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16 - Last of the Plainsmen by Zane Grey · Last of the Plainsmen

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  Speaker 1: Angry, Chapter fifteen, Schones on Cougars. Mountain lion or cougar
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  Speaker 1: of our rocky mountain region is nothing more nor less
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  Speaker 1: than the panther. He is a little different in shape, color,
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  Speaker 1: and size, which very according to his environment. The panther
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  Speaker 1: of the Rockies is usually light, taking the grayish shoe
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  Speaker 1: of the rocks. He is stockier and heavier of build
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  Speaker 1: and stronger of limb than the eastern species, which differences
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  Speaker 1: come from climbing mountains and springing down the cliffs after
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  Speaker 1: his prey. In regions accessible to man, or when where
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  Speaker 1: man is encountered even rarely, the cougar is exceedingly shy,
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  Speaker 1: seldom or never venturing from the cover. During the day.
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  Speaker 1: He spends the hours of daylight high on the most
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  Speaker 1: rugged cliffs, sleeping and basking in the sunshine, and watching
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  Speaker 1: with wonderfully keen sight the valleys below. His hearing equals
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  Speaker 1: his sight, and if danger threatens, he always hears it
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  Speaker 1: in time to sulk away. Unseen at night, he steals
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  Speaker 1: down the mountain side toward deer or elk. He is
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  Speaker 1: located during the day, keeping to the lowest ravines and thickets.
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  Speaker 1: He creeps upon his prey. His cunning and ferocity are
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  Speaker 1: keener and more savage in proportion to the length of
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  Speaker 1: time he has been without food. As he grows hungrier
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  Speaker 1: and thinner, his skill and fierce strategy correspondingly increase. A
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  Speaker 1: well fed cougar will creep upon and secure only about
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  Speaker 1: one in seven of the deer, elk, antalop or mountain
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  Speaker 1: sheep that he stalks. But a starving cougar is another animal.
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  Speaker 1: He creeps like a snake, is as sure on the
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  Speaker 1: scent as a vulture, makes no more noise than a shadow,
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  Speaker 1: and he hides behind a stone or bush that would
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  Speaker 1: scarcely conceal a rabbit. Then he springs with terrific force
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  Speaker 1: and intensity of purpose, and seldom fails to reach his victim.
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  Speaker 1: And once the claws of a starved lion touch flesh,
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  Speaker 1: they never let go. A cougar seldom pursues his quarry
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  Speaker 1: after he has leaped and missed, either from disgust or failure,
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  Speaker 1: or knowledge that a second attempt would be futile. The
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  Speaker 1: animal making the easiest prey for the cougar is the elk.
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  Speaker 1: About every other elk attack falls on victim deer or
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  Speaker 1: more fortunate the ratio being one dead to five leaped at.
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  Speaker 1: The antelope living on the lowlands or upland meadows escapes
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  Speaker 1: nine times out of ten, and the mountain sheep or
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  Speaker 1: bighorn seldom falls to the onslaught of his enemy. Once
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  Speaker 1: the lion gets a hold with the great forepaw, every
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  Speaker 1: movement of the struggling prey sinks the sharp hooked claws deeper. Then,
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  Speaker 1: as quickly as is possible, the lion fastens his teeth
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  Speaker 1: in the throat of his prey and grips till it
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  Speaker 1: is dead. In this way, elk have carried lions for
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  Speaker 1: many rods. The lion seldom tears the skin of the neck,
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  Speaker 1: and never, as is generally supposed, sucks the blood of
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  Speaker 1: its victim, But he cuts into the side just behind
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  Speaker 1: the foreshoulder the liver. First, he rolls the skin back
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  Speaker 1: as neatly and tightly as a person could do it.
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  Speaker 1: When he has gorged himself, he dragged the carcasse into
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  Speaker 1: a vine or a dense thicket, andriyx's leaves, sticks, or
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  Speaker 1: dirt over it to hide it from other animals. Usually
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  Speaker 1: he returns to his cage on the second night, and
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  Speaker 1: after that the frequency of his visits depend on the
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  Speaker 1: supply of fresh prey. In remote regions unfrequented by man,
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  Speaker 1: the lion will guard his cake from cliouts and buzzards.
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  Speaker 1: In sex, there are about five female lions to one male.
