The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-12
HUNTING BOBCATS
 OUT IN OKLAHOMA The True Sportsman Goes
 Without a Gun
AND FIGHT IS TRIMMED
After Long Pursuit the Bobcats Fall Prey to the Pack--The Dogs Some
 times Suffer Severely in s.=zs Single Encounters

From the New York Sun.
 When old man Davenport came back from the canon in the big timber where
 he had been looking for his stray hogs
 he said"Bobcats." Pete Seely shifted
 his pipe and asked for further infor-
 nation.
 Its shore big one," replied Daven- port, tracks big as the inside of
 your hand. Bet 1t weighs fifty pounds
 Turkey feathers strung along the creek for quarter of mile.'
 This Is the season when the bobcat is most active in Oklahoma. His fur Is
 at it's best, his hunger has a keen edge
 and he preys constantly upon birds and rodents, even raiding henhouses if hard pressed by snow and cold weather. The bobcat varies in size from twenty to sixty and seventy strength and agility. most of his fight
 ing is done with his claws. which are long sharp, and finely curved Unless sure of being able to whip an
 enemy the bobcat will take to flight at the approach of danger. When at bay a big bobcat will attack man. Davenportk and Seely started to hun,
 down the bobcat whose tracks the for mer had seen. Their pack of hounds
 stood in fear of nothing that walked
 on four legs. With a few cold biscuits in their pockets the two hunters started for the spot where Davenport had seen the signs the previous evening. On mild winter days the bobcat, like the. house cat, loves to lie in the grass in the sheltered places and bask in the
 sunshine, frequently choosing the head af n rax.1o or.6 rtx1A IA11+ a greek. bottom. Rabbits, field mica, meadow larks and even quail frequent
 such spots and often opportunity for a toothsome dinner comes to the bobcat. Jumped fin the Grass "Who-e-e-e!'' shouted Davenport
 when the hounds began baying in the bottom and there came the melodious
 response of the running dogs. They
 had found a fresh trail leading up the steep hillside.
 Here and there the trail led them
 until it opened up broken upland. The grass shook for moment at the head of a ravine and 8 dark body was seen
 passing with 1.-the bounds toward a clump of low trees that overhung the edge of the valley. It was bobcat that had been reused from the grass where he had~been lying with one eye open in the sunshine.
 The dogs broke into a wild clamor of pursuit. The bobcat treed in the
 branches just beyond reach of the dogs that sprang toward him. The gen. uine bobcat hunter does not carry gun. believing that all game is entitled to a square deal and that if a bobcat can whip or ortT'-'t the dogs he is entitled to his freedom. ii W lN1NY A big bobc.,e silhouetted against tho 1 sky on the limb of a tree and enraged 1 by attacking dogs is one of the most
 deceptive sights in the world to the
 inexperienced hunter. Snarling and
 lowing his back he distends his hail until his size Is apparently increased l threefold, the effect being not unlike
 that of a horse or COW standing on the summer At such times tenderfoot is | confident that bobcat weighing no more than twenty pounds Is as big as a noun | tain Hon. s
 A bobcat stands in more fear of a | man than he does of a dog, and upon the approach of Davenport and Seely the one that had saught refuge in the tree began moving nneasily.
 "Watch him boys: he's going to jump!' shouted Seeiy to the mountain hounds. | The bobcat jumped, not to the ground, but to another tree, nearer to the edge | of the declivity. Three times he jumped
 and disappeared from sight into the val l ley below.
 Tn Briar ThicIset "Darn him." muttered Seely; he's gone | to the green briars. Here's where you earn your bacon, Davenport
 ] A bobcat in green briar thicket Is