Outdoor pastimes of an American hunterRoosevelt, Theodore
General
Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter
Roosevelt, Theodore
Hunting -- United States; Hunting -- West (U.S.)
The dogs were a source of unceasing amusement, not merely while hunting,
but because of their relations to one another when off duty. Queen’s
temper was of the shortest toward the rest of the pack, although, like
Turk, she was fond of literally crawling into my lap, when we sat down
to rest after the worry which closed the chase. As soon as I began to
eat my lunch, all the dogs clustered close around and I distributed
small morsels to each in turn. Once Jimmie, Queen, and Boxer were
sitting side by side, tightly wedged together. I treated them with
entire impartiality; and soon Queen’s feelings overcame her, and she
unostentatiously but firmly bit Jimmie in the jaw. Jimmie howled
tremendously and Boxer literally turned a back somersault, evidently
fearing lest his turn should come next.
On February 11th we rode back to the Keystone Ranch, carrying the three
cougar skins behind our saddles. It was again very cold, and the snow on
the divides was so deep that our horses wallowed through it up to their
saddle-girths. I supposed that my hunt was practically at an end, for I
had but three days left; but as it turned out these were the three most
lucky days of the whole trip.
The weather was beautiful, the snow lying deep enough to give the dogs
easy trailing even on the southern slopes. Under the clear skies the
landscape was dazzling, and I had to wear snow-glasses. On the first of
the three days, February 12th, we had not ridden half an hour from the
ranch before we came across the trail of a very big bobcat. It was so
heavy that it had broken through the crust here and there, and we
decided that it was worth following. The trail went up a steep mountain
to the top, and we followed on foot after the dogs. Among the cliffs on
the top they were completely at fault, hunting every which way. After
awhile Goff suddenly spied the cat, which had jumped off the top of a
cliff into a pinyon. I killed it before any of the dogs saw it, and at
the shot they all ran in the wrong direction. When they did find us
skinning it, they were evidently not at all satisfied that it was really
their bobcat—the one which they had been trailing. Usually as soon as
the animal was killed they all lay down and dozed off; but on this
occasion they kept hurrying about and then in a body started on the back
trail. It was some time before we could get them together again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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