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  Speaker 1: This is caused by the jealous and vicious disposition of
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  Speaker 1: the male. It is a fact that the old tombs
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  Speaker 1: will kill every young line they can catch. Both male
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  Speaker 1: and female of the litter suffer alike until after weaning time,
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  Speaker 1: and then only the males. In this matter, wise, animal
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  Speaker 1: logic is displayed by the toms. The domestic cat, to
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  Speaker 1: some extent, possesses the same trait. If the litter is destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: the mating time is sure to come about, regardless of
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  Speaker 1: the season. Thus, this savage trade of the lions prevents
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  Speaker 1: overproduction and breeds a hardy and intrepid race. If, by
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  Speaker 1: chance or that cardinal feature of animal life, the survival
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  Speaker 1: of the fittest, a young male lion escapes to the
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  Speaker 1: weaning time, even after that he is persecuted. Young male
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  Speaker 1: lions have been killed and found to have had their
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  Speaker 1: flesh beaten until it was a mass of bruises, and
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  Speaker 1: undoubtedly it had been the work of an old tom. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: old males and females have been killed and found to
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  Speaker 1: be in the same bruised condition. A feature and a
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  Speaker 1: conclusive one is the fact that invariably the female is
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  Speaker 1: suckling her young at that period and sustains the bruces
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  Speaker 1: in desperately defending her litter. It is astonishing how cunning,
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  Speaker 1: wise and faithful an old lionesses she somehow leaves her kittens.
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  Speaker 1: From the time they are six weeks old. She takes
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  Speaker 1: them out to train them for the battles of life,
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  Speaker 1: and the struggle continues from birth to death. The lion
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  Speaker 1: hardly ever dies naturally. As soon as night descends, the
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  Speaker 1: lion is stealthily stalks forth, and because of her little ones,
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  Speaker 1: takes very short steps. The cubs follow, stepping in their
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  Speaker 1: mother's tracks. When she crouches for game, each little lion
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  Speaker 1: crouches also, and each one remains perfectly still until she
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  Speaker 1: springs or signals them to come. If she secures the prey,
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  Speaker 1: they all gorge themselves. After the feast, the mother takes
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  Speaker 1: her back trail, stepping in the tracks she made coming
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  Speaker 1: down the mountain, and the cubs are very careful to
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  Speaker 1: follow suit. And not to leave marks of their trail
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  Speaker 1: in the soft snow. No doubt this habit is practiced
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  Speaker 1: to keep their deadly enemies in ignorance of their existence.
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  Speaker 1: The old Toms and white hunters are their only foes.
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  Speaker 1: Indians never kill a lie ion. This trick of the
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  Speaker 1: lions has fooled many a hunter concerning not only the direction,
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  Speaker 1: but particularly the number. The only successful way to hunt
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  Speaker 1: lions is with trained dogs. A good hound can trail
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  Speaker 1: him for several hours after the tracks have been made,
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  Speaker 1: and on a cloudier wet day, can hold the scent
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  Speaker 1: much longer. In snow, the hound can trail for three
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  Speaker 1: or four days after the track has been made. When
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  Speaker 1: Jones was game ward and of Yellowstone National Park, he
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  Speaker 1: had unexampled opportunities to hunt cougars and learn their habits.
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  Speaker 1: All the cougars in that region of the Rockies made
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  Speaker 1: a rendezvous the game preserve. Jones soon procured a pack
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  Speaker 1: of hounds, but as they had been trained to run deer,
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  Speaker 1: foxes and coyotes, he had great trouble. They would break
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  Speaker 1: on the trail of these animals, and also on elkin antelope.
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  Speaker 1: Just when this was furthest from his wish, He soon
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  Speaker 1: realized that to train the hounds was a sore task.
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  Speaker 1: When they refused to come back at his call, he
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  Speaker 1: stung them with fine shot, and in this manner taught obedience.
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  Speaker 1: But obedience was not enough. The hounds must know how
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  Speaker 1: to follow and tree a lion. With this in mind,
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  Speaker 1: Jones decided to catch a lion alive and give his
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  Speaker 1: dog practical lessons. Few days after reaching this decision, he
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  Speaker 1: discovered the tracks of two lions in the neighborhood of
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  Speaker 1: Mount Evert. The hounds were put on the trail and
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  Speaker 1: followed it into an abandoned coal shaft. Jones recognized this
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  Speaker 1: as his opportunity, and taking his lazo and an extra rope,
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  Speaker 1: he crawled into the hole. Not fifteen feet from the opening,
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  Speaker 1: sat one of the cougars, snarling and spitting. Jones promptly lacedant,
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  Speaker 1: passed his end of the lasso round a slide prop
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  Speaker 1: on the shaft, and out to the soldiers who had
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  Speaker 1: followed him, instructing them not to pull to the caled
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  Speaker 1: He cautiously began to crawl by the cougar with the
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  Speaker 1: intention of getting further back and roping its signed leg
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  Speaker 1: so as to prevent disaster when the soldiers pulled it out.
