Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1912-03-22

her kittens up tree. Then she waits
till the hound Is close, and then gives
him a chase for a little while-then
trees herself. Sometimes she will
fight little. then tree near her kit
tens. A green cat hunter when fol
lowing his dog on a cold cat trail will
suddenly hear the hounds open out In
long and clear bays that denote the cal
is started He follows madly after the
hounds, who finally tree her. and he
kills big female cat on whose breast
hangs the milk for her young.
He has not the remotest idea where
those young are, this green cat man;
but not SO with the man who f''r's
and studies the game at one and the
same time. He notes that his hounds
are sometimes trailing so to 70 feet
apart and all have good trail. and
when they begin to warm up he strains
every muscle in his body to keep near.
When the final jump-up comes and the
woods ring with the music of the
hounds on hot trail, the hunter notes
the particular bunch of trees from
where the jump took place. He pays
no attention to the running hounds. but
goes to this grove. Often he will find
his best hound is there baying up a
small, thick tree; but more often he
hears them barking "treed" some dis
tance away He knows that cat is safe
that the dogs will keep her there.
They knew their master Is attending
to business all right. Have they not
hunted long enough to know him and
trust him to come when game is treed?
The hunter looks the trees over very
carefully-young cats have way of
getting out on limbs and hiding, as
still as death when found. The hunt
er takes a forked stick with noosed
line attached, slips it over the kittens
body, gives smart pull, and the kit
ten is soon in the canvas bag made for
i this purpose. After all are secured or
(if out of reach) are shot, the hunter
then proceeds to do last what Mr..
Green Man would have done first-he
goes and shoots the old cat.
Sometimes dogs will tree a single
cat, then strike another cat trail and
away they go. Mr. Green Man follows
his hounds blindly-but not so with a
cat-hunter. He keeps his weather eye
peeled. He notes the various changes
in the actions Of his hounds, their
bays, etc.-"I don't know where he has
gone"-bay-I think he has treed"-
bay-"I am son-of-a-gun If l know
where he is"-bay. The cat man notes
the trees all along behind the hounds,
for if the cat is running along run
way there are always cats turning up
Unexpectedly. Then, the dogs may be
running two cats; one hops up a tree,
the other keeps on with the pack at his
heels. These things cat-hunter
knows, and he delights to have some
thing turn up he was not expecting on
a cat hunt. To have his hounds run
into a family Of skunks Is another d.
version that sometimes occurs.
With good voiced and intelligent
hounds there Is nothing that beats cat.
hunting in Washington. There are
three kinds Of cats here. The first,
which is not very common, is the Can
ada lynx, the fellow with long whiskers
and tassels on his ears; the next is
smaller in size and very plentiful, be.
ing called the bob-cat or bay lynx; the
next is long-tailed fellow, with tail
as long as his body, very spotted. The
finest specimen Of this animal | have
ever seen is owned by Mr.. Allie Bell
formerly auditor of Mason county
Washington, to whom | presented the
specimen several years ago. after
ward killed several Of these animals
| considered them freaks of nature as
those treed by hounds were the first
known of here.
may add in conclusion that take
no credit for all the cats l killed ir
the past 20 years. / heartily give al
the honor to my noble hounds, who
J treed the cats and made 1t possible fol
me to kill them. These noble dog.
are now dead and gone-I hope to &