Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1912-03-22
Ae LYNX AND HIS HABITS
MzFrank Moasmar
C0pXRHG1fTSY OUTDOOR LAE

u
roam today. When first
settled on Tottens Inlet, as this arm
of the great Puget Sound sea is called.
there were deer. bear. mink. otter,
cats of three kinds. cougar and ducks
and birds by the thousands. From my
home west to the Pacific ocean. an
hundred miles away, there was a
dense wilderness of great green trees
The game of the claw variety had
roamed for ages through this wilder
ness and the bear and cat trails were
as we'll defined as the streets in our
cities las were also those of the elk
and deer).
My first experience with our whisk-
cred cat came shortly after ] began
hunting in the blue hills of Mason
county. Through the kindness Of a
friend in Tacoma secured white
dog, half bull and half hound One
day he ran and treed a large old tom
fired and broke leg. The cat came
and Don was a pretty sore dog be-
fore killed the cat for him This
dog was about year old at the time
and for twelve long years after he
was cat and cougar treer, He
would rather run a cat than eat; and
when your humble servant had an
hour to spare 1t was spent on the
trail of the cat. When look back
over the long vista of years ! spent
hunting. can truly say that ! love
cat hunting better than any other
sport, and may add that it is the
hardest work of any game hunting on
the coast You see, the lynx Is a
great traveller and he does most of his
travelling after nightfall
We will suppose you are ready for a
little cat hunt You take your dogs
and start out in the morning They
hit off on a cat trail and go yelping
through the forest. Fresh track"
you say. They will put him up soon."
Presently there is a confused murmur
Of hound yelps; then none at all
"Treed." you think But no! Here
comes old Don. racing on the back
trail "Back-tracking," you think.
Don's clarion bay calls the other dogs
and they go baying the other way.
They go a mile or so, when they lose
the track altogether The last scent
was on an old cedar log. Back and
forth for half an hour go the dogs,
but they cannot hit the trail. You
look around. and find the cats trail
where he had back-tracked, and away
they go.
Wanda strikes another cat and trees
1t after a short run. Turk does the
same-but Don, Sport, Little Boy and
Nadia hang onto their first love. You
stop on the break Of hill. You hear
old Don talking loud. long and clear,
about cats in general and this one in
particular. You reach the tree and
at the same time get your first sight
of your game-a big, brown, bulldog
headed animal with long Dundreary
whiskers. You let the dogs shake
him when killed. and then yoA pet
them. You gaze on a far-off hill and
find you are about six miles from
home, in a country which is no skat.
Ing rink even IL the timber was off.
About midnight hunter and five or
six tired hounds lift the latchstring at
Home, Sweet Home" vowing never
to run another cat TAT least that
nightly.
| well remember one morning an
old Indian hunter who came to my
home. This Indian knew all about
wildcats is, some cats) had
one kitten at this time that was very
tame. | also had nearly full grown
female, mother of the kitten. The In
dian was playing with the kitten
which was on the ground near the
wire netting that kept the old lady
captive. The old Indian had on 6
pair OF tight short pants that some
lady had given him as her son hat
outgrown them In STOPPING down ht
got against the wire netting. The ole
cat had been growing her disapprov
al of the Indian handling her kittel
for some time, so when Klan-Soup
Billie backed his rear-guard into thu
netting she reached for Willie witt
both hands. and she got him. too. ant
Klan said something that sounded lik'
"Gul-dub-to-de-cat!" and jumped abou
Is feet the first leap. Now. the ca
cage was OF wire netting. just brace'
with small wooden sticks. 80 whel
Willie Jumped. the cat hung on. an
the cage, cat and Willie stuck togeth
er. Willie started down the beach tc
ward the Indian reserve yellin
bloody cats. This woke the hound
up, and when they saw Willie stea
Ing their cat they put after him. an
It was the finest mix-up ] ever saw i
my life. Willie. as became a grea
chief. scorned to sit down for week
after this, but stood In a dignifled wa