pre- 

 vent men from killing prairie chickens be- 

 fore the opening of the season. That is 

 probably why he has - not replied to your 

 letter. 



I referred the foregoing letter from Mr. 

 Whittle to Mr. Fullerton, who replied as 

 follows : 



Yours of the 7th to hand and contents 

 noted. The information is news to me. - 1 

 get all the clippings from the daily papers, 

 especially in the cities, but I have failed to 

 receive anything of the nature that Mr. 

 Whittle writes about. There was a clipping 

 in one of the papers, however, to the effect 



