Tracks and Tracking by Josef Brunner

Author:Josef Brunner
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781632201522
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

This is tedious hunting, of course, and the number of cougars would not be appreciably lessened by the method; but one lion outwitted thus is worth perhaps, as a trophy of skill, a score killed by other means; and besides, it at least gives the still-hunter a chance.

Cougars do not respond readily to being called (by imitating the cries of a jack-rabbit); at least I have lured but one in eight or ten years, and missed it at that. Trapping them is as sure as gambling, i. e., there is never any certainty that one will get the lion, and as their existence is unquestionably obnoxious to sportsmen and stock-growers alike, hunting them with dogs is a commendable method, since it insures their decrease, and to the tyro means a trophy.

Barnyard study is, undoubtedly, responsible for the conclusions advanced by some writers that the members of the cat family are the most perfect track makers, i. e., walkers. As a matter of fact, the trail of a wild cat cannot be compared, so far as perfection goes, with the trail of the wild dog. The cougar’s tracks seldom register. He either oversteps with the hind foot the track made by the forefoot when in a hurry, or he does not step quite far enough to cover the forefoot track when leisurely walking, and the individual tracks do not stand so close to the center line of the trail as do those of the wolf. The roundness of the track, together with the inconspicuousness of the nail marks, even under the most favorable tracking conditions, makes the cougar track unmistakably different from that of a wolf. However, on hard ground the track of a bear and a lion may be easily taken for one another, though the latter contains but four toe-marks. But then every toe-mark is not often visible on hard ground.

With all predatory animals the rule holds good that the female track appears smaller than that of the male, even though the size of the animals be the reverse. For example, a male cougar measuring seven feet from tip to tip, will make a bigger track than a nine-foot-long female. Although with dividers and tape-line one might have difficulty to ascertain the difference, which at best would be very small to the eye, it is unmistakable, and one well acquainted with tracks can hardly make the error of mistaking a female track for that of a male. The latter always looks more substantial.

It is the same with the tracks of males and females of predatory animals as it is with a bunch of deer, or of a single one for that matter, after bucks have shed their horns. The initiated can tell accurately from the appearance of the animals which are bucks and which are does; yet if questioned how he knows it, he can scarcely answer. At best he will say, “Because it looks like one.” The reason for my dwelling on this subject is by no means an idle one.

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