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  Speaker 1: He accomplished this not without some uneasiness in regard to
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  Speaker 1: the second lion, and giving the word to his companions,
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  Speaker 1: soon had his captive hauled from the shaft and tied
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  Speaker 1: so tightly it could not move. Jones took the cougar
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  Speaker 1: and his hounds to an open place in the park
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  Speaker 1: where there were trees, and prepared for a chase. Loosing
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  Speaker 1: the lion, he held his hounds back a moment, then
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  Speaker 1: let them go. Within one hundred yards, the cougar climbed
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  Speaker 1: a tree and the dogs saw the performance. Taking a
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  Speaker 1: forked stick, Jones mounted up to the cougar, caught it
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  Speaker 1: under the jaw with a stick, and pushed it out.
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  Speaker 1: There was a fight, a scramble, and the cougar dashed
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  Speaker 1: off to run up another tree. In this manner, he
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  Speaker 1: soon trained his hounds to the pink of perfection. Jones
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  Speaker 1: discovered while in the park that the cougar is king
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  Speaker 1: of all beasts of North America. Even a grizzly dashed
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  Speaker 1: away in great haste. When a cougar made his appearance
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  Speaker 1: at the road camp near Mount Washburn during the fall,
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen o four. The bears, grizzlies and others were
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  Speaker 1: always hanging around the cook tent. There were cougars also,
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  Speaker 1: and almost every evening about dusk, a big fellow would
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  Speaker 1: come parading past the tent. The bears would grunt furiously
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  Speaker 1: and scamper in every direction. It was easy to tell
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  Speaker 1: when a cougar was in a neighborhood by the peculiar
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  Speaker 1: grunts and snorts of the bears and the sharp, distinct,
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  Speaker 1: alarmed yelps of kyries. A lion would just as leaf
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  Speaker 1: kill a coyote as any other animal, and he would
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  Speaker 1: devour too. As to the fighting of cougars and grizzlies,
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  Speaker 1: that was a wooted question, with the credit on the
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  Speaker 1: side of the former. The story of the doings of cougars,
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  Speaker 1: as told in the Snow was intensely fascinating and tragical.
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  Speaker 1: How they stalked deer and elk, crept to within springing distance,
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  Speaker 1: then crowds flat to leap was as easy to read
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  Speaker 1: as if it had been told in print. The leaps
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  Speaker 1: and bounds were beyond belief. The longest leap on a
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  Speaker 1: level measured eighteen and one half feet. Jones trailed a
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  Speaker 1: half grown cougar, which in turn was trailing a big elk.
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  Speaker 1: He found where the cougar had struck his game had
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  Speaker 1: clung for many rods, to be dashed off by the
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  Speaker 1: low limb of a spruce tree. The imprint of the
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  Speaker 1: body of the cougar was a foot deep in the snow.
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  Speaker 1: Blood and tufts of hair covered the place, but there
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  Speaker 1: was no sign of the cougar renewing the chase. In
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  Speaker 1: rare cases, cougars would refuse to run or take to trees.
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  Speaker 1: One day, Jones followed the hounds, eight in number to
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  Speaker 1: come on a huge tom holding the whole packet bay.
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  Speaker 1: He walked to and fro lashing his tail from side
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  Speaker 1: to side, and when Jones dashed up, he coolly climbed
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  Speaker 1: a tree. Jones shot the cougar, which, in falling, struck
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  Speaker 1: one of the hounds, crippling him. The hound would never
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  Speaker 1: approach a tree after this incident, believing probably that the
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  Speaker 1: cougar had sprung upon him. Usually, the hounds chased their
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  Speaker 1: quarry into a tree long before Jones rode up. It
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  Speaker 1: was always desirable to kill the animal with the first shot.
