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Forest and Stream Letters 
A Forest Tragedy 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
GOVERNMENT trapper on one 
of the National Forests of East- 
ern Oregon set out a string of traps 
one day last summer. There were sev- 
eral traps placed about ten feet apart. 
About a week later, he visited his trap- 
line. He found a male bobcat in one, 
and in the trap next a female bobcat, 
dead, with one of her hindquarters 
partly eaten off, which had been fresh- 
ly done. Near her was a half-eaten 
rabbit which did not seem to have been 
touched for several days, as the ex- 
posed raw flesh was dried and dark- 
ened. Near the female was a live bob- 
eat kitten, which took to a tree on the 
approach of the trapper. The traps 
containing the male and female cats 
were about 10 feet apart; the two cats 
could not come within 4 or 5 feet of 
each other while trapped. What hap- 
pened here? What were the details of 
this forest tragedy? No one knows, 
but this is what may have happened: 
The male and female cats, with the 
kitten, were passing the trap-line. The 
female stepped in one and was caught. 
The male and the kitten stayed close 
by for perhaps a day or so, and then 
the male went away and caught a rab- 
bit for his mate. She ate a part of it, 
but gangrene probably set in from her 
leg in the trap and the mother died. 
Afterwards, the male got caught in 
the nearby trap. The kitten remained 
by his mother and, rather than starve 
and refusing to eat the rabbit which 
was no longer fresh and perhaps taint- 
ed, he fed on the hindquarters of his 
mother, possibly before her body be- 
came cold. 
Or, did the mother eat a part of the 
rabbit and then later attempt to gnaw 
off her own leg caught by the trap? 
Or maybe the male tried to do this be- 
fore he was caught? Perhaps the kit- 
ten was attempting to perform this 
operation when the mother died. Who 
can make a better guess? 
JOHN D. GUTHRIE, 
Portland, Oregon. 

A Texas Hunt 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
| HAVE been a reader of FOREST AND 
SrreaAM for several years, but have 
never read any hunting or fishing 
stories from this part of the Lone Star 
State. 
Here is an account of a trip my 

06 
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Lynx trapped by a forest ranger. 
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pal and I took down on the Rio Grande 
last November. 
We had been planning this trip all 
the year so we had everything in shape 
for the 20th of November. We had 
two hundred miles to go, so we left 
Nixon about four A. M. in our little 
Ford truck. When we got to the place 
just before sun down and found ten 
hunters already camped there we felt 
very blue over our prospects for a good 
hunt. I told my pal, T. K. Littleton, 
to go over to a certain big creek about 
a mile from the old ranch and see if 
there was any water there, so we could 
move over there the next morning. He 
took his gun along hoping to see some- 
thing. I started a fire and was pre- 
paring supper when I heard a shot— 
did not think much about it, however, 
thought probably he had shot at a 
coyote. When I heard a second shot, 
then a call, I knew he had killed some- 
thing, so I picked up my flashlight and 
and rifle and started in his direction. 
After walking about one half mile 
through brush and pears taller than 
my head, I found T. K. the picture of 
gloom. He informed me he had shot a 
yearling deer, but was afraid to bring 
him in on account of so many men 
being in camp. We discussed the situa- 
tion and finally decided to hang it up 
out there and take it to camp in the 
morning. 
We walked about sixty steps from 
where we were standing, and guess 
what he had done. He had killed a 
‘twenty-two point buck weighing one 
hundred forty-seven pounds dressed, 
and one sixteen point buck weighing 
one hundred sixty-seven pounds dressed, 
both dead as mackeral. 
After the joy and excitement of the 
killing had passed, we began to worry 
about getting the old fellows to camp. 
We could not get our car there through 
the thick brush and we certainly could 
not carry them, so what was to be 
done? Finally, we decided to hang the 
big one and carry the small one to 
camp. We dressed them both, found a 
tree and hung Mr. 16 point buck out 
of reach of the coyotes and started to 
camp with the small one. 
Well, you fellows who have tried to 
pack a deer any distance at all know 
669 
