The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-25
A TIGER HUNT
In Costa Rica, With Plenty of Sport,
but Little Game.
Uetter in Forest and Stream)

Uetter in Forest and Stream)
Big preparations were being made
for our Christmas dinner of roast pig
with apple sauce, winston chops and
other dishes, and it was impossible to
escape the odOrs from time to time i'll
fragrant breezes from the outside kit
chen All the doors and windows were,
of course, wide open, because in Costa
Rica we do not know what winter is,
and there is hardly any change in elm
ate the year around. AS l was sitting
at my desk thinking of all the good
things for dinner, one OF my men came
hurrying in with gun over shoulder and
dog at heel to tell me he had that very
morning, and not half hour before,
seen a tiger pass through the bottom
of the farm and enter the bush about
a mile from the house. He had seen
the tiger carrying a young one in its
mouth Would 1 get my dogs and gun
and hunt her? Well, yes, L would, and
pretty quickly, too.
MY neighbor, Mr.. S., was easily in
duced to join the party, also friend
of his, who was staying with him. So
in all we were a party of four, in
cluding the man who had seen the
tiger. Mr. had a repeating shot
gun, his German friend rifle which
would not go off, our guide a double
1t took US about three-Quarters of an
hour to reach the edge of the forest
where the tiger had been seen. Here
the dogs became very eXc1table, TAX
ing the fresh trail with spirit. No one
who has not hunted in a tropical forest
can realize how hard 1T is to make
ones way through the bush; it is A
matter of patience and machete work.
Our German friend concluded to sit
q await =
yelopments, while the rest of us follow
ed after the dogs. We supposed the old
tiger would not travel far, and this
proved to be a good guess. What, with
the barking of the dogs and the noise
we made cutting the way with our
machetes, the old tiger must have been
badly frightened.
At about this time we heard our Ger
man friend, whom we had left on the
log. calling US at a great rate, and, as
we made circle back, could hear him
calling, II hear the tiger!' and there
he sat on the same log, with his old
rifle that would not go off cooked, and
looking pretty e&pectant. We all listen
ed, and, sure enough, we could hear 81
crying and splitting about seventy-hve
wards off in the bush. We followed
up the sound till we came to snarl OF
an old tree trunk and vines. We cut
n
our machetes, and there, squeezed up
as close as he could get to big tree
root was a young tiger, scratching and
splitting away at a great rate, and do
ing it well, too, [ crawled in and grab
bed him by the back of the neck.
There We're no signs of the old tiger;
she must have been too scared to stay
and see what was going on. Our Ger
man was very mad when told that his
gun would not shoot, and, in fact, threw
the gun down on the ground and said
that he would be blowed if he would
carry it home; and so peon was sent
out for it. / took the little tiger home
with ne and kept him some time, but
the facts are that the cook overfed him
and he died from the effects.
We all enjoyed our Christmas dinner
that day, including the little tiger, who
had his share.
A week later we had a calf killed by
a jaguar, but that is different story
They are all cowardly, and will not
show fight to a man unless badly
wounded. The black panther is also
found here, but is quite rare; on the
other hand, the jaguar is common
enough.
This country is rich in game, and
should be better known.