Predators

The predatory beasts which prey on the various species of game have a definite place in Nature's scheme. Predators are necessary to eliminate the weak, aged, and crippled from game herds; to keep herds well scattered on their ranges and thus diminish excessive in-breeding and diseases caused by too intense a concentration; and to clean the landscape of carrion.

It is sometimes difficult for man to reconcile this function with the fact that some predators kill only the fat and the young of big game when available, or slaughter wantonly and eat only select portions of their kill.

In an overall effort to utilize big game to his own advantage, man has often sought to suppress or eradicate certain species of predators. But once a tampering with a wildlife balance is begun in one direction, unpredictable and often violent disturbances occur in another. Man is, in fact, just begin­ning to understand the far-reaching effects of predation. In his manipula­tion of wildlife, the best he is able to suggest is the holding of all predators at a compatible level with the game on which it lives.

THE WOLF

Among the largest of the American big-game predators is the wolf (Canis lupus). A descendant of the Pleistocene period, the wolf is the ancestor of the domestic dog and has a long and legendary record of depredations against stock.

North American wolves may be divided into two basic groups, the red wolves and the gray wolves. Both have been exterminated from many sections of the country. The remaining red wolves—named for their russet winter coat—now inhabit the Ozark Mountains, parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, together with scattered spot areas in the southern Mississippi Valley states.

Like the pronghom antelope, the red wolf is a true American species found nowhere else. Adult red wolves weigh up to 70 or 80 pounds.

The gray wolf, often called the timber wolf, has been driven northward out of the United States and is now found largely in Canada, Yukon Territory, and Alaska. The gray wolf belongs to the same family as the Scandinavian and Siberian wolves and in North America consists of twenty-four subspecies.

Like cutthroat trout, the coloration of wolves often changes with their habitat. Gray wolves vary in color from nearly black, with the legs washing out into a roan-blue much like moose, to black-gray, silvery-gray, and to nearly pure white. This lightening of hue generally follows the animal's progression northward. In size, the gray wolf will reach 150 pounds and over. Its lugubrious howl is a deep guttural moaning sound which will carry far on cold nights and is an awesome thing to hear.

In Canada and Alaska, gray wolves prey heavily on moose and caribou. They hunt in small family groups, historically called "wolf packs." Such a group will successfully kill adult Canadian moose and regularly hunts the vast burned-over bush areas for the species.

One method wolves employ to get such a huge animal as a moose at sufficient disadvantage is to chase it into, or locate it already in, a small shallow lake. Then by cutting off its escape route, harassing the animal until it can't feed, and keeping it in the water for days on end, the predators succeed in weakening it, until they can kill it as it is finally forced to make a break. One animal grasps the moose's nose or throat; and while the quarry struggles to shake off that tormentor, others sever the tendons of its hind leg. Wolves often begin eating before a victim is dead.

Wolves also prey on caribou. Running in relays, the pack tries to tire an animal and chase it into deep snow or muskeg, or to the ice of a stream or lake. There, with the caribou at a disadvantage, the wolves can kill it.

HUNTING THE WOLF

A wolf killed with a firearm represents one of the most prized trophies. Occasionally a wolf is killed—mainly in caribou country—by a sportsman after other species. Like uranium, a gray wolf is only where one finds it.

About the only preparation the hunter can make is to glass all game country thoroughly before he discloses his presence and be ready for an unexpected opportunity.

Several outfitters catering to polar-bear hunts out of Kotzebue, Alaska, will also take a sportsman wolf hunting. This is done in winter when snow and ice help to make the predators visible, and when they are working the caribou herds hardest. The technique is to fly over the caribou country just inland along the coast from Kotzebue to Cape Lisbourne, weather permitting, until a wolf is spotted. Then, if in open country—and most of it is treeless that far into the Arctic—the beast is chased at low altitude until it offers a close, straightaway target. The hunter uses a riíle, or a shotgun loaded with buckshot.

