Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-15
Shorty Climbs the Pinyon.

latter.
Shorty Climbs the Pinyon.
axe started off to G 1, around the head of
the valley, while the rest OF us plunged
down into it. We found from the track
that the bear had gone up the valley, and
Jake found where he had come out on the
high divide, and then turned and retraced
his steps. But the hounds were evidently all
after the cat. There was nothing for us to
do but follow them Sometimes riding,
sometimes leading the horses, we went up
the steep hillside, and as soon as we reached
the crest heard the hounds barking freed
Shorty and Skip, who always trotted after
the horses while the hounds were in full cry
on TRAIL recognized the change OF note
Immediately, and tore off in the direction of
the bay while we followed as best we could,
hoping to get there in time for Stewart and
Lambert to take photographs OF the lynx
in tree.
But we were too late. Both Shorty and
Skip could climb trees, and although Skip
was too light to tackle bobcat by himself,
Shorty, heavy, formidable dog, OF unflinch-
ing courage and great physical strength,
was altogether too much for any bobcat.
When we reached the place we found the
bobcat in the top OF pinyon, and Shorty
steadily working lis way up through the
branches and very near the quarry Evil
IDENTIFY the bobcat felt that the situation
needed the taking Of desperate chances, and
just before Shorty reached it out it jumped,
Shorty yelling with excitement as he
plunged down through the branches after it.
But the cat did not jump far enough. One
OF the hounds seized it by the hind leg and
III another second everything was over
The bobcat we killed this first day was a
male, weighing Is pounds. 1t was too late
to try after the bear, especially as we had
only 10 or dozen dogs out, while the bears
tracks showed it to be big one and we
rode back to camp
Again on the Track
Next morning we rode off early. taking
with us all 20 hounds ard the four terriers
We wished first to find whether the bear
had gone out OF the country in which we had
seen him, and SO rode up valley and then
scrambled laboriously up the mountain side
to the top OF the snow-covered divide Here
the snow was three feet deep in places, and
worked Our way in single file through the
drifts. But i had frozen hard the previous
night, SO that bear could walk on the crust
and leave very little sign. In consequence
we came near pascing over the place where
the animal we were after had actually
crossed out of the canyon-like ravine in
which we had seen him and gone over the
divide into another set Of valleys
The trail was so faint that it puzzled us,
as we could not be certain how fresh it was,
and until this point could be cleared UP we
tried to keep the hounds from following it
Old Jim, however, slipped off to one side
and speedily satisfied himself that the trail
was fresh Along it he went, giving tongue,
and the other dogs were maddened by the
sound, while Jin under such circumstances,
paid no heed whatever to any effort to
make him come back. Accordingly, the
other hounds were slipped after him, and
down they ran into the valley, while we slid,
foundered and scrambled along the ridge
crest parallel to them, until couple of miles
farther on we worked our way down to
some great slopes covered with dwarf
scrub-oak.
1t was hard to follow the scent across
such mountain side, and the dogs speedily
became much scattered We could hear
them plainly, and now and then could see
them, looking like ants as they ran up and
down hill and along the lodges. Finally we
heard some of them barking bayed. The
volume of sound increased as the struggling
dogs joined those which had first reached
the hunted animal At about this time, to
our astonishment, Badge, usually a staunch
fighter, rejoined us, followed by one or two