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ROOSEVELT'S LEGENDARY HUNTS This story is among 60 chapters in John Seerey-Lester's The Legendary Hunts of Theodore Roosevelt. The 200-page book features more than 150 paintings and sketches. The book is available in two versions: a hardbound Gallery Edition for $50 and a deluxe, leather-bound Hunter's Edition of 350 copies, each signed and numbered by the artist, for $150. Also available is Seerey-Lester's Legends of the Hunt—Campfire Tales, a 200-page book that features fascinating stories about legendary hunters, trappers, and explorers, and their harrowing encounters with wild animals. Legends of the Hunt—Campfire Tales is available in four beautiful editions: • Gallery Edition – Hardcover, $60. • Buffalo Edition – 350, leather-bound, S&N, with giclée print, $150. • Leopard Edition – 250, leather-bound, S&N, with hand-colored giclée print, $250. • Black Leopard Edition – 100, leather-bound, S&N, with original 8x10- inch painting, $995. To order, call (800) 849-1004 or visit www.sportingclassicsstore.com. nothing like the sleek and slender leopard or mountain lion. The men were in awe of its beautiful, satiny pelt, with large dark-brown rosettes emblazoned on its golden coat. Its markings were very distinctive and easily identifiable to some ranch hands who recognized the jaguar as the same cat that had killed some cattle in the area. Apparently they had been pursuing the cattle-killer for some time. On one occasion hunters and ranch hands had actually cornered the jaguar, but he had escaped at the last moment. He then returned to kill livestock at irregular intervals. The cat had also been seen in the marshes as it searched for prey. Jaguars are very capable of killing wild animals such as deer, tapirs, capybaras, peccaries, and even big Caymans. But in that area they seemed to prefer horses and cattle. So it seemed that Kermit had done the ranchers a big favor, while at the same time bagging a splendid male specimen for the museum. n The men rode as hard as possible whenever the dogs' yelping and barking seemed to indicate that the big cat might be treed. Their frenzied yaps, yelps, and barks, along with the shouts of the Brazilian horsemen, echoed through the jungle. As the dogs crowded in on their quarry, their baying grew louder and the thrill of the chase grew even more exciting among the horsemen. They knew the cat was at bay, but was it in a tree or on the ground? The latter could be dangerous. The cat might charge, and they would probably only have one chance to stop it. As the men rode into a clearing, they could see the jaguar in the branches of a large fig tree. It was a big male. As they drew nearer, the cat eyed the hunters, ready to leap away and race off into the woods. But before he could make his escape, Kermit fired his .405 Winchester, dropping the cat to the ground. The jaguar was one of the biggest cats the Roosevelts had ever encountered, in Africa or the Americas. It was heavily muscled with big bones and a stout frame, 62 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S "The tiger and the missionary." – By Arthur Burdett Frost