Wolves also are hunted from planes in winter in the Yukon-British Columbia region. This is an area of numerous lakes, and a choice place to catch a wolf unawares is on the ice, where an unimpeded race is possible.

THE COYOTE

The coyote (Canis latrans) is a western predator but has a greater north-south range than most other predators. Coyotes are now distributed from the Arctic Circle to South America.

Like the whitetail deer, the coyote has demonstrated an amazing ability to live in man's back yard and survive. The coyote has survived in spite of man's every attempt to kill it off due to its canny nature and its ability to eat almost anything. The diet of the coyote includes grasshoppers, rodents, game-bird eggs, rabbits, and the carrion of domestic or wild game. Stockmen hate coyotes and have waged a continuing war against these killers of poultry and sheep.

Coyotes are gray in color, lightening to tan along the belly and legs. The winter coat is thicker and lighter in color than the summer coat, in some instances almost white. An average-sized coyote weighs from 20 to 25 pounds, with adult males weighing well over 30 pounds. The animals are prolific, having up to a dozen or more pups in a litter.

In appearance a coyote resembles a small shepherd dog. Its three out­standing characteristics are its long thick tail, which, like a fox's, seems to float when the animal runs; its sharp-pointed ears and nose; and its eerie cry, which is a true sound of the wilderness.

Coyotes are scavengers and are often erroneously credited with killing the carrion they clean up. They serve a useful purpose, too, in keeping rodent infestation down. In many western states, the coyote keeps the prolific jack rabbit from over-populating the region. Again, such range hazards as pocket gophers in elk and domestic-stock country are currently being traced to man's virtual extermination of the coyote in those regions.

HUNTING THE COYOTE

Because of its innate cunning, sagacity, and elusiveness, the coyote has won the respect of many sportsmen. Coyote hunting is a thrilling sport, and many ingenious methods of hunting the little yodel-dog have been developed.

First, coyotes are hunted incidentally with such species as antelope, deer, and elk. Their ranges overlap those of the coyote, and an occasional coyote is seen by the big-game hunter. Too, the little predator will come to the offal left from big-game kills and is often seen in primitive country, trotting along the high ridge trails at daybreak. In desert country, they are often seen moving about jack-rabbit concentrations, or staring at the hunter from some distant knoll with little more than their pointed ears showing.

In marginal farm areas where meadowlands meet timber or desert, coy­otes will often come at daybreak to hunt for mice. In mild seasons, resident hunters in such areas often conceal themselves on top of hay­stacks and wait for the animals to appear with daylight. Then they shoot them with high-intensity sniping rifles. Similarly, in some desert areas of the Southwest where artificial blinds for deer hunting are available, such as stands or platforms set up high above foliage to simulate windmills or water tanks, such blinds are used for spotting and shooting desert coyotes at long ranges.

In some western states, coyotes are coursed with hounds bred especially for the purpose. Often the hounds will be hauled by vehicle in a crate through good coyote country until a yodel-dog is seen, or its tracks in fresh snow are picked up. Then the crate is opened and the dogs released. The hunter follows in the vehicle until the dogs run the animal down.

In western canyon country, rugged sportsmen hunt coyotes in winter on snowshoes. The procedure is to follow the canyon rims and scout for coyotes hunting for rabbits and mice in the semibroken areas.

Snowplanes are often used for hunting coyotes in the open desert country of the West.

In western desert areas, in deep snow, coyotes are occasionally "run" with saddle horses. The horses are hauled by trailer to the edge of the desert early in the morning, after a snowfall of several inches, and the ride begins. Once a fresh track is found, the rider trots his horse until he sights the coyote. The beast usually will run towards the roughest coun­try available.

In good snow conditions, a tough saddle horse can often catch a running coyote within six to ten miles. The last mile is a heated race, with the coyote wringing its tail and often lying down exhausted to await the end.
In the open desert and prairie regions of the West, coyotes are often coursed in winter with light aircraft and shot at close range ahead of the low-flying plane. Pilot and hunter make up the hunting team, and the preferred weapon is a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot. In such shooting, the animal must be "led" from behind, just the reverse of wing-shooting birds.

