The San Francisco call., 1899-02-12

p l. the. past few weeks. Ano never
-. : before have they been so Zero
cious. The long dry season has driven
them out Of their mountain Businesses
to- make. life a burden for the stock
raisers living IN the valleys below.
From several sections come reports Of
stock being killed by mountain lions;
several men have had very narrow es-
:capes from the rowing beasts. So thick
and venturesome are the giant cats be-
coming that many ranchers and miners
are getting up. regular hunts to check
the lions. 1t Is the most exciting sport
as we'll as the most dangerous to be
found In. California
, Up in Glenn County, particularly IN
the western part, the lions have be-
come extraordinarily daring. The late
snow: deprived them Of their last bit of
sustenance and drove them from the
higher levels Of the Coast Range down
into the foothills. Just after the last
big storm the rowing stock IN search
Of pasture began to disappear A little
investigation showed bones and lion
tracks ard the hunt to stop the depre-
dations Of the Hons began.
g. The. Conklin brothers, whose ranch is
near MELVILLE, suffered loss Of nearly
$1,000 In three days by the ravages Of
mountain lions Their fine herd of An
CORA goats was so cut into that the end
would have been only a few days off
had they not begun war on the goat
eating.Iions. 1t was not so much what
the lions. ate as the number Of goats
they killed for the pure fun Of slaugh-
ter: ~. .~:....~
Last Monday Lou Conklin went out
to see how his goats were getting along
and ran. on a trail Of blood. After
a search he found the carcasses of
thlrty-one thoroughbred Angoras. The
animals: were worth from SIS to $50 each
when alive.
Only. the tender parts of the goats
had been. eaten The rest Of the
Inangled carcass was left lying in the
SNOW. -
This was. more than I could stand"
said Mr.. Conklin, a couple of days
later IT. made UP my mind that 1
would not board any mountain lion on
the epicurean. bits Of thoroughbred An
CORA goats.
H.: Before doing anything else I drove
all the. rest OF the herd into the corral
where they would be safe and then I
called the. boys for lion hunt And
you can bet we had one
T. = My brother Tom insisted on taking
his camera along, but that did not
hinder.-our progress any. My brother
Joe and Pat Mhalen completed our
party 81.
II, AS soon as we let the hounds loose
the hunt began:' The trail was easy to
follow. over the snow and we soon
reached the lair Of the lions The first
lion: that was routed out was shot with
out any trouble. and so were three
others. We just bowled them over like
jaekrabbfts as they bounded out of the
la3r.: Then we got on the trail of an
cutside. Lion. and the real fun began.
): ~ ne dogs had scared up a monstrous
fellow and after following hot on his
trail for long distance they finally
freed him: / was in the lead and as
soon, as I got close to the tree raised
my rife to fire.
. =, :. hold d Q! UP a second yelled Tom. Let
me take. a snap shot Of him and the
ssuPsequeat' pr9eeedings.'
And-so ] waited with my gun point
eqr..% nile the lion ,growled his defiance
from the tree: When I heard the cam
era snap 1 fired. ;: Pat Whalen also fired,
and. both bullets went through the
lion $ body. But the fierce brute wasn't
dead by a.:good deal.
Down he. dropped and up he bound
ed and the next instant he was ar,ans
the dogs, tearing and ripping them to
pieces. Dog meat flew all around him.
We didn't dare fire on the rolling, bit
ing, snarling tangle of dogs and lion for
fear Of killing our dogs. Inside Of thir
ty seconds though the dogs realized he
was too much for them, and they began
to fall away.
Before 1 could realize what was hap