March 81, 1892.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



297 



fag Httd 



The full texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces_are given in the Book oi the 

 Game La ws. 



A CLIMB FOR A MOUNTAIN CAT. 



IT was February. The tow temperature of mid winter 

 had spread on icy covering over lakes and rivers; and 

 a 2ft, depth of snow covered the hills and valleys. It was 

 early one morning while I was trying to study out some 

 plan to break the monotony of shop life for one day at 

 least, when my shop mate A. F. broke in rather abruptly, 

 somewhat excited over the fact that the track of a big 

 mountain cat had been found leading up the creek on the 

 ice. Our mnzzleioading rifles had hung on the pegs since 

 the end of November, and our two dogs had lain in the 

 shavings until they had grown fat and lazy. We felt just 

 then that we were spoiling for an outdoor tramp, and so 

 were the dogs. In an hour we were following the track 

 of the cat, There was an inch of snow on the ice, and 

 the track showed the animal to be one of the bigest. We 

 had occasionally been in the wildcat business before and 



soon crossed our track below in good shooting distance, 

 but a blinding snow squall which was just falling thick 

 and fast beclouded every object which was more than six 

 rods distant. We then moved up the spur or point 

 another half mile, where there was a narrow bench 

 twelve rods wide and directly across the ridge. Here we 

 believed the cat would cross when going back over the 

 mountain again, and here seemed to be our last chance 

 for that day. So we took a stand one on each side of the 

 pass. A. F. still kept his dog at heel. At last we heard 

 the dog slowly coming up the eastern side of the moun- 

 tain. Next came that mountain cat, leisurely loping 

 along, and evidently going through the middle of the 

 pass if not stopped. The snow was falling thick and fast, 

 making it nearly impossible to get a fine" sight, but I let 

 him come up at short range when I drew up and cut 

 loose. There was a bent sapling six inches in diameter 

 which stood a few feet ahead of the cat when I shot, the 

 top of which had been bent to the ground by the falling 

 of a larger tree, making a half circle, the center twelve 

 feet high. This he mounted with some difficulty and I 

 saw one hind leg swinging. He had hardly made the 

 center when a shot from A, F. on the other side dropped 

 him in the snow, where he lay apparently helpless when 

 A. F.'s dog pitched in. The cat had but one foreclaw 

 that he could use, but he sunk that one deep in the dog's 



good tracking snows, and as a result, hundreds of quail 

 have been illegally slaughtered by rabbit hunters. And 

 to make matters worse, we have had enough stormy 

 weather to satisfy the most implacable pot-hunter. 

 Whole coveys of quail have been wiped out of existence 

 at one shot. Then let us have a law to protect rabbits 

 and once more we can have quail plenty for us and our 

 friends. 



Years ago it became a law that no man could net quail 

 on his own or any other person's property. To-day, with- 

 out a doubt, hundreds of quail have been driven into nets 

 and had their heads pinched. Last winter and every 

 winter for that matter, quail have been netted, then shot 

 and sold in the market. Sometimes the person doing the 

 netting would not waste the ammunition to shoot them, 

 but would stick each quail with a sharp instrument to 

 make an apparent shot mark. The price realized for 

 these quail is usually $1.25 per dozen. This is not an 

 overdrawn story, but something that happens saregularly 

 as the winter comes. 



It is easy to see that if a law were made to prohibit the 

 sale of game, these needless butcheries would in a great 

 measure be stopped. There would be but very few per- 

 sons who would object to game not being sold. We 

 might expect opposition from the hot tomollo man and 

 others who care but little what they eat so it fills up. Of 



AMONG- THE WILDFOWL.-XVIII. 

 A Prairie Pond-hole. Dead Ducks Make Good Decovs. 



knew pretty well the nature and quality of the game. 



Our best dog we had picked up as a stray a year or two 

 before. Where or how he was raised we never knew; 

 and like Nessmuk's Pete, he had no pedigree. A lack of 

 courage was not among his failings. Color, a reddish 

 drab, short hair, short legs, heavy breasted, unusual 

 length of head and jaws, light hind quarters and slim 

 tail. He was true on track but slow; gave tounge well, 

 and his yelp had rather a musical ring. The other dog 

 was a half-breed shepherd which A F. had raised; was 

 no hunter, and was not remarkable for anything unless 

 for fighting or killing house cats with little or no provo- 

 cation. 



We followed the tracks up the creek a half-mile or 

 more, when the trail led off at right angles up a small 

 brook, thence up through a gorge, then turned up the 

 southern slope of the mountain spur. Here our best dog 

 began to chafe, and we let him go. In five minutes we 

 heard a perfect jingle of yelps. He had started the cat 

 (as we learned later) from under the tops of some bent 

 saplings, a whole thicket of which had been bent and 

 weighted down by the heavy snows. The cat and dog 

 led off quartering up the western slope, and were soon 

 out of hearing. We made no attempt to follow, but made 

 slow head way up the spur, the distance of nearly a mile, 

 where we patiently waited for the cat to come back over 

 the ridge, a fact that we were about sure of for two or 

 three reasons. If the snow had been only 4 or 6in. deep, 

 he would have been driven up a tree in les3 than an hour; 

 but in such a depth of snow it was easy play for the cat 

 to keep ahead of that short-legged dog. Bat we knew 

 his staying powers, aud we knew that a wildcat never 

 ran on a straight trail very far when a dog was behind. 