Another method gaining popularity in the West is hunting coyotes in open desert and dry farm country in winter with snowplanes. A snowplane is a specialized little winter vehicle with a radial type of aircraft motor mounted on the rear of a fuselage large enough to seat two people in tandem. The fuselage and motor are supported well off the ground upon three laminated plywood skis.

This light, fast little conveyance was developed for cruising on deep snow; with frosted or lightly crusted snow a snowplane can make sixty to eighty miles per hour on level ground and can negotiate reasonably steep foothills. Coyote country is traversed until an animal is spotted. When the animal is overtaken, it is either dispatched with a shotgun and buckshot at close range while it is running ahead of the plane or is left to run another day. Snowplanes are not the most stable vehicles in the world, and getting into country too rough to follow, getting stuck fast in thawing snows, and even tipping the whole plane over are but a few of the thrills and hazards.

In large sagebrush desert areas, coyotes are often hunted with some kind of desert buggy and a program of slow, continuous driving. The vehicle is made to go where it can, and the country is glassed for a possible desert wolf. Roads in such country are often non-existent, but coyotes are usually found where desert travel is the hardest. A combination of light snow and heavy jack-rabbit sign in February means good coyote hunting. At this time, coyotes are in their mating season and are more apt to be congregated in large numbers.

Currently there is considerable interest in calling varmints with an artificial call. In the Southwest, especially, coyotes are being successfully called into rifle and often handgun range by the skilled use of a call simulat­ing the death cry of a wounded jack rabbit. Hunters use camouflage clothing in conjunction with the call and weapon and, of course, remain concealed.

The type of hunt dictates the kind of weapon. Generally, most coyotes are killed with rifles at long ranges. The "right" coyote rifle is, naturally, the one the hunter happens to have when he sees a coyote. But for serious coyote hunting, it is hard to beat an accurate, scope-equipped rifle shooting such a cartridge as the .220 Swift, .22/250 Varminter, .243 Winchester, .244 Remington, or the .264 Winchester Magnum with its lighter 100-grain bullet.

Any coyote rifle should be capable of inch-group accuracy at 100 yards and shoot exceptionally flat out to 300 yards. A peeled coyote represents only about 6 inches of horizontal target. "Fur don't count," and any coyote hit behind the belt buckle is apt to get away only wounded. Pound for pound, Uncle Sam's yellow pup is mighty tough.

THE BOBCAT

Canadian lynxes and bobcats are two other big-game predators. Their main predation is upon small game such as grouse, rabbits, and rodents, but both will kill fawn deer and, in deep winter snow, can even kill adult deer.

The bobcat (Lynx ruff us) is the smaller of the two, averaging 20 pounds or more for adults. Its range is from Canada to Mexico, and it is distributed widely throughout the country. The Canadian lynx is restricted mainly to Canada, will weigh twice as much as the bobcat for exceptional animals and has more pronounced, tufted ears.

HUNTING THE BOBCAT

Both species are occasionally killed by hunters traveling through game country. Bobcats are occasionally seen in the broken fringes of antelope country. Many times deer hunters on a drive through brush or aspen patches or canyon bottoms will push out a bobcat to the hunter stationed at the far end.

Duck hunters, too, occasionally "scare up" a bobcat while hunting the edges of inland marshes, as do sage-grouse hunters working the high knolls and ridges of sagebrush lands.

In rocky canyon areas such as those common to the Snake River Gorge in southern Idaho, hunters sometimes spotlight bobcats with a jeep, while traveling skimpy roads in the bottom. The eyes of the cat shine in the light and it is usually shot at considerable distances. This must be clone, of course, in areas having no big game, and the legality of it must be checked.

