The Columbus journal., 1892-07-20
TEN BIO WILD cars.
In Three Days By Ma Who Clains tn
Title of Chanpioa.

In Three Day. ~ . AAa Wh0 ClAins The
title of Chanpaoa.
Jack Dodge of Melrosa Penn. has
had some exceedingly exciting exper-
lences with Wild cats and as there Is
. bounty Of y 90 every wild cat
killed in Pennsylvania his recent ex-
per.ences have been profitable as we'll
as exciting. Dodge has according to
the New York Sun long enjoyed the
reputation Of being the champion Wild
cat hunter of this country. but he says
he Is not content with that honor now.
He challenges all the wildcat hunters
of the stat, 10 show = three days rec
ord better than his
The first of these three days he went
out in the morning to look at some
traps he had lying in wait for q couple
OF big catamounts he had seen prowl-
ing about his prem ses although the
number revious!y captured BY him in
those parts last winter-no less than
fifteen-was enough. he supposed to
clean them all out He found none OF
his traps sprung much TO his sur
prise. nor was there any sign OF any
of the animals having been fOOling
about them. He left the traps ust rs
they were. and was just turning away
from the last one he had .amined
when no heard q noise in the scrub
of to his right
He looked around and saw a big wild
cat that had sprdng from some hiding
place and landed squarely on ruffed
grouse which had evidently been hud-
died up under a bush. but in sight
With the suspicion OF its kind the
wild cat had looked around as soon as
it struck the bird and. seeing Dodge
seized the grouse In its teeth and
bounded away toward u chestnut tree.
Before it reached the tree Dodge gave
it charge of buckshot and the Cat
sprawled about in the snow, yelling
with pain. and dropping the grouse.
which kicked and fluttered feebly in
the snow.
While the cat was yelling and roll
ing anl tumbling about and before
Dodge had made up his mind what it
was best to do next another wild cat
which had been crouching unseen on
branch Of the chestnut leaped
down. captured the bird and started
away with it Dodge had another
barrel of his gun still charged. and he
stopped the flight of the second wild
cat as he had the first and had two
catamounts yelling and doing ground
and lofty tumbling in the snow.
RelOading his gun. he killed both
animals, and he had scarcely done SO
when a sharp .click" behind him
cat had sprung the trap Dodge had
left but a few minutes before and
from the way it was held by both fore
feet the trapper believed that the an
imal had Jumped into the trap while
bounding along in response to the
wild cries of the two cats that were
wounded. Dodge shot the trapped
cat and. throwing the three on his
back. started for home.
He had gone but short distance
when he met man hurrying along in
an old road leading to the main road.
The man said that some kind of an
animal had beer chasing him. While
he was yet telling Dodge how the ami
NAL had started for him out of the
bushes a wild cat appeared around
the bend of the road a hundred feet
away. and the man declared that it
was the animal that had started after
him half q mile down the road. The
wild cat stopped when it saw the two
men, and Dodge shot it. killing it with
a single charge
Dodge went on home aud encoun-
tered no more wild cats that day but
the next day he found that three OF
his traps had each q wild cat in it
He killed them. and resetting his last
trap went back over the round again
and found that fourth one had been
caught in the hour or so since he had
been there
The third day he could scare up but
two in his traps and, as he has not
captured any at all since he is of the
opinion that all of the catamounts in
the vicinity had gathered within the
limit where his traps are on these
three days; and that he has got them
all