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Show DO YOU WANT A MOUNTAIN LION? (By LORIN HALL) But few hunters have ever killed a Mountain Lion. Not every hunter has killed a gray goose, for that matter. A charmed life has the Cou-;ar, Cou-;ar, the big cat that hides out in the daytime and comes forth in the twilight twi-light to kill and destroy. Just at present, Eeaver is almost surrounded by lions, so it seems and one big fellow fel-low has been brought to justice. If you crave a lion hunt after seeing see-ing the picture Simba, you needn't pick the faraway Kaibab, though lions are there aplenty, and you don't have to go to Africa like the Johnstons did, just call the dogs, saddle up the horse and with a good rifle take' any trail leading im'.o Beaver Bea-ver range. But don't think a lion is easily found even though present. Of all beasts that inhabit our western forests, for-ests, the cougar, puma, panther, or whatever vou wish to call it, is the most difficult to kill. It is a better still hunter than any human rival, and without good dogs, a cougar will outwit most hunters. However, trapping such beasts is quite a different pastime. If the lion is extremely hungry, it wiil come for a baited trap. Often enough, the lion may not be able to kill a deer, its favorite food. At such times, tho trapper gets in his work. Most always, al-ways, the lion follows the deer migration, mi-gration, and whereas some thousand or so deer are feeding near Beaver, this perhaps, accounts for the presence pres-ence of so many lions. William Twitchell and his boy Doyle, have killed a Mountain lion on the North Creek ridge that measured eight and one-half feet from tip to tip. The beast was trapped, but dragged the outfit over a mile; in fact, he must have been in the trap several days before Doyle discovered him. The lad was sent out to inspect the trap line, and boy-like, forirot his rifle. One trap was missing, but a trail led up the canyon and Doyle followed it. Often, the beast had upended up-ended huge boulders, broken down oaks and limbs of trees in his ter-nfic ter-nfic efforts to ditch the trap. The '"oy stayed with the trail, however, and after a long time discovered the beast near the creek Brfore he made the acti:a! discovery, Toyle had walked walk-ed within strik'r.sr distance of the beast which acco-dina- to its inherent custom, was still hunting a bit on his own account. The boy, ones he knew the lion was responsible for the missing trap, went for his father and the rifle. Not long after, man and boy were seen coming down the canyon with the big lion across the pommel of the saddle. George Cockett and Alex Hamilton, estimated the beast would weigh 160 pounds, and declared it was one of the largest ever killed along the Beaver range. There are at least two or three more big lions near town. Henry Boyter and wife, saw one in the fields near the mouth of Main canyon, can-yon, and Mr. Twitchell says that North Creek harbors at least two or three more. Several deer have been killed near town the past few days by lions, and talk on the streets of Beaver indicates indi-cates that the government trapper has been sent for to come in and clean up on the killers. |