424 

Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. 
The Greatest Sporting 
Goods Store in the World 
That 
Five Pound 

Is it to be a fishing holiday—-a 
glorious holiday not idly spent? 
Then let your tackle equal your 
challenging bass in sportsmanship 
—your flashing trout in finesse. 
Don’t begrudge your sport the 
modest outlay for a five-foot rapier 
steel bait-casting rod, or a Granger 
split bamboo. 
The new sensation, the “bass 
bug,” and the “jazz wiggler,” and 
a complete bass outfit for motorist 
or traveler. 
The greatest tackle department 
that the sun shines on. 
Write for 1925 Fishing Catalogue 
d bercrombie 
& Fitch Co- 
EZRA H. FITCH, President 
Madison Ave. and 45th St 
New York 
“Where the Blazed Trail 
Crosses the Boulevard” 


In writing to advertisers mention Forest and Stream. 

Phote by the Author 
Cougar emerging from den 
An Adventure with a 
Mountain Lion 
There Are Still Plenty of Big Cats in New Mexico 
Byt-R. M. 
ORK was scarce in the town of 
V¢ Magdalina where I was _ lo- 
cated at the time this hunt 
started, so I decided to try my hand 
trapping as I had had some success at 
it a few years before and still had 
most of my outfit. 
I borrowed a bear trap from one of 
my friends with the understanding I 
was to pay him ten dollars if I lost it. 
Loading up my outfit in an old Over- 
land, I gathered up some stray bur- 
ros off the plains and drove them into 
the mountains and shot them, at differ- 
ent places, for bait. 
I was doing fairly well when the 
ranch foreman requested me to come 
down to the headquarters ranch and 
clean up the coyotes, so I pulled up all 
but two sets and left them for the fel- 
low who rode range up there. 
| After my wife came out, I was run- 
ning a trap line about two weeks after 
_I had moved, when I ran into the fel- 
_low for whom I had left the traps. 
| He said he was having fairly good 
‘luck—had a coyote, fox, lynx and two 
wild cats with a tail about a foot long. 
As I had never seen such an animal, 
I went to the camp to see the freaks. 
I found he had two mountain lion cubs. 
He then told me that something was 
moving the burro every night and 
would cover it up, and that this some- 
thing had gotten in one of the traps 
and took the drag away and sprang all 
the traps every night. So I pulled out 
for the trap. It was late when I got it 
set. He tied on the drag for me. I 
-had the same luck he did for three 
WIYSEL 
nights; the trap was not sprung, but 
something had walked all over it. Upon 
investigation I found that it was so 
hard a horse could not have sprung it. 
I had no file so used a rock and ham- 
mered the trigger blunt. The animal 
had broken loose from the drag. My 
first remark, so my wife says, was, 
“There’s ten dollars gone to the devil.” 
The ground was frozen hard as a 
rock and trailing was difficclt, but by 
circling I finally picked it up, but had 
troubles of my own for over a mile. 
My wife was up on the mountain side 
and when I finally got up high enough 
to hit snow he had gone up a small 
narrow aroya in the canyon. I hal- 
loed for my wife to come on and I put 
on speed, but had only gone a short 
distance when I went into reverse. As 
the lion was under a log that was lay- 
ing across the aroya just around a bend, 
I was right on top of him when he 
raised up and growled. 
aS soon as I could get rid of a lump 
in my throat (I never did know 
what it was but was afraid it might be 
my heart), I called for my wife to come 
down and have a look at as fine a speci- 
men of a mountain lion as I had seen 
for some time. 
I got some pictures of him under a 
log but wanted him out in the open, so _ 
decided to force him out. About the 
third time I threw a rock at him, he | 
made a lunge for me. 
I was surely glad h2 jumped only 
once and would not have known how 
many times he jumped if my wife 
It will identify you. 

