The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1912-02-16

LlSl 80 the foothills OF the fame'
B[4 Olympic mountain range
h&1 H where the largest elk ol
~ S2hS the American continen
~--0 roam today When frs
settled on Totten's 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 WSis
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 well defined as the streets In our
cities tas 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
friend in Tacoma secured a white
dog, half bull and half hound One
day he ran and treed a large old tom
! fired and broke leg The cat came
down a little lame, but full OF fight,
and Don was a pretty sore dog be
fore ! killed the cat for him This
dog was about a 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 II 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 1t 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 of 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
It after a short run. Turk does the
same-but Don. Sport, Little Boy and
Mazda hang onto their first love. You
stop on the break of a hill You hear |
old Don talking loud. long and clear, !
about cats in general and this one in
particular. You reach the tree and
AZ 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 you pet
hem You gaze on a far-of hill and |
find you are about six miles from |
home. in a country which is no skat.
ng rink even If the timber was Off !
About midnight a hunter and five or
six tired hounds lift the latchstring at |
Home, Sweet Home" vowing never
10 run another cat lat least that
lightD
well remember one morning an
I'D Indian hunter who came to my /
nome This Indian knew all about
is. some cats) had
me kitten at this time that was very
anne | also had a nearly full grown
emale. mother of the kitten. The In
iian was playing with the kitten,
which was on the ground near the
wire netting that kept the old lady
,aptive The old Indian had on a
,air Of tight short pants that some
ady had given him as her son had
,ltgrown them In STOPPING down he
ot against the wire netting. The old
at udu UCCu blO"ih6 hVA hAoaPBAON
] OF the Indian handling her kitten
or some time, so when Klan-Soup-
billie backed his rear-guard into the
etting she reached for Willie with
9th hands, and she got him, too. and
llan said something that sounded like
Gul-dub,to-de-cat!" and jumped about
8 feet the first leap Now, the cat
age was of wire netting. Just braced
nth small wooden sticks, so when
yilne jumped, the cat hung on and
ne cage. cat and Willie stuck togeth
r Willie started down the beach to-
ard the Indian reserve yelling
loody cats This woke the hounds
p, and when they saw Willie steal.
lg their cat they put after him. and
was the finest mix-up ever saw in
~ life Willie, as became a great
hief. scorned to sit down for weeks
fter this, but stood in a dignified way
efore his wickiup A slight hiss would
luse Ril TO Jump clear over his tepee
II weeks after
But Bill is Just like a great many
----z-saz---z=>=e> e>>--@zz.zs- s-=1-s-s------