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  Speaker 1: If the cougar was wounded and fell or jumped among
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  Speaker 1: the dogs, there was sure to be a terrible fight,
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  Speaker 1: and the best dogs always received serious injuries. If they
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  Speaker 1: were not killed outright. The lion would seize a hound,
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  Speaker 1: pull him close and biting in the brain. Jones asserted
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  Speaker 1: that a cougar would usually run from a hunter, but
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  Speaker 1: that this feature was not to be relied upon, and
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  Speaker 1: a wounded cougar was as dangerous as a tiger. In
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  Speaker 1: his hunts, Jones carried a shotgun and shells loaded with
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  Speaker 1: ball for the cougar, and others loaded with fine shot
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  Speaker 1: for the hounds. One day, about ten miles from the camp,
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  Speaker 1: the hounds took a trail and ran rapidly as there
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  Speaker 1: were only a few inches of snow. Jones found a
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  Speaker 1: large lion had taken refuge in a tree that had
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  Speaker 1: fallen against another, and aiming at the shoulder of the beast,
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  Speaker 1: he fired both barrels. The cougar made no signs he
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  Speaker 1: had been hit. Jones reloaded and fired at the head.
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  Speaker 1: The old fellow growled fiercely, turned in the tree, and
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  Speaker 1: walked down head first, something he would not have been
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  Speaker 1: able to do had the tree been upright. The hounds
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  Speaker 1: were ready for him, but wisely attacked in the rear.
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  Speaker 1: Realizing he had been shooting fine shot at the animal,
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  Speaker 1: Jones began a hurried search for a shell loaded with
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  Speaker 1: ball the lion made for him, compelling him to dodge
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  Speaker 1: behind trees. Even though the hounds kept nipping the cougar,
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  Speaker 1: the persistent fellows still pursued the hunter. At last, Jones
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  Speaker 1: found the right shell just as the cougar reached for him. Major,
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  Speaker 1: the leader of the hounds, darted bravely in and grasped
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  Speaker 1: the leg of the beast just in a nick of time.
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  Speaker 1: This enabled Jones to take aim and fire at close range,
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  Speaker 1: which ended the fight. Upon examination, it was discovered ward
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  Speaker 1: the cougar had been half blinded by the fine shot,
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  Speaker 1: which accounted for the ineffectual attempts he had made to
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  Speaker 1: catch Jones. The mountain lion rarely attacks a human being
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  Speaker 1: for the purpose of eating. When hungry, he will often
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  Speaker 1: follow the tracts of people, and, under favorable circumstances, may
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  Speaker 1: ambush them. In the park where game is plentiful, no
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  Speaker 1: one has ever known a cougar to follow the trail
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  Speaker 1: of a person, but outside the park, lions have been
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  Speaker 1: known to follow hunters and practically stalk little children. The
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  Speaker 1: Davis family, living a few miles north of the park,
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  Speaker 1: have had children pursued through the very doors of their cabin,
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  Speaker 1: and other families relate similar experiences. Jones heard of only
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  Speaker 1: one fatality, but he believes that if the children were
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  Speaker 1: left alone in the woods, the cougars would creep closer
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  Speaker 1: and closer, and when assured there was no danger, would
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  Speaker 1: spring and kill. Jones never heard the cry of a
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  Speaker 1: cougar in the National Park, which strange circumstance, considering the
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  Speaker 1: great number of the animals there. He believed to be
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  Speaker 1: on account of the abundance of game. But he had
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  Speaker 1: heard it when a boy in Illinois, and when a
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  Speaker 1: man all over the West, and the cry was always
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  Speaker 1: the same, weird and wild, like the scream of a
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  Speaker 1: terrified woman. He did not understand the significance of the
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  Speaker 1: cry unless it meant hunger or the wailing morn of
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  Speaker 1: a lioness for her murdered cubs. The destructiveness of this
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  Speaker 1: savage species was murderous. Jones came upon one old Tom's
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  Speaker 1: den where there was a pile of nineteen elk, mostly yearlings,
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  Speaker 1: only five or six had been eaten. Jones hunted this
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  Speaker 1: old fellow for months and found that the lion killed,
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  Speaker 1: on the average three animals a week. The hounds got
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  Speaker 1: him up at length and chased him to the Yellowstone River,
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  Speaker 1: which he swam at a point impassable for man or horse.
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  Speaker 1: One of the dogs, a giant blood own named Jack,
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  Speaker 1: swam the swift channel, kept on after the lion, but
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  Speaker 1: never returned. All cougars have their peculiar traits and habits
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  Speaker 1: the same as other creatures, and all old toms have
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  Speaker 1: strongly marked characteristics. But this one was the most destructive
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  Speaker 1: cougar Jones ever knew. During Jones's short sojourn as warden
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  Speaker 1: in the park, he captured numerous cougars life and killed
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  Speaker 1: seventy two. End of chapter fifteen.