The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-02-27
SHOOTING WOLVES.
A Hound Frightened Into Uselessness-
Catching a Deer in Bear Trap.

A Hound Frightened Into uselessness-
Catching a Deer in Bear Trap.
On a bitter cold night in January,
1910. said an aged Ichigh woodman re-
Gently, | heard one of my hounds bel
lowing around the outside of the house
az though something was chasing it.
then lived in the old road that ran
through the woods from Tobyhanna
Mills to Moscow. right where the
Drinker Turnpike now is, and there
were a good MANY wolves in this region
then. 1t was moonlight night, and
jumped from the bed and looked out OF
the window to see what the hound was
yelping for Two wolves were chasing
it round and round the house as tight as
they could leg it, but the hound was
swifter on foot than they were, and it
managed to keep few feet ahead OF
them at each turn. The wolves didn't
bark once, but their tongues hung out,
and they acted as if they had run long
distance. had two loaded musketS in
the house, and placed one of them in
the corner by the door, cooked the other
and opened the door few inches to get
shot at the wolves as they came around
in front of the house. The frightened
hound saw the crack in the door, dashed
into it, threw the door wide open and
knocked me off my feet. Both wolves
rushed in, and the hound leaped upon
the bed, that stood in recess. The
wolves hesitated when they got to the
side of the bed, and l shut the'door IN a
hurry, banged away at one of the
wolves and shot it in the head, killing
it instantly. Then grabbed the other
musket, and the second wolf made a
spring for the window. Itknocked out
three or four panes of glass. but it
didn't break the sash. and it fell back
ward gathered itself up and sprang
again. BY that time | was ready to
shoot, and | bored hole through the
VOLTS heart just as the beast struck the
window. The hound hadn't been hurt
at all. but the wolves had scared it SO
that it wasn't worth copper for hunt
ing purposes after that night.
One October | set a bear trap in the
woods. about half mile north of the
Lehigh Falls. The next morning the
trap was gone and the iron hooks on
the end of the drag made trail toward
the Lchigh river | followed the trail
over the dry. bare ground until it struck
a moist bit of earth, where | saw the
prints of decr'S hoofs in the soil.
There were no bear tracks anywhere
around there, and made up my mind
that deer had got caught i'll the trap
in some unaccountable way. So | fol-
lowed the trail. and hadn't gone many
rods before heard deer bleating like
every thing in the thick bushes, some
distance ahead. | hurried forward to-
ward the stream, and III d few minutes
came in sight of large buck that had
got tangled up in Il thick clump of sap.
lings. He was bleating loud and
houncing hard to get free, and
saw at once the cause of
his suffering. A big catamount was
tearing at the bucks right saddle, and
it had already gnawed hole in the ham
as large as my two hands. The buck
couldn't defend himself with his horns,
and the catamount seemed to know it,
for it kept tearing away at ths' bleeding
flesh. l have killed more than u hum
dred catamountS and wildcats in this
section, but can't recall the time when
pulled the trigger with SO much salts
faction as | did when l fired at that
bloodthirsty creature. / stretched it
out with bullet, and then l loaded up
and put an end to the bucks misery.
He had stepped into the trap with his
left fore foot, and the jaws had crushed
the bone of his leg. In trying to leap
through the thicket the bucks antlers
caught in some limbs, and the trap and
drag had pulled the poor beast down, SO
that he was unable to back up or go
ahead. 1t was then that the cowardly
catamount. which knew better than to
tackle sound buck, pounced upon him
and began to tear his flesh. 1t was the
only deer that ever knew of getting
caught in u bear trap."-N. Y. Tribune.