Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-12-01
A HUNTING CAT.
The Fearful Product of Uncle Abe's
Ingenuity.
Jnckman's Cat Catches Tartar-A Ter
rifed and Conscience-Smittcn Colored ,
u Ieman-The Feline Nimrod FL
nally Comes to n Sad End.

"Wall, 4" said old Uncle Abe Practer,
as, seated in his favoritc corner, he
listened to various hunting yarns told
by number of his chums, "wall, you
fellers may talk about yer huntin' dogs
and huntin' oxen and huntin' pigs, but
j onct had huntin' cat that wus not
to be sneezed at.
"A hunting cat, Uncle AbcP" qucricd
one of the boys.
"Ya-a-s, huntin' cat; all my own
invention, too. she wur, and bullyer
huntin' animal never wus SEEN"
"You invented the cat, Uncle Abe?"
wall, vas, | invented and manufac-
turcd her TO n considerable extent. At
that time | was livin' down i'm Ten
ncsscc, in Bledsoc County, nigh TO the
Scquatchie river, bout four mile from
Pikeville, the county seat. 1t wur n
kind of u mountainous country, but
thar wur plenty of little valleys and
flats for all material aggeracultural
purposes and pursoots. Coon, pos
sum- ground hog, quail and all SIGH
game bein' plenty, with every here and
there bee tree, folks didn't need to
bother with the sile more than what
wur needed to raise patch o corn or
buckwheat, with few youber peas,
sweet pertaters, gourds and other SIGH
articklcs o. garden sass"
but about the cat, Uncle Abc?"
"Wall, I'm comm to the cat; and
she wur mostly all my own invention.
Al =, Al r.. 4.
bits that / ever seed. "A Teller could
git bout half his meet off n rabbits
alone. Most any afternoon long bout
four O'Clock you could see half dozen
to nine rabbits skippin' about an
playin' hide-an' seek on the little
grassy patches among the bushes.
Them days / had n stump-tailed cat
that was naturally great fur ketchin'
rabbits, but hit on plan that made
her the boss rabbit ketcher in Bledsoe
County. She wur jist about the size
and color of Il rabbit, and had about
tho same length of tail. So gifts and
skins the head of a rabbit, tans il nice
ly and fixes eyelet holes in it to lace it
up with. made il in SIGH a way that
when it was put on my cats head and
laced up under her jaws it wur first
rate fit, with ears stickin' up as nat'ral
as life. Two steps away yer couldn't
of told her from the best rabbit
that ever hoped. | soon got her
trained and used to regularly go out
huntin' with her, havin' more fun than
a little. Nothing wasn't afraid of her
in her disguise. She could go right
up to any thing, and I used to ketch
rs many rabbits, quail, pheasants,
squirrels, birds, and all SIGH small
game as could pack. She'd go right
in among flock of quail-what we
call cartridges back thar-an' pick up
half dozen before they got over bein'
nstonished.
"But the greatest fun wur among
the rabbits. When we'd get to place
whar several rabbits war skippin'
about and havin' bit of fun all to
themselves, I'd get behind tree or
stump and let the cat go ahead and in
terjuce herself inter the frolic. 1t wur
amazin' to see how easy them rabbits
wur tuck in. One of 'em would come
skppin' up to the ole cat as she sat
thar with her rabbit ears a-stickin'
straight up, and would begin some
jocular familiarites with her, when
she'd take him by the back of the neck
and he'd pass in his checks without so
much as squeak. Then another
would come along and be sarved in
the same way. In less'n half an hour
she'd sometimes have four or five rab-
bits stretched out on patch of ground
not over three rods square. The fool
rabbits never seemed to drop onto the
cat till they wur nailed.
~ member onct when she didn't
seem to git fist the right twist on the
neck bone of one. he gave bit of
squat. In mint two or three buck
rabbits came hoppin' out'n the brush,
and lhinkin' n fight was goin' on be-
tween two of their kind they fined in.
This wur jist ducks fur my ole cat, and
she laid EN- all out, one after another.
I've often thought that the cat must
of wondered what on airth had come
over the rabbits and other things all at
oact to let her git among 'em so easy,
cause, of course. she didn't know that,
rugged up as she wur, she wur list a.
fine looking rabbit as ever skipped.
When she'd made good KILN the
ole cat was as proud as ayoung niger
with his fust pair o. boots. She'd come
TO where was hid, rub agin my legs,
wriggle her stump Of tail, and purr as
loud MS n young painter"
but couldn't the rabbits smell the
cat, Uncle Abep"
Smell herP Mol mol Yer see, /
made her smell moro like rabbit than