January, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
33 
his brow points into the earth. He imme¬ 
diately rose to his feet, and a look of fear 
came into his eyes. Dropping to his knees 
again he still raised his head and made 
efforts to arise keeping his hips up for 
perhaps ten seconds. The he rolled over 
on his side and I called to my companion 
who had witnessed the whole proceedings— 
“all over, come down!” 
As he came running toward me he said, 
“By golly, that elk was mad at you. His 
hair stuck up all along the top of his neck. 
You shot clear through him once. I saw 
the hair fly from his side. You ought to 
have been where I was and seen that.” I 
replied, that the seeing was plenty good 
enough from where I was, as it was only 
nineteen short steps to where he lay. 
Up to this time I hadn’t been frightened 
in the least, but as I came to realize how 
close a call I had I felt a contracting pain 
in the lower chest. It seemed as though 
I couldn’t breathe. I turned cold and com¬ 
menced to tremble and even cried. I had 
to get down on my hands and knees to get 
relief. My companion became alarmed and 
wanted to know what was the matter? I 
replied. “I guess I’ve lost my nerve, and 
after thirty years of big-game hunting. 
Sagan wanted to know whether I would 
let him have my binoculars for the rest of 
the day. I told him that he could have 
anything that I had if he would only stay 
with me until my nerve came back again. 
Looking my animal over I could find 
no marks except one dent in the antlers 
undoubtedly caused by rubbing together 
when their antlers were locked. There 
was blood around the main beam as if it 
had been pressed against the bloody side 
of the large elk. The points were clean— 
perhaps wiped clean by ripping hair out of 
the other animal. There were bunches of 
hair all lying about, which had not come 
off the dead one as his coat was as smooth 
as if he had been curried that morning— 
except, of course, for the bullet wounds. 
S AGAN departed and I immediately re¬ 
moved the entrails so that, even if the 
other elk came back and chased me 
away, I would have good meat. I have 
known of many instances where when an 
elk fight has been stopped by the shooting 
of one animal, the survivor or some other 
elk had visited the carcass during the night. 
I have especially in mind an instance which 
happened only recently where I and my 
companion killed two bull elk about one 
hundred yards apart near sundown. On re¬ 
turning the next morning for the heads 
we found a bull elk standing within fifty 
or seventy-five yards savagely horning the 
nearby bushes. He wouldn’t leave until 
after I yelled at him a number of times. 
I removed the head and carried it down 
into the bushes where I could hide while 
I removed the scalp from around the horns 
and face. After cutting out some meat for 
camp, I concluded to look over the battle¬ 
ground. I hunted up all my shells, to be 
sure of all the shots I had fired. I found 
a prong broken from the larger elk, my 
companion picking up another one on his 
return. I Saw where the bark had been 
torn from the roots of trees by the ani¬ 
mals’ hoofs. There were also many marks 
in the bark of the trees from their antlers. 
One small green tree perhaps three 
inches through had been broken entirly off. 
A dead balsam covered with hair was up¬ 
rooted evidently by the larger bull. Scat¬ 
tered wads of hair were lying about. 
While I have killed many elk, having far 
better heads, I value this four pointer with 
its upper end of the main beam twenty- 
three inches in length beyond the last 
point, most of all, and intend to mount it, 
placing a prong on each side of its neck on 
the shield. My old No. 30-40 Winchester, 
which has to its credit many mountain 
goats, sheep, bear and deer, will rest un¬ 
molested for time to come upon two suit¬ 
able prongs. I never intend to shoot this 
old gun again. It shall hang in a place 
of honor among my trophies. 
AN UNSEEN COMPANION OF LONELY TRAILS 
THE BOBCAT IS STILL COMMON IN UNSETTLED PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS 
CURIOSITY OFTEN LEADS IT TO FOLLOW MAN WITHOUT MALICIOUS INTENT 
By LEOREN D. INGALLS 
D O you know the feeling of being 
watched and followed by something 
unseen ? Have you ever had the sen¬ 
sation of being the hunted instead of the 
hunter? If you have not, then you have 
not had much experience with this invisible 
companion of the trails. 
The wild cat does not follow you out 
of any desire to injure you; what animates 
him is burning curiosity, for he usually 
has too much respect for the master of the 
animal kingdom to try conclusions with 
him. Instances of unprovoked attack are 
rather the exception which prove the rule. 
Hunger will occasionally make him rash 
and the smell of fresh meat may cause him 
to lose all caution. It is a common occur¬ 
rence for a wild cat to follow a team 
closely, keeping to the underbrush as long 
as there is daylight, but often coming into 
the open after dusk. Country doctors can 
testify as to the truth of this, as they are 
on unfrequented roads at all hours of the 
day and night. Sometimes the “varmints” 
come very close to the wagon, frequently 
terrorizing both horse and driver. If the 
W'ind happens to be right the first intima¬ 
tion of pussy’s presence is the jump of 
fright which the horse gives when the cat’s 
strong scent first reaches his nostrils. 
It may be that you have been startled by 
the piercing sound of his wailing howl— 
his screech being reserved for times of 
battle. However, this ear-splitting yell may 
also be heard in late fall or early winter 
as he challenges his rivals in his search 
for a mate. His ordinary howl has re¬ 
markably human qualities, and anyone 
hearing it for the first time may be par¬ 
doned for mistaking it for the cry of a 
human being in distress. 
T HEIR lair is located among rocks 
whenever possible, as the foot scent 
is not followed so well over stone, 
but the strong odor coming from the den 
A baby bobcat in captivity 
warns the passerby that he is treading on 
dangerous ground. And it may well be 
dangerous, if he should happen to disturb 
the two little helpless kittens as they frolic 
in mimic warfare in front of their rocky 
home. Should he reach in among the 
bones with which the cave is littered and 
capture one of the small spotted atoms of 
fury, its calls will soon bring its mother to 
avenge its woes. And to an unarmed man 
she is not a foe to be despised, despite her 
small size, for her quickness is as marvel¬ 
ous as her spirit and courage. 
But if they are not troubled, after their 
eyes are well opened, she begins bringing 
home live game to teach them how to do 
their own hunting, and as they grow older 
she leads them forth to the slaughter of 
mice or the stalking of rabbits. Nor does 
she fail to instruct them in the danger 
scents of the woods. To run from a man 
is against their principles; it is sufficient 
to get out of sight. 
N EXT year they may learn for them¬ 
selves the delights of a midnight 
foray upon the henyard, and the ex¬ 
quisite taste of young lambs: overindul¬ 
gence in this manner often proving fatal 
to themselves. At times they visit lonely 
slaughter houses, and I shall never forget 
the crunch of bones between teeth as I 
heard it one night while passing one coun¬ 
try abbatoir. A fox would have run; a 
dog would have growled; but not so the 
bobcat. He simply stuck to his bone and 
though I passed within a few feet of 
where he lay hidden in the bushes, he 
refused to lower his dignity by flight. I 
must confess that as I was totally un¬ 
armed, I felt decidedly uncomfortable in 
spite of my knowledge of their habits. 
