The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-09-28
LIKE A HUMAN ON TRAIL
Witness of a Wildcat as the
Trapper Read it in the Snow.
BULLET STOPPED FEAST
The Stalking Of a Deer Told by the
Tracks.-Planning for the Vantage
Ground and Watching the Time to
Strike.-Man Wiser Than Wildcat
in the End.

prey" said A. W. Stevens of Mexican
County. Pa, 81 never heard or read
of a more striking instance of 1t than
one that came under the observation
of Leroy Lyman, a noted woodsman of
northern Pennsylvania.
after a fall of snow he was going
into the woods to set a trap, when he
came to tracks in the snow, in an old
wood road, which he recognized as
those of a wildcat. The trail kept
along in the road for some distance,
when it turned off at a sharp angle
and entered the woods.
The tracks led straight as a chalk
line in the direction of one of the big
hemlocks. Lyman followed it, and was
surprised to find that it ended at the
tree, with the impression of one OF the
Wildcats feet in the snow, a foot or so
Off the trail, near the tree trunk.
The wildcat had not climbed the
tree. There was no other growth into
or upon which It could have leaped.
What had become of it was a mystery.
AFTER studying the situation awhile,
Lyman believed that in that single
footprint apart from the trail, at the
tree trunk, he saw the solution OF
the puzzle. When he examined the
trail closely, he was sure of il. for he
discovered that each track bore the
marks of two of The wildcats feet.
The animal had returned to the road
by taking its trail back-and that with.
out turning in it's tracks. Then Ly-
man knew that the wildcat was on the
scent OF game. and to secure it had
been obliged to resort to careful
tactics.
: Following the trail back to the
road, he found that the wildcat had
continued along 1t for about twenty
yards, to a spot where the ground at
the side of the road was two feet or so
above the roads level, and there it
had turned and climbed back into the
woods behind another hemlock tree.
Beyond this tree and in line with it,
at a distance of few yards was an.
other hemlock, and about the same
distance apart, straight in line, were
two more. A rod or so beyond the last
tree in the line lay big log, against
which the snow had drifted to the top.
"The Wildcats trail led from the
first tree of the row of hemlocks to the
second, around which it followed, close
to the trunk, and so on to the second
third and fourth. From the fourth,
as the trail indubitably showed in the
snow, the wildcat had crept low to the
bottom of the drift against the log,
and then along it and around to one
end. There the scattered snow told
the Enthusiastically story of leap from
that point of vantage, gained by tao
tics startlingly human in the calcula.
ton and judgment with which they
were executed.
THE snow on the opposite side OF
the log was torn up and scattered
about and covered with deer hair and
blood. II is rare for a wildcat to at.
tack prey as big as deer but this one
was evidently made desperate by hun
ger. A mound of snow a few feet
away showed that the wildcat had
won in the attack, for under 1t Lyman
knew the beast had buried such of the
deer as was left after it had satisfied
It's hunger.
when he uncovered the mound he
found the remains of a doe. The
ground was bare on the lee side of the
log, and there the deer had been lying
when surprised and overcome.
dc Lot
the wildcat had scented the deer from
the road, and laid plans for its cap
>Ire. Stealing in as far as the hem.
lock tree to which its trail first led.
the animal had kept the trunk of the
tree between it and possible discov-
cry by its intended prey. Getting to
the tree, and still careful not to ex.
pose its body, the wildcat had found
1t nece 5sary to reconnotre to discover
the position and location of its game.
so as to decide on the safest tactics
TO adopt in getting within capturing
distance of It.
"To do this the wildcat had peerod
around the tree trunk, during which in
spection it had put one paw out in the
snow to steady itself, making the sepa-
rate track near the tree. This steathy
glance had evidently satisfied the
wildcat that further advance in that
direction was out OF the question, for
beyond the hemlock there was no pro-
lection against discovery. So the willy
animal had backed cautiously over it's
trail to and along the road, backing
in order that it might keep it's eyes
in the direction OF the spot where it
had located its prey. thus to detect
any suspicious movement 1t might
make, and note the result.
'Its plan was to seek the row of
hemlock trees that offered 1t such
strategic advantage.
"But with all its cunning, the cat
was no match for the wiles of the trap
per who had read the story Of it's wis
dom in those tracks in the snow. Ly-
man replaced the snow in the mutt
lated remains of the deer, and set his
trap as he knew how, knowing that