The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-01-25
WILDCAT HUNTING.
One of the Favorite Sports of the DWell=
ers in Lower California

One of the Favorite Sports of the DweI=
ers in Lower California,
.'There she ISL
don fire!
Give the dogs a chance!
They and many other disconnected
sentences came from a crowd OF ladies
and gentlemen who, well mounted and
close upon a pack of eager hounds, were
pushing into a thick patch Of under
brush In the center Of the Arroyo Seco,
dry canon or river just back Of Passa-
dena. Cal.
Here the gulch was well filled with tail
trees from whose branches there fell IN
rich festoons masses of wild grape and
csmatis that formed ropes that deity
caught riders beneath the chin, and 50
tied up the dogs that they often became
fouIed and yelped and hOwled In impo-
tent rage. The party had started half
mile below in the clearing and had fol-
lowed up the eager dogs that had now
freed game Of some kind, and, as they
gathered about the broken poplar high
I'D in one Of the branches, there appeared
a long. 1.-the body clinging TO the limb,
while over the side peered the ugly face
Of the wildcat. Excitement had been at
fever pitch when the hounds struck the
trail but now that the animal was In
fulI,view, it fairly boiled over, even the
horses appearing to be carried away
by it.
..Stand back, ladies.'' shouted the
master Of the hounds, who carried a
light rife. sometimes a cat viii jump
for her life, and they VIII scratch when
they land
The ladies fell back a little, and a
youngster in the party volunteered to
climb the tree and dislodge the common
enemy. Handing the bride Of his horse
to a rider. he seized the pendent grape
vine and swung up into the tree, and a
few moments later was making his way
along the branch toward the crOuching
cat. She was so intently engaged in
looking at the dogs that at first she did
not see him. but when he rounded the
trunk she suddenly caught sight Of the
new enemy, drew back with quick
growl, glanced this way and that, as if
measuring the chances, and perhaps,
would have Jumped. when the climber
DEITY struck her from behind and down
she went. with a scream of rage into the
red mouths below. The blood and fur
flew, for puss was game, and not few
good dogs backed out, wiping their heads
and ragged ears. But the game was up,
and it was with great difficulty that the
skin was saved for the rug which is the
trophy of the wildcat hunt.
Hunting this short tailed feline Is a
feature Of southern California out door
sports. The deep canOns that radiate
down from the Sierra Madres form their
retreat and that Of large game in general.
After rain the hunts are organized, and
then the paw marks are distinctly seen
and the scent fresh, and, as the storm
clouds blow away from the mountain
sides and the warm sun comes out the
bay Of the hounds of some sportsman is
nearly always heard. The wildcat of
this country is a large, powerful animal
approaching the lynx, also found here, in
size and general appearance, and large
enough to infiict dangerous wounds upon
man Or beast.
On one occasion the hounds came upon
a fresh scent in an extremely narrow
place in the canon, where precipitOus
rocks rose ON one side and heavy brush
on the other. The dogs rushed into the
latter, and a moment later large cat
bounded into the narrow stream and
began an Intellectual scramble up the
rocky sides. A bullet caught her before
she had gone thirty feet, and, turning
into the air, fell upon the neck of a
bronchO, dismOunted the rider in the
melee and before she could be dislodged
tore and laCerated the animal in fear
full manner. Kittens are often seen in
play to take one another in their mouths
and to scratch with their hind feet, and
it was this plan that was adopted by the
cat She fastened her claws into the
broncho's neck, and with her sharp hind
claws ripped and clawed until the animal
was mass of blood and lacerated flesh,
then fell among the dogs, to be torn to
pieces amid a protest that showed it to be
among the gamest animals.
You may talk about your mountain
hOn, said an old hunter as we rode
slowly up the Arroyo one early morning
after the rain, with the whimpering dogs
all about, ''but l would rather take my
chances with one any time than with
pair Of wildcats at close quarters. 1t just
seems as if a cat loses it's head like. They
know they're caught and they are just
bound to have it out if it takes all sum-
mer. They fight worse when there is a
pair. Just like a mountain lion. "-Phila-
JoI~I,:o