The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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STORIES OF PANTHER ATTACKING AND KILLING DEER
By S. C. Turnbo
Samuel Carpenter of Cedar Creek, Taney County, Mo., furnishes the following.
"One day during the early fifties I and Bill Cowan and Andrew Howard
went into the Elbow Creek hills on a camp hunt. We were a lively set of
hunters and passed the time in a merry way. During daytime we kept busy
hunting game. At night after supper we would sit by the fire and relate
hunting yarns to each other until late. We enjoyed living on our fare which
was composed of corn pone, venison, turkey and honey. Probably no hunters
visiting Elbow Creek saw and enjoyed more pleasure than we did on that trip,
but I was living further off from Elbow then than Cedar Creek," said
he. "One evening we met something besides deer, fun, pleasure and bee
trees. It was while we were returning to camp one evening after sunset.
We were carrying a few fresh deer hides and some venison. As we were passing
near a fallen tree a panther made its sudden appearance by jumping up on
the log from the opposite side and glared at us fiercely. The beast was
in seven feet of us and of course we were taken by surprise. It was a daring
fellow and showed its displeasure at our intrusion. The great long beast
meant to attack us. We all three aimed at the same moment and fired and
three balls tore great gaping holes in its body. It was in a crouching position
when we fired. A moment after the reports of our rifles sounded out the
panther leaped to the ground at our feet and three hunters were dodging
about lively to get out of its way. But in less than three seconds it leaped
into the tree top and fell over dead. After dragging it out from among the
limbs of the fallen tree and examining the huge beast awhile we looked over
on the other side of the log where we saw it jump up and saw a big pile
of leaves that had been raked together into a heap. We got over the log
and kicked the leaves apart and exposed to view a dead buck that the panther
had slain about an hour previous to our arrival. It had caught the deer
near the tree top. Evidence on the ground showed that the buck had struggled
hard in resisting the attack but had to give in to the death dealing teeth
and claws and strength of the frightful beasts G. Q. (Fate) Jones tells
this brief story of how a panther took a deer away from a hunter after he
had shot it. Mr. Jones said that in June, 1865, a hunter had went to the
head of Locust Hollow near Short Mountain to hunt for game. A man then had
to depend on his rifle for meat. Bread was so scarce that but few was able
to furnish it. This hunter was in a bad fix and had to kill game to sustain
the life of himself and his family. As he trudged along in the then wild
woods he saw a deer feeding under a tree. Being in rifle range he shot and
the deer fell. The hungry man’s heart leaped with joy, but the next
instant his heart almost stood still and his blood chilled for he saw a
panther leap out of the tree under which the deer was and pounce on the
game. when the hunter realized that the panther took possession of the deer
he was for a moment dumbfounded, then coming to himself in a terror stricken
way, threw down his empty rifle and did not stop running until he reached
home. On the following day he collected his sense together and ventured
back to recover his gun and found that the beast had devoured a part of
the deer and covered up the remainder with trash and grass. He did not stay
long on the scene for fear the panther would jog his memory of the previous
day and left the spot in haste." This was in Marion County, Arkansas.
Another sketch of this kind is given by Elijah Ford, the old timer of
Ozark County, Mo. Mr. Ford said that while living with his brother, William
Ford, the latter taken sick and requested him to go to Forsyth and procure
a supply of medicine from Dr. Maynard. "My brother," said Mr.
Ford, "was living on the first farm on Little North Fork on the east
side below the mouth of Bratton’s Spring Creek. It was a cold day when
I started. The wind blew fiercely from the northwest. I left home in the
afternoon and the cold air chilled my face and limbs. At night I stopped
with a settler on the left prong of Big Creek and stayed overnight. Next
morning as I rode on up Big Creek the weather seemed to grow colder and
more penetrating. The road was only a path and it lead over the divide to
Brushy Creek. As I rode along the Bald Hill before getting to the latter
stream I thought I would freeze to death. I had got into the hollow below
the foot of the hill. My body was shivering and my hands and feet ached
with cold. I had not rode far down the hollow when my attention was attracted
by a noise to the left of the path and just ahead of me. On turning my head
in the direction the noise came from I was horrified at the sight of a panther
raking leaves over a dead deer with its forepaws which I supposed it had
just killed. I forgot now that I was suffering with cold and thought how
would I manage to escape the ferocious beast. The trail led in 20 steps
of it, but I was riding a fleet horse and concluded I would not attempt
to surround it and urged him into a fast run and went by the beast in a
rush and yelling at the top of my voice. As I urged my horse forward and
before I got opposite the panther it left the deer, walked 7 or 8 feet,
and sat down like a cat. I kept my eyes on the panther as I passed it and
kept looking back at it until I passed from view of it. The big ugly creature
did not seem a bit afraid, but I cannot say that of myself."
A similar story was told by Steadman Forest, son of Jimmie Forest, another old timer of Little North Fork in Ozark County, Mo. Steadman Forest died at Mountain Grove, Webster County, Mo., a. few years ago. Mr. Forest said that while his father kept his cattle on Bratton’s Spring Creek he went to the salt lick one day which his father established four miles above the big spring to kill deer. As it happened which was not usually the case, not a deer showed up for hours but just before my patience was exhausted I noticed a deer approach and come onto the lick ground and stop under a tree. Just as I was preparing to shoot it I saw a panther lying on a limb of the tree 5 or 6 feet above the deer. The panther was certainly in the tree when I arrived and had been crouched on the limb all the while I was watching there. Yet I had not noticed it before. I watched the panther now instead of the deer, but before I could take aim and shoot it it sprang down on the deer’s back. The terrified deer jumped as far as it could and kept jumping round and round with all the strength it could command. The suffering animal as the sharp claws penetrated its flesh did not remain silent but bleated repeatedly. The motion of the deer was so rapid that I knew I could not touch the panther if I shot. In a small space of time the panther lay flat down on the deer’s back and seemed to sink its sharp claws and teeth deeper inflicting terrible wounds. After several hard struggles to hurl the panther from its back and not succeeding it stood motionless for two or three seconds as if collecting its mind and strength together. Then it straightened itself out as if to make a last effort and left the lick grounds in a fast run. The swift fleeing animal with its terrible burden on its back soon passed from view with the panther still clinging to it. I had no dog with me and declined to follow the trail without one but I suppose the deer ran until its strength was exhausted and was soon overcome and slain by the dreaded beast."
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