This reminds me of a story my Uncle told be back in the 70's that happened up in San Saba County.
When my Uncle Bill was a young man, he had a brother, Tom, that always seemed to get into everything and always tried making money any way he could. Tom met a man in San Saba that claimed he could reach into a tree hollow and pull out a ringtail cat without getting bit.
Tom took that as a challenge, and upon finding a ringtail in a Post Oak hollow, we went into San Saba and confronted the guy making the claim. He told him he had found a ringtail and bet him $100, which was quite substantial in the 20's, that he couldn't pull out the Ringtail without getting mauled.
They agreed to meet out off of the Cotton Belt Road the next day. About an hour before the guy, along with his friends arrived to watch the event, Tom got a stick and knocked around the ringtail inside the hollow and waited for everyone to show up.
The guy got there, looked into the hollow and saw the ringtail, told everyone to watch carefully, and then reached down into the hole and grabbed ahold of the cat. That thing lit into him, biting, clawing and screaming. By the time he pulled his arm out of the hole, it was all bloody and cut up.
Tom did collect the $100, but the other guy never knew what Tom had done. Back then, it would have probably been Tom's last act.