Another procedure is to find where bobcats sun themselves along the sunny side of a canyon or gorge and den up nights in rocky bluffs. This is done in winter, when the cat's padlike tracks are visible in snow. The next step is to spread quantities of raw hamburger along these bluffs, at intervals, and at the upper rim. The last step is to lie in wait, concealed, usually at long range across the gorge, with a pet chuck rifle and scope.

By far the most productive way to hunt bobcats is with dogs. All dogs dislike the scent of cats, and most hunting dogs will take up the scent of a bobcat immediately. In fact, one of the professional lion hunter's biggest headaches is to break young and often experienced lion dogs from running bobcats.

In the swamplands of the South, and in other brushy areas, running the cats with suitable dogs is the only feasible way. An adult bobcat will give most dogs a real run for their money and often prefers to stand at bay and fight rather than to climb a tree. Hunters either carry guns, let the dogs kill the overtaken cat, or pull the dogs off and let the bobcat run another day.

THE COUGAR

One of the most relentless and seldom seen predators of North American wildlife is the cougar (Felis concolor), also known as panther, mountain lion, or, in the Southwest, simply lion.

This big tawny-colored cat averages from 140 to 200 pounds for the males and measures up to 7 feet or over in length. A professional hunter in Arizona with over 100 cougars to his credit told me in the fall of 1960 that he once carried in a big torn on a horse, just to weigh it. The beast weighed 210 pounds. Females weigh proportionately less.

Like the mule deer on which it continuously preys, the cougar is a western inhabitant. Its range lies mainly west of the Rocky Mountains and reaches from Canada on the north to Central and South America on the south. An animal is killed on rare occasions in the Florida swamps.

Cougars follow the deer concentrations and venison is their staple food. The big cats prey on all three species of deer and like domestic colts and hogs when available. Horses have a deadly fear of cougars, and many a western rider in wild country has been surprised by his mount wheeling in its tracks and taking off at a sudden whiff of "cat."

An adult cougar will kill an average of a deer per week or more when obtainable. The kill is made by the cat's stalking to within short running distance of a deer, then overtaking it in a short, swift rush. The cougar springs upon the animal's withers and bites into the neck at the base of the skull. The big teeth sink deeper and deeper until the spinal cord is reached and severed.

The big cat eats its fill of the deer, then rakes pine needles, oak-brush twigs, and leaves over the remainder. Unless molested or on the "move," the cougar will return each day or so until the carcass is eaten. Cougars will not eat the kill of another animal or the flesh of their own kills after the meat begins to sour.

Somewhat on the order of grizzlies, cougars have a big circuitous route which they cover within an eleven-day period. Such a circle may be from ten to fifteen miles in diameter.

Broadly speaking, the big cats like the rimrock country adjacent to huge canyons and gorges, in arid regions where, of course, deer are plenti­ful. They dislike humid climates but will nevertheless stay in drier portions of such areas if the region contains deer. Such areas as the Kaibab, Grand Canyon, and Arizona's Mogollon Rim country are noted cougar regions.

Cougars do most of their hunting by night and bed down in the high, sunny, rimrock crags by day. Because of their nocturnal hunting habits, and their habit of bedding-down during the day, in such inaccessible places, man seldom sees a wild cougar until it has been coursed by dogs and treed.

HUNTING THE COUGAR

The only successful hunting method is to arrange with a professional cougar hunter who has suitable dogs; then camp in suitable cat country and let the dogs do most of the work.

The work of a real cougar dog in unraveling scent is an amazing thing for any hunter to witness. And good lion dogs are very rare. On ar average only one out of two hundred dogs, regardless of species, will turn out to be an exceptional cougar dog. But such a dog, well trained on cougars, is priceless. It will pick up cold scent; identify the faint scent as to species; determine the direction of the cold spoor; refuse to chase deer, bobcats, bear, or small game whose fresher tracks cross the cold lion spoor: and un­ravel the cat's tracks, often for five to eight hours, until the cougar can be started from where it rests and treed.

