Government Predator Hunter‘s Encounters With Dangerous Mountain Lions
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To appease its desire for horse meat the puma has often gone from
hunted to hunter. A puma such as this gave one government predator
hunter the
most thrilling quarter hour of his exciting career. His hounds had
followed the puma into a canyon after hours on the trail. The going was
so rough, he had to tie his horse to a tree and continue on foot behind
his dogs. Glancing up the hunter realized the puma had doubled back and
was now edging the rim of the canyon towards his horse. The puma struck
as the hunter and his dogs closed in. The hunter shot the cat with his
.30/30 rifle as it jumped onto his horse‘s back.
Puma caused a great deal of distress for early settlers of the South
and East, but they were gradually eliminated by hunters such as Meshach
Browning. Browning killed more than 50 puma in the forty-four years he
spent hunting the rough country west of Maryland. By 1880, puma were
nearly exterminated east of the Mississippi. Despite this, puma
remained a serious danger throughout the West for many years. The puma
were so adroit at keeping out of sight, that only a few were killed in
chance encounters with sportsmen or cowhands; which caused stockmen to
hire professional hunters to rid the range of them.
John B. Goff was one of the most well-known of these professional
hunters. Goff killed more than three hundred pumas from 1855-1900, most
of them in the rough country north of the White River in northwestern
Colorado. Goff used foxhounds to trail his quarry and mongrel fighting
dogs to keep it at bay until he could kill it. In 1901 Theodore
Roosevelt, then Vice President, went hunting with Goff in 20-below-zero
weather. They were out five weeks and killed fourteen puma, the largest
weighing 227 pounds.
Roosevelt narrowly avoided serious injury on one of these expeditions.
Roosevelt’s hounds had brought an old female to bay. Three of his
fighting dogs had the puma by the head, so impulsive T.R., his six-gun
in his left hand a long hunting knife in his right, leaped in to make
the kill. At the same instant the puma wrenched its head free and
targeted Roosevelt. One of Teddy’s fighting dogs got a fresh hold on
the old cat’s paw. Roosevelt stuffed the butt of his gun into its mouth
and, as the sharp teeth crushed it, killed the animal with a thrust of
the knife between its shoulders.
The puma is one of the most fickle of all predators. On occasion the
cat cannot be found, even in areas where it is known to be plentiful
and others it has been known to stalk and even attack men. Their varied
reactions to dogs are more evidence of the unpredictability of the
puma. Despite growing to over 200 pounds and being armed with paws and
terribly sharp claws, they will sometimes allow a single wire haired
terrier to run them up a tree and keep them there. Yet other times a
puma will choose to fight to the death with a pack of dogs, and may
kill several of them before the hunter can get in a finishing shot.
Government
Predator Hunter‘s
Encounters With Dangerous Mountain Lions
----------
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