UODPEAPERIENCES 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
POSSIBLY the following may im- 
press itself upon some one and 
save him from an unpleasant experi- 
ence if not actual physical injury. 
This story is repeated as nearly as 
possible as it was told to me by the 
hunter himself. 
George D. and a friend were sitting 
on a high ledge overlooking a “deer 
run” in the ravine beneath. Presently 
Geo. detected a “bob cat” skulking 
along through the brush on the op- 
posite side of the run way. 
“Watch me finish that ‘deer slayer,’ 
whispered Geo. as he fired. At the 
shot the cat leaped out of sight in 
the bushes. 
“You missed her,’ said his compan- 
ions. “Shot under. I saw the bullet 
strike under in that old log. I can 
see the spot where it struck.” 
’ 
“Keep your eye on it, I’m going 
down and look,” said Geo., laying aside 
his rifle and sliding down over the 
ledges. 
Crossing the ravine he could see the 
broken spot on the log and with his 
“eye on it” he stepped over and sat 
down on his heels to examine it. A 
movement attracted his attention. 
Raising his eyes he saw under a thick 
brush not two yards away the infuri- 
ated cat with eyes ablaze on the very 
point of springing at him. Attempt- 
ing to rise to spring back he caught 
both heels on an old root and went over 
flat on his back just as the body of 
the cat went over without touching 
him. Without trying to arise he rolled 
behind a hemlock snatching out his 
hunting knife to protect himself from 
the next attack. As the cat didn’t 
“come back” he peered by the tree and 
beheld a most unusual spectacle. 
There was the cat a few feet away 
viciously dragging out and biting off 
loops of its own intestines. 
Meanwhile the friend had slid down 
over the ledges and came running up 
with both rifles. The cat seeing rein- 
forcements coming slipped into a “blow 
down” where she was located and 
finished. 
Examination showed a “creased” bul- 
let wound across the under side of the 
cat’s abdomen where she had almost 
hopped over the bullet as she was run- 
ning along when the shot was fired. 
When she leaped at Geo. the crease had 
opened up and let out a fo'ld of in- 
testine and the pain from the exposed 
bowl had distracted her attention from 
her adversary to her own injury. 
Why she tried to disembowel herself 
I leave to some one who knows to ex- 
plain. They toted her down to the 
road and at the store that night she 
Page 97 
weighed not far from 30 pounds. I 
have forgotten the exact figure. 
The moral is obvious and may save 
some one from a less fortunate experi- 
ence. 
I notice frequent discussions as to 
whether cats will ever attack a human 
being. Late in the afternoon—almost 
evening—last April—nearly the first of 
May—a friend noticed a cat in the 
bushes near the highway and stopped 
to look at her. As the stopping of 
the machine did not alarm her he 
started to walk up to her to see her run. 
But she didn’t run. _ Instead, she 
crouched to spring, flattened her ears, 
bared her teeth and made unpleasantly 
suggestive movements with her hind 
feet. Believing discretion the better 
part of valor he retired, beat a stra- 
tegic retreat and went his way, leaving 
the bob cat mistress of the situation. 
She undoubtedly had a litter of kittens 
back in the bushes and was fully pre- 
pared and intended to prevent inter- 
ference. Although she was not exactly 
on the offensive, there is a suggestion 
here to look out for cats when on your 
spring fishing trip. Ordinarily they 
will see you and run before you can see 
them, but a cat with a litter behind 
her is not to be fooled with. 
Last winter a man saw a muskrat 
crossing a pond on the ice and seeing 
an easy pelt in sight caught up a light 
stick and ran out to get it. Much to 
his surprise the rat seeing him coming 
turned toward and attacked him. At 
the first blow the stick broke near 
his hand and went whirling away over 
the ice and our friend had a very un- 
pleasant and exciting five minutes get- 
ting away without being bitten. An- 
other man under almost the same con- 
ditions was less fortunate and was bit- 
ten several times. I heard of a third 
experience similar to the above but do 
not recall the outcome. Suffice it to 
say that a muskrat without water or 
other nearby retreat is not as harmless 
as we usually regard them, for they 
will not only defend themselves but will 
attack viciously if no safe haven is con- 
veniently available. Don’t fool up with 
a muskrat on ice, crust, 
ground unless you are prepared with a 
good club or weapon to have a real: 
fight, for he is almost certain to attack 
if you get very near him. 
Hoping these few suggestions may 
save some one from an unnecessary 
period of enforced and painful retire- 
ment. Wea Vie 
GETTING RID OF THE 
TEXAS COYOTE 
DEAR ForEST & STREAM: 
ay Bie is an experience which happened 
to me while I was a ranch owner 
in Texas. I thought it would interest 
or frozen . 
cattle owners who are bothered with 
the coyote. I will first describe the co- 
yote for the benefit of those who never 
saw one. 
The coyote resembles a dog in many 
ways, but is much smaller and has a 
more sneaking appearance. The major- 
ity of them are dark brown in color, 
with a sharp pointed nose, small steady 
eyes, and ears that stand straight up. 
They are much swifter than the ordi- 
nary dog and can smell a human for 
several miles. They are a crafty ani- 
mal and a very hard beast to trap. 
I found this out from experience. 
They were killing all of my young stock 
off, until I was thoroughly discouraged 
with ranching. I was talking to an 
old Mexican one day who had lived in 
Texas all his life. I told him my 
troubles. He asked me what I had done 
to get rid of them. I told him I had 
tried to trap them, but that they had 
always managed to miss the trap. 
He told me to buy a gallon of linseed 
oil and he would help me set my traps. 
I bought the oil and waited for evening 
to come, so we could set the traps. He 
came over about four in the afternoon 
with a bottle of skunk oil. (Skunk oil 
is boiled from the fat of a skunk.) He 
mixed it with the linseed oil and rubbed 
the trap thoroughly with. this solution. 
We took the traps and set them around 
the carcass of a dead steer. For coyotes 
live on animals that have died and 
young helpless stock. 
The next morning’ we went to visit 
our traps. Much to my surprise we had 
caught three coyotes. I wanted to kill 
them but he made me leave them there 
unil they starved to death. After that 
the coyotes seemed to be afraid of my 
ranch. The oils were to kill the human 
odor. F., L. EMERSON, 
New Haven, 
Conn. 

A CANADA GOOSE DECOY. 
THESE FEL- 
LOWS ARE INDISPENSABLE TO GOOSE 
HUNTERS WHO SHOOT ON THE EAST- 
ERN BAYS 