Likely breeds for cougar dogs are Black-And-Tan, Walker, Plott, Red-bone, and Blue-Tick hounds. But the exceptional cougar dog is as apt to come from one species as another—it rests largely with the individual. The animal must love to hunt. It must have the quality of tenacity to the point of never giving up. It must possess a wonderfully keen nose. It must also thoroughly hate cats, and hate lions and their smell to the point of giving up all other game smell for the scent of the "big torn."

Training a likely hound begins early. Often domestic cats are bought and turned loose ahead of the young dogs in simulated cat country. The

Cougar hounds are especially trained for hunting the big cats. This dog has thirty cougars to her credit.

dogs are encouraged to pick up the scent (a natural impulse in most hounds), give chase, tree the little feline and, if possible, kill it.

Young dogs are trained in company with experienced cougar dogs. Once one breaks from the trail onto scent which the older dogs determine is not lion scent, it is punished severely. Deer country is cougar country, and the hardest single job of the lion hunter is to break his dogs from running deer.

The most severe punishment is given dogs that run on the scent or sight of deer. After they return each time, they are beaten, hung by the neck with a lariat until nearly choked to death, and cussed with a language that would make an old salt embarrassed. Currently, "shocking collars" are being used to cure dogs that chase deer, bobcat, or bear. These are collars fitted with high-voltage batteries and time switches. When a dog picks up a deer scent and wants to run it, the owner sets the switch and lets the animal run. Several minutes later, and after the dog has the full deer scent in its nostrils, the collar gives it a shock that knocks it half off his feet. This electric current continues for several seconds and will repeat at intervals. A few such doses sends the hound looking for relief from its master.

Saddle horses or riding mules are used in cougar hunting with dogs. The dog pack, averaging anywhere from two to six dogs, follows its owner at heel and behind the horses until camp is well behind and a likely area is found. Except in snow, cougar sign is invisible. Moreover, good cougar country is fairly brushy with such predominant foliage as scrub oak, cypress, cedar, "alligator" juniper, pine, manzanita, and blackjack oak.

It would seem to the novice hunter that in such an area, one place to begin hunting would be as good as another. The professional cougar hunter, however, looks for three good areas. One is the best high trails within the region. Cougars, like black bears, tend to follow trails. A second spot area is any high pass between creek drainages. Like elk, cougars use such high passes in their travels. The third is the actual scratchings made by cougars while traveling the high trails, especially in the high passes between drainages.

These scratchings are made by a cougar pulling a small pile of dirt and pine needles into a mound. This mound resembles in size the pile of dirt that would be made by the toe of a hunter's boot if he dug one deep scoopful and moved it 6 inches.

From the scratching, the hunter can determine the sex and the direction of the cougar. Only males scratch. Females and kittens won't, though the females may be the reason any adult torn is in that area. The freshness of the scratching can be determined by its moistness. And a cougar will pull the dirt-and-needles invariably in a direction opposite from which it is traveling.

Cougar hunters like to pick up a track made during the previous night. If the scratchings and the interest of the dogs indicate this degree of freshness, then the chase is on. While it is true that good lion dogs will pick up scent much older—often as old as three days—the possibility of treeing the cougar is not good unless an overnight track is worked.

In any dog pack, one veteran hound which won't "open up" on anything except cougars is always used. From the sudden baying of this animal, its extent of interest in the scent, and general behavior, the course of the predator and its likely whereabouts are estimated. Young dogs may "trail backwards" for a distance, but will come back and accept the experience of the veteran dog.

Where a cougar will go is anybody's guess. He may head straight up a peak, then descend in a parallel course to the bottom again. He may head up or down, sideways, or a combination of all three.

The cougar leaves a staggered line of tracks, with the toe pads of each paw set in a curved row in front of the large heel pad.

Briefly, the dogs unravel the old scent, track by track, as it meanders up canyons, through bluff areas, over rimrock, and across brushy basins. Good lion dogs bay all the time while trailing, but oddly enough the distant sound of their baying doesn't bother the cat. Often the lion will lie undisturbed until the dogs are within a hundred yards or so—then race off with the hounds in hot pursuit.

