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Show I -- 1 lu'es aie !)n)!l .1 Miller began to make his way slowly up the tree toward the cougar. From six feet below her, he tried to lasso the cat. But each time he flung his rope, she defleefed it with a vicious swipe of her paw. Finally Miller got the rope around the animal's neck. Then he used a long stick to work the rope under one of the cougar's front legs. This was to keep the beast from choking when she was jerked out of the tree. The Kimbles managed to work the free end of the rope oyer a limb to break the cougar's fall. They yanked; down she toppled to a few feet above ground. After some dangerous parrying, the men got a stick into the cougar's mouth and tied her jaws with a length of tough wire. Once the animal's dangerous jaws were im mobilized, the ranchers trussed her up with THE ranchers of the Southwest, cougar is a rugged and necessary sport-- but a dangerous one; for whether you call the tawny beast a cougar, a mountain lion, a puma, or a catamount he spells trouble. , TO I hungry cougar roaming the ranch can mean only one thing: death for livestock. And sometimes for human beings. One day. recently, Bill Miller found the bloody remains of eight goats on his ranch in New Mexico. He knew that if he wasted time the cougar would strike again. He and his neighbors, Leonard and Ralph Kimble, swung into the saddle to hit the trail. Their dogs picked up the cougar's scent in a narrow washout. Soon left far behind by the excited dogs, the ranchers could hold the trail only by following the frenzied barking. Then the dogs' tone changed. From the yelps, the pursuers knew the cougar was treed. In a few minutes, at the top of a tree, the ranchers discovered the snarling female. cougar a vicious, Miller and his friends decided to take the beast alive. Cougars had destroyed some $5,000 worth of Miller's livestock alone. Some of this loss could be regained if they could capture the cat and sell her to a zoo. A soddlo to 90 on anothtr cougar hunt. Bill MHIsr hit . n 30-fo- ;- - 100-pou- N Dogs' sharp nom pick tip scont of wily mountain cat. r ropes and straps, then lifted her into the saddle with .Miller. Ordinarily, horses become hysterical at the mere smell of a cougar, but Miller's horse didn't flinch because it has been trained to hunt the desert cats. The hazardous, hunt at an end, the men turned for home happy that there was one cougar less to attack their livestock. ot nd v. f I 1 v . 1 A K V x - ; r ... i i - - If r m ? I iT Lassoing trtod cougar is highly dangerous occupation mrmm i .1 CTIf ; 1 "tjr " 'T""f fMMwI f ..... if ' V J7 X J if," 4 Lassood cat hurtlos down from troo now t 12 FAMILY WIEXLY MAGAZINE ATM tr up. If, ltJ4 A cougar, tho ban of ranchors oxisttneo, snarls dofiancs ovon whtn at bay in tre.top. This fomalo wolghd 100 pounds. |