REPORT OF BOARD OF FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONERS. 
67 
MENDOCINO COUNTY. 
Upper Mattole, California, February 20, 1910. 
Fish and Game Commission , San Francisco , Cal. 
Dear Sirs : Asking for information in regard to the three panther scalps sent 
to you, I will gladly furnish you with all the information I can in regard to the 
capture of them. 
I was out on the range with my shepherd dog looking about stock when by 
chance I saw three panthers run around a point in the timber. Going down to 
where I saw them, my dog took the track and soon had one up in a tree. I got 
within reasonable good firing range and fired. The panther jumped and ran again, 
the dog in hot pursuit. On looking at his tracks where he jumped, I could see 
considerable blood. He ran about a quarter of a mile and treed again. Crawling up 
as closely as possible, I went to reload my gun and, behold, the shell had blowed oft 
in my gun the previous shot, preventing me from reloading again. I then called my 
dog away and came home. Next morning, I went back to the place where I last 
saw the panther, taking with me three well trained hounds. I no sooner got to 
the place when the start dog took the track, and going slowly for about a quarter 
of a mile, started out briskly. Here I found two deer, a short distance apart, which 
they had been feeding on. The dogs ran half a mile and treed; going over there one 
dog had a small one up one tree, and a short distance away the other dog had 
another small one up a tree. 
Killing both of them, I took a circle around the surrounding country in search 
of the third one. Had not traveled far until I came across another deer that 
hadn’t been killed more than a few hours. The dogs took a fresh start, and in 
course of half an hour treed again. Going down to where they were, I could see 
a large panther in a tree. This was the mother of the two small ones. Well, as 
my gun was in good working order that day, I quickly dispatched this one, and this 
wound up what I consider a very profitable chase. 
Starting back to my horse, and as I got near the place where I first saw them, 
I came across two more deer that had been killed recently, I suppose by these same 
panthers. Trusting this is satisfactory, I am, 
Very truly yours, 
[Signed.] Geo. C. Lindley. 
LAKE COUNTY. 
Lower Lake, California, May 4, 1910. 
Fish and Game Commissioners. 
Dear Sirs : I was out herding goats in the afternoon. It was about 2 o’clock. 
I was sitting under a tree watching the goats and I noticed something coming 
through the brush. I watched it and I saw it was a panther. It was after the tail 
end of the flock, and would have had a goat if I hadn’t shot it as soon as I did. It 
had been in this country for several years—ten miles northeast of Lower Lake, Lake 
County. I have seen as many as a dozen small deer that the panther had caught. 
Some it had eaten almost up and others it had eaten all it wanted and covered the 
balance up with leaves and sticks. This is all I can tell you about the brute, only 
she has eaten lots of goats in this neighborhood. 
Yours very truly, 
Troy Meyers. 
It will be observed that, according to the letter of Mr. McArthur, one 
male lion in fifteen days killed twelve deer. That statement is corrobo¬ 
rated by .a letter of J. E. Simpson of Orland, Glenn County, who states 
that in following the tracks of one lion six days, in July, 1909, he 
came upon the carcasses of five deer. This would indicate that one 
deer a week for a lion is a very conservative estimate, and yet that 
means fifty-two deer per year for each lion, which represents by the 
killing of 1,100 lions a saving of more than 57,000 deer. 
From November, 1907, to September 1, 1910. the total number of 
lion scalps or pelts received at this office was 1.132, about 500 a year. 