The hunters have, somehow, to follow and keep up with the dogs as they trail the quarry. There is no more rough, bruising horseback riding on earth than following a dog pack on the scent of a cougar in rough country.

When close to the dogs, in slow trailing over rocks, the riders (often they are walkers, dragging mounts up steep, nonnegotiable areas, or skidding them on their haunches off bluff areas steep as a cow's face) catch their breath for the more rapid going in places of faster trailing.

When cougars are hunted with snow on the ground, the chances of success are increased. Almost any hunting hound can trail a cougar whose  tracks are in snow, often largely by sight. The real criterion of ;i cougar hound is what it can do in hot country, on rocky terrain, and with a cold trail.

Wind, hot sun, and rocky areas are the enemies of a cougar trail. Wind will blow the scent from a trail after an hour or so. Hot sunshine will dry out the moisture and all the scent. And a little-known characteristic of a cougar is that, in areas of hard footing, the scent glands in his footpads will close up and leave no smell whatever. In rocky areas, such as old dry washes, the trail can only be found by casting about and cutting it where the cougar has left the hard footing, and his scent glands begin to work again. Often dogs will lick the rocks, trying to pick up faint scent.

Eventually, with luck, the cougar is started. Once it bounces out in front of dogs, a cougar is apt to run only a quarter mile or so before treeing. Usually in the dog pack, along with the veteran trailer, is a dog that is fast on treeing. The dogs bay differently when they tree a cougar than when on the trail, and the treed cat and dogs are found by this sound.

Occasionally two cougars are started in the same area—perhaps a female and kitten. In such instances, the dogs usually split up, tree both cats, and must subsequently be found by their owner. Many a veteran dog has left the pack to tree such a second cougar, has become lost from the hunters' hearing, and has stayed with the treed cat up to two or three full days without leaving to come in. Often only thirst or starvation, will cause a loyal dog to give up.

Most dog owners feed the hounds all they can eat of the fresh cougar meat at the site of any kill. This is not only a reward and a savings in costly dog food, but it encourages any hound to stay with a treed lion until the owner arrives.

A treed cougar will usually stay put until the hunters come up. Some­times a treed cougar, depending upon the distance it has been run, its anticipated chances for escape, and the general type of country, will spring from a tree 40 to 50 feet up, then race off and have to be treed again by the dogs. A cougar nervously walking a high limb as the hunters come up is almost sure to jump.

Weapons for dispatching treed cougars vary. Some hunters use a .38 Special or .357 Magnum handgun. One Salmon River hunter used a sawed-off .22-caliber clip repeater rifle, whacked down to resemble a horse pistol. It would be illegal now, but did account for many a cougar. Another Arizona hunter prefers a standard .22 automatic pistol shooting long-rifle hollow-points. He shoots the cougar, often after some judicious climbing, from a position directly in front, exactly into the sticking spot. This allows the puny bullet to enter the chest and pierce the heart, and he simply waits for the animal to bleed out and topple down.

Another preferred cougar gun is a .30/30 carbine with open sights. This carries flat and handy in a saddle scabbard and is entirely adequate. Treed lions may be killed with bow-and-arrow, though most dog-pack owners advise against it. A wounded cougar can easily cripple and kill valuable dogs. There is one instance on record where a treed torn cougar took seven different broadheads before finally giving up the ghost.

THE JAGUAR

Jaguar hunting is a rapidly growing sport among well-heeled hunters. The jaguar (Felis onca) is found in Mexico and Central America, and is run by hounds much the same as the cougar. In fact, some jaguar hunters of the Southwest take their cougar dogs to Mexico during the winter.

A jaguar hunt is normally financed by a hunter who wants the big cat for a special trophy. The location of individual animals is usually learned from Mexican natives—often because of the cat's depredations against stock.

There are other smaller predators. But since they do not prey on big game, and often overlap into the varmint classification as well, they are not considered here.

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