The San Francisco call., 1897-05-16
PANTHER AND WOLVES COMBINE.
They Form q Hunting Trio and Divide
the SpOils.

They Form Hunting ITO and Divide
the Spoils.
Two wolves and a panther formed an
alliance in Maine a month ago, If the
Bredville Local of that State is to be be-
lieved. and the result has been disastrous
to Wild creatures of that region, as we'll as
to some tame ones.
Barker Sim pkins and Fred Parsley, :"
the Local says, "were hunting over On the
Old Pine ridge few days ago, when they
heard yelping howl across the swamp as
if dogs were chasing deer. AS the
sounds came closer the men made haste
with still hunters caution to two run
ways that cross the ridge, hoping to get a
shot at the dogs, since it is against the law
to hunt deer with dogs in this State. Simp-
kins took to the runway on the north
side of the ridge and had scarcely waited
ten minutes when he heard the steady beat
of running deer's hoofs in the three
inches of snow down in the swamp. The
deer came into sight twenty rods away
headed verv nearly toward the place
where the man was seated, aud had come
within ten rods OF the man when 1.-THE
form leaped from big birch tree branch,
hit the deer and rolled over and over with
it. The deer never got up again, its neck
having been broken.
"Simpkins was so surprised that he
forgot to shoot for minute, when the an
imals that were in pursuit of the deer
came into view. They were wolves, tall
and gaunt, with gray hair. The wolves
ran without hesitation to the deer, and
while the beast which had killed it, which
Simpkins made out to be panther, tore
at the deer 5 throat, the wolves bit through
the skin of the launches and ate chunks
4, Aaoh nc
panther.
LESS than q week later another hunter,
Sam Wells, found the trails of two dog
like sets of paws on a deer trail. Follow
ing these two miles, Wells came to
gnlly, and here were the remnants of the
deer, and the leaps panther had made
left an unmistakable trail.
Mick Schumacher. German, living
two miles from Bredvile, a farmer and
sheep-raiser, heard wild commotion in
the sheep shelter in the pasture, which
begins thirty rods from his house. Has
tening into a pair of overalls and felt
boots, Schumacher took his rifle and
made his way rapidly along the path to
the shelter. The sheep-there mad been
ffty-eight of them in all-were seen
to be racing about in all direc-
tions, bleating in fear. On the
mans approach a long animal bounded
off through the snow, but until it was be-
yond the sheep no shots were fired, and
they were Intellectual when they were
made. Two other animals were there, but
the German did not see them. Their
trails, found in the morning, showed them
to have been wolves, probably. and the
trail of the jumper was that OF a panther.
Eight sheep were killed, some of them be-
ing literally torn in two.
''The last heard of the odd trio was yes
terday. Burt Jones went fox-hunting
with his dog, half bull and half hound,
which had put many bears into trees.
Finding the wolves trails Jones put his
dog onto them. Three hours later Jones
who followed the trail of his dog, came up
with it. A hip and bit of the backbone
were on a log and tracks indicated that
one of the wolves had lain there to eat its
share. The head and foreshoulders had
plainly fallen to the lot OF the pan ther, for
the bones were found under a branch of
large beech, as if dropped from the beech.
The rest OF the body had gone to the Sec
ond wolf and lay where the trampIed
snow showed the dogs last fighting place.
1t looked to Jones as if the wolves had led
the dog to the panther's resting place and
there, with the panthers aid, had
killed it."