 That cat could have turned back at any time and wiped 

 out the dog in less than four minutes, and gone ou as 

 though nothing had happened: but they don't seem to be 

 made that way. They won't fight a dog except when 

 cornered or wounded and they can't get away, in which 

 case the dog gets whipped, no matter what his size or 

 breed may be. I am speaking of the largest of the 

 species. 



After waiting a reasonable time we heard the dog 

 coming back. He had settled down to a slow, steady 

 yelp and seemed to be coming directly toward us, They 



foreshoulder and he was hugged up and chewed up 

 quicker than I can tell it. 



By this time the other dog came up and pitched in. 

 Now the dog Shep fought under protest, that is, fought 

 himself loose as soon as possible. Not so with the other, 

 he went in to kill or get killed, and the latter result would 

 probably have been his fate had not the cat got his 

 quietus from other sources. The mystery was that the 

 whole thing was done so quickly, for less than five 

 minutes from the time that I first saw that feline mon- 

 ster he had been shot twice and had thoroughly "chawed 

 up" two dogs, and been knocked on the head with a 

 piece of dry hemlock limb. On examination we found 

 that the first shot had broken one bip and apparently 

 crippled the other, and the second shot had broken one 

 shoulder. 



The mountain cats that were found in that region were 

 mostly of a reddish gray color, except under the belly, 

 which was whitish, witb dark spots. But this one was 

 an exception , having lightish gray and black stripes run- 

 ning crosswise and bluish white belly with black spots, 

 and having comparatively shorter body and stood higher 

 on legs. I never saw more than two or three animals of 

 this type, while I have seen scores of the other variety. 



Grand View, Tenn., Feb. 23. ANTLER. 



MISSOURI QUAIL. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Next May there will be a gathering of the representa- 

 tive sportsmen of this State. The Missouri Fish and 

 Game Protective Association will hold its annual tourna- 

 ment in this city, May 2 to May 7, inclusive. It is hoped 

 that some valuable work will be done in the way of im- 

 proving the game laws of our State. Thousands of quail 

 are killed unlawfully every winter. As the law now 

 stands quail are illegal game from Jan. 1 till Oct. 15. 

 Well, that is very good so far as it goes. But how about 

 rabbits? We have no law protecting them at any season. 

 What we need is a clause inserted making it an offense 

 to kill or attempt to a kill a rabbit from Jan. 1 till Oct.15. 

 Not that we need the rabbits protected, but they must be 

 protected in order to save the quail. 



Since the first day of January we have had several 



course some real nice clean people eat commission house 

 game, but they have but little idea what they are wrestl- 

 ing with. 



This idea of prohibiting the sale of game is not by any 

 means a new one to the readers of the Forest and 

 Stream, but it is one that has most of your readers sup- 

 porting it. I hope that the sportsmen who come here 

 next May will make a move in this direction, and not 

 rest until it becomes a law. Brinkstine. 



Kansas City, Mo. 



Game in Town.— Rockland, Me., March 17. The 

 weather for nearly a week has been unusually cold, the 

 mercury ranging from 8 above at 7 A. M. to 20 at 12 M. 

 It would take a sharp pick and a strong arm to make any 

 impression on the frozen ground, yet on the loth inst. 

 one poor woodcock was seen flying through one of our 

 principal streets. How queerly we are made up. My 

 heart went out in pity to this bird, and I would have 

 given $5 quicker than a wink to have saved it from a 

 miserable death by cold and starvation ; and next autumn 

 I would be just as eager to take his life as I had been to 

 save it now. On the same day that the woodcock was 

 seen a beautiful dark colored mink gave quite a crowd of 

 men and boys a race through Main street, the mink 

 making his escape through a cesspool. — James Wight. 



Foxes Climbing Trees. — I have on one or two occa- 

 sions jumped foxes from live-oak trees, and while cow 

 hunting one warm day last month, I saw two lying along 

 the horizontal limb of a large live-oak, apparently sun- 

 ning themselves after the manner of raccoons. I won- 

 dered at their allowing me to approach to within 10 or 

 15yds. of them, but never having heard their ability to 

 climb trees doubted, was not surprised to see tb.em where 

 they were.— G. P. V. (Sisterdale, Texas). 



Names and Portraits of Btrds, by Gurdon Trumbull. A 

 book particularly interesting to gunners, for by its use tbey can 

 identify without question all the American same birds which 

 they may kill. Cloth. 280 pajtes, nrlce *2,50. For Bale by Fobsst 

 AND STBSAM. 



