Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1891-02-21
SHOOTING WOLVES.
A Hound Frightened Into Usclcssness--
Catching Deer In hear Trap.

A Hound Frightened Into Uselcssness--
Catching n Deer In Bear Trap.
On bitter cold night in January,
1870, said an aged Lehigh woodman re-
Gently, heard one of my hounds bell
lowing around the outside of the house
rs though something was chasing 1t. 1
then lived in the old road that ran
through the woods from Tobyhanna
Mills to Moscow, right where the
DrinlSer Turnpike now is, and there
were 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 us 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 rs if they had run n 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 a
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 lcaped upon
the bed, that stood in n recess. The
wolves hesitated when they got to the
side of the bed, and shut the door in q
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 2
spring for the window. II knocked cut
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 a copper for hunt
ing purposes after that night.
One October | set bear trap in tho
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 Lehigh river. | followed the trail
over the dry, bare ground until it struck
moist bit of earth. where / saw the
prints of deers hoofs in the soil.
There were no bear tracks anywhere
around there, and / made up my mind
that deer had got caught in the trap
in some unaccountable way. So l fol
lowed the trail, and hadn't gone many
rods before | heard deer bleating like
i,,f 1,o +hinly h,,SIaS
distance ahead. | hurried forward to
ward the stream, and in a few minutes
came in sight of large buck that haG
got tangled up in thick clump of sap
lings. He was bleating loud an6
houncing hard to get free, anc
saw at once the cause oi
his suffering. A big catamount wa:
tearing at the bucks right saddle, anC
it had already gnawed hole in the han
as large as my two hands. The bucl
couldn't defend himself with his horns
and the catamount seemed to know it
for it kept tearing away at the bleeding
flesh. / have killed more than a hun
: dred catamounts and wildcats in this
! section, but can't recall the time whe1
, pulled the trigger with SO much salts
faction as | did when / fired at tina
: bloodthirsty creature. l stretched i
out with bullet, and then 1 loaded NJ
and put an end to the bucks misery
: He had stepped into the trap with hi
left fore foot, and the jaws had crushed
the bone of his leg. In trying to leal
, through the thicket the bucks antler
caught in some limbs, and the trap an,
drag had pulled the poor beast down, s.
: that he was unable to back up or e
: ahead. 1t was then that the coward,
, catamount, which knew better than t
t tackle a sound buck, pounced upon hin
e and began to tear his flesh. 1t was tn
! only deer that ever knew of gettin
, caught in bear trap. Y. Tribune