The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-05
A Days Sport in Tangled Sulli-
van County Swamps.
NEARLY FIVE FEET LONG
Wandering Propensities of the Animal
and His Series of Homes--Tricks
by Which He Tries to
Escape the Hunter.


he loves to wander from his own fire
side, and he is more fortunate than
| most fellows in the ability to indulge
his hayward propensity. Most animals
of our woods are extremely local in
their habits. The wildcat is tramp.
| 1t is customary for him to have two
| lairs, a dozen wayside hauntS and per-
| haps as many more occasional stopping
| places. His two homes are frequently
| ten or a dozen miles apart, and mark
| two points on the circumference of an
approximate circle which incloses his
| stamping ground.
He starts from one of his habitations
| on his lonely jaunt, covering in the first
"a hours five or six miles on the main
| line of his route. while his excursions
! to the right and left through thicket
| and swamp comprise many more miles
| His route seems to be composed of in
Vulnerable small circles and eccentric
| figures. When he reaches his second
residence he hunts the adjacent covers
until his hayward fancy again asserts
| itself. Then he strikes off home, which
| he reaches by an altogether new route,
| or rather a series of routes. He is not
| a creature of habit. Occasionally he
| curls himself up like house cat and
sleeps on the ground, hunting usually
| by night, and sometimes two weeks
| may elapse before he regains his start
| ing 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 wan
behring's, that we can be sure of his
movements. For this reason, too. the
winter is the only time we can hunt
him scientifically. If he is disturbed
by man he will pike off for the more dis
lance home, perhaps running for eight
miles in 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 almost unseats the rea-
| son of the calmest and most calculat-
ing old hound that ever followed trail.
| He will not take to water or resort TO
| the other methods of obliterating his
| trail that a 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 en-
durance to win out and throw off the
| Fostering hound. He is not afraid OF
| the dog, but the latter bores him by
his persistency. and he resorts to the
same measures adopted by the man
| who owes you $40. 1t is very difficult
| to tree a wildcat Sometimes, after be"
| ing hunted for hours in the way have
indicated, fresh and fast hound
| might make him climb tree, but this
|
without understanding these principles
is lucky.
| Last week Lew Boyd, the presiding
| genius of the hunt at HARDWOOD, tele-
phoned to me that he had found the
| fresh track of cat.
THAT cats come back from Eden
| was the way Lew put it-Eden was
the second place of residence of this
particular cat-'and he's on this side OF
| the Monticello road, now.
| 80 l telephoned to Miles Sturtevant
| to come down from HARDWOOD the next
| morning to meet me- l met his wagon
on the road four miles from town. We
| bumped our way over the turnpike to
| the top of Sullivan county, and then
| turned into the old Texas road picking
up Lew Boyd and his hound on the
way. Three miles further on the Gray
| road strikes out to the east at right
| angles. Here we dismissed the wagon,
| chained the hound and walked on in
the direction of Gray swamp. At the
| head of Gray swamp we found tracks
| of a big cat pointing toward the swamp
| and few yards further on we came
| upon a similar track crossing the road
/ in the opposite direction. Lew asserted
confidently that the two tracks were
! made that day, and by the same ami
| NAL, and the question remained to be
| decided on which side of the road he
| was at that moment. He was of the
opinion that the cat was in Long
| swamp. So we trudged through the
woods for three miles along the top of
low ridge.
I'VE passed innumerable deer tracks
on the way. AS we neared Long swamp
| We put up a fine deem that went dashing
| off toward Port Jervis, and a little later
another jumped through the brush close
by. Long swamp is of the shape of an
! enormous two-fingered hand, covering
| nf After
swamp the sun went under the clouds,
and even the instinct of direction pos
sessed by Lew Boyd, trained woodsman
| as he Is, was at fault. We made our
way out by the aid of my pocket COM
| pass.
ION the west edge of the swamp we
| came suddenly upon a place where the
| ground was torn and trampled. Tufts
of hair and pieces of pelt lay about on
| the blood-stained snow, and there was
| every sign of a terrific struggle. On
the edge of the battle ground lay the
paunch of deer, and a few feet fur
Their on we found its head and spine,
! gnawed clean. The work had been done
two nights before. and from all signs
| this had been no running battle of
miles. The tragedy had all been enact
| ed within a few feet. and we both felt
a new respect for the animal that could
| do away with q nearly full-groWn deer.
| Lew cut through to skirt the east end
of the swamp in quest of a fresh track,
and / went up Handy hill in the oppo-
site direction to look over smaller
| swamp in the vicinity.
The cat amt here Lew announced
definitely. when we met again. He's
| back in Gray swamp
| Gray swamp is the worst place in
| Sullivan county. 1t is almost impene-
trable. 1t is perfectly fiat, and in addi-
ton to the usual dense underbrush 1t is
| overgrown with laurel whose branches
are interlaced so deity that it seems
impossible for any creature to get
| through. l would not cross Gray
swamp for money; for wildcat.
| might. Unless he had winded or sight
ed US the animal was somewhere in the
neighborhood and We had reduced all
likely places to the depths of this
swamp. Lew told me to go in and Sc
lect as open a position as 7 could find
while he walked around the swamp to
look for tracks leading out l wriggled
and twisted and tore nv way through