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Show GREAT DEER SLAYERS. H 1 Mountain Lions Have Patience,Quick- H ness and Are Extremely Strong'. , More deer ore killed every year In Cal- H :forn!a by the mountain Hons than by th bullets of the huntera. H Next to the Jaguar, our mountain lion Is the largest cat In the two Amorl-us, Amorl-us, and he Is the champion deer slayer Hi of Uie world. Within thirty or forty , m.lcs of Los Angeles he catches the Ileet-footed, graceful creatures and .vaxes fat on the sweet flesh. He knows nn deer season other than all the time. Wherever there Is good deer country in this or any other Southwestern State Hj thee also Is Hit- best place to look for :ons, and that is one of the reasons why the large herds of deer are restless, seldom staying long in one locality, I There is nothing they fear more than 'he sight or smell of a mountain Hon. Hi """Tot oven the sudden appearance of a 1 ininter will so quickly drive them from l t range of hills. 1 Tin- lion's method of hunting the leer Is not unlike that of the big cats of frica and India in pursuit of the ante-lope ante-lope and deer of those countries, llav-ing llav-ing found a spring or pool where the desired fame comes to water ut nlght- H 1 fall, the Hon selects an overhanging limb or ledge of rock, whence one leap will carry him to the back or throat of his prey, and thereon lays himself out in perfcat accord with the limb Itself. In the gathering dusk tho Imperfect eyu of tho deer has little chance against this hidden terror, and the wind, usually bin faithful ally, can help him none now, for the Hon Is far and away too old a campaigner not to He up wind from tho spring. The deer comes, one leap from the limb or ledgo, and tho sharp teeth and powerful paws soon break the tender ncok; and don't you bolleve It when any one tells you that a California lion can't carry away a door. Tho writer has followed fol-lowed the plain, broad trail of the heavy pads for over half a mile and then come suddenly on the place where the killer had stopped to rest. Thero In plain outline was tho imprint of the deer'3 body; but for that whole dlstanco the Hon had carried it well up and clear of the ground. Such "portages" are not Infrequent In the career of a hunting lion, as these animals never eat their game where they kill it. Sometimes they hunt In pairs, but In six or olght years spent In the hllln the writer has seen but one such hunting pair. Llko tho rest of tho catu tho world over, tho mountain Hon's mainstay In hunting is patience. He will wait for hours on a narrow limb or on a rocky lc-dgo In tho ooldest night rather than get out llko a coyote and scour the slopes for his supper; with feet as noiseless ob nn owl'3 wing ho will follow an unsuspecting rabbit or belated spike buck until a favorable opportunity for a leap presents, and then It Is generally "all day" for tho hunted. But of all things the Hon loves deer meat, and while ho will dare a great many dangers for young pig, his liking for deer is even greater than that. Los Angeles Times. |