Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-01-31
HUNT FOR A MIG WILDCAT.
4 Days Sport In Tangled Sullivan
County swnmps.
CNew York SUM


"Ths bay lynx. or wildcat" said Judge
Crane, Of Port Jervis, "is not a striking
example Of domestic devotion. Unlike the
hero Of the popular ballad, he loves to
wander from his own flreside, and he is
more fortunate than most fellows I'm the
ability to indulge his hayward propen-
sity. Most animals Of our woods are ex-
tremelv local I'm their habits. The wild
cat is a tramp. 1t Is customary for him
to have two lairs, a dozen wayside
haunts, and perhaps as many more oc-
casional stopping places. His two homes
are frequently ten or a dozen miles apart,
and mark two points on the, circum-
ference Of an approximate circle which
incloses his stamping-ground.
"He starts from one of his habitations
on his lonely jaunt, covering in the first
twenty-fOur hours five or six miles on the
main line of his route, while his eXcur-
sions to the right and LETT through thicket
and swamp comprise many more miles.
His route seems 10 be composed Of in
Vulnerable small circles and eccentric
fiaures. When he reaches his second
residence he hunts the adjacent covers
until his Maynard fancy again asserts
itself. Then he strikes off home, which
he reaches by an altogether new route,
or rather series Of routes. He is not
a creature OF habit. Occasionally he
curls himself up. like a house cat and
sleeps on the ground, hunting usually by
night and sometimes two weeks may
elapse before he regains his starting point.
without doubt he keeps this rowing up
all the time, although it is only during
the winter months when the
snow holds the record Of his
wanderings, that we can be sure
the winter is the only time we can hunt
him scientifically. If he is disturbed by
man he will pike off for the more distant
home. perhaps running for eight miles
in a perfectly straight line. II you can
set a dog upon his hot track he will take
to the nearest swamp or patch Of briers,
and wind and twist and turn until he al
most unseats the reason of the calmest
and most calculating old hound that ever
followed a trail. He will not take 10
water or resort TO the other methods OF
obllterating his trail that deer adopts.
He Simply goes around and around in the
thickest brush he can find. depending all
the time on mere strength and grit and
endurance 20 win out and throw or the
Fostering hound He is not afraid Of the
dog, but the latter bores him by his per
sstency, and ne resorts TO the same
He1suioS duoplVu ny tue man VINO owes
you SO IL is very difficult To tree
wildcat. Sometimes. after being hunted
for hours In the way l have indicated. a
fresh and fast hound might make him
climb tree. but this is rare. The man
who shoots a swildcat without under
standing these principles is lucky.
Last week Lew Boyd, the presiding
genius Of the hunt az HARDWOOD. tele-
phoned To me that he had found the
fresh track OF a cat.
That cats come back from Eden
was the way Lew pu. it-Eden was the
second place OF resldsnce Of this particu-
lar eat-'and he's on side Of the Mon
ticello road now
80 telephoned to Miles Sturtevant to
come down from HARDWOOD the next
morning 10 meet me. l met his wagon
on the road four miles from town. We