BEEF IS UP!

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 184, 6 August 1928, Page 10

BEEF IS UP!

I CATTLE-SNARING PAYS. WORK IN" THE BACK COUNTRY ROPING WILD BEASTS. ; (By M.J.13.) | Leef is up! lor four years there has , not been a sufficiently good market for beef cattle to make hunting pay. Since J the rise white men and Maoris have been combing the backbloek forest country for wild cattle and clean skins. Each mob has a leader, a bull of fine size and great courage. Formerly small lots were collected as they came outjfrom the heavy timber to feed 011 cleared country, but the time has passed for those musters. Hunters now go far back. Harry Williams, a halfeaste, is in charge of the; hunt 011 the Murumuru, and with him' are Rangi, Poto, and Eria, all experienced natives. They scout for a week amongst the tall timber in the eternal twilight of the forest. Herjs a well-defined track leads to a drinking pool, there a path of trodden ferns shows fresh marks. orking on foot, they go up and down, scrambling over deep ravines, swinging across deep creeks where a lucky chance gives a rata vine long enough to span. Slippery sandstone ledges are treacherous and make the going hard. Cattle dogs readily get the scent, and a crash of branches gives direction. The hunters choose a track obviously leading to water, and fix a big slip knot of stout rope across the path; the loose end is taken round a tree trunk. Poto and Eria take the first snare, each concealed amongst the undergrowth back from the track. These Maoris wait hours sometimes before a beast will emerge. Watchfully a -big bull steps down the pathway, his great eyes glancing from side to side. He knows instinctively something is amiss. A trip! A snort ,of rage! The strong rope has his forefeet. Roto draws hard on the trap. Down the heavy beast falls sideways. Eria, ftom the other side, slips a noose round the horns. With a tether of about 12ft he is fastened to a nearby tree. The work is quick and deft, as the bellowing may draw his mates. Another noose is fixed further down. There is barefy time to tether the first catch, lay the second snare and hide, when up' trots a rangv cow, stepping sideways. Her off foot is entangled. Eria draws the noose quickly on it, and she wheels, bellowing 1 and roaring. Over the gorge dogs bark, men curse, and the crash of breaking branches echoes through these erstwhile silent places. Round the base of a great branching tawa, Harry Williams has rounded a mob with the dogs. Leaning from the branches, he braces himself, and drops the rope over the nearest head. A jerk, and the thing is done, j Dogs nip and yap. He drops another and misies. With a crash a cow lurches j past the snapping dogs. A big yellow one fastens on her side. She is soon round again. Harry leans far Out, and the rope uncurls; a lucky shot—his second beast. Terrified, the rest burst from tho bailing dogs, jump madly through the undergrowth and away. Six crown cattle and a calf is the final ially. This is good hunting, but the first day is usually the best, and they will not average that. These tethered beasts will, not willingly follow any lead, and a broken leg OM?ans a bullet, with the skin and some meat the only prize. The leaders, big and""intelligent, will fight to the death rather than eomo out on a tether. Near each snared one a fire of leaves is made. The fumes and smoke dazzle the eyes ami dnll the senses for a short time. Thus bewildered, they can be led by a noose across the horns into the open. Each hunter leads a beast. A pull back means a nip on the heels from the watching dog. A rush forward means a jar as the noose tightens round the horns. A few wild spurts and they go fairly quietly across the cleared country to the cattle yards. Thus, in small lots, some of the cattle ranging the forests are brought in. The pay is usually i- per head for a branded beast. Many heads get away. If they have bad tho luck to sight a snare once, the chances are they will do it again.

Bi;r mobs in the farthest back country live, breed and die often without having seen the face of a hunter or having heard the hungry yelp of a cattle dog on the scent.