Steel Traps Part 14

In setting for badger the trapper should carefully remove enough earth to bed the trap level. A piece of paper or long gra.s.s is then carefully placed on trap, and this covered lightly with the same material removed in making the excavation. This set is apt to reward the trapper. If care is taken in making this set a fox may be caught, as they sometimes frequent dens used by badger.

SKUNK.

A Skunk is one of the easiest animals, whose fur is valuable that there is to trap. This animal is one of the first to become prime in the fall. Likewise it sheds early in the spring. When the weather becomes severe they den up, coming out only on the warmer nights. In the North they are seldom out after real winter begins, while in the South, they seek food more or less throughout the winter.

The greatest number are trapped at their dens which can be easily told by the long tail hairs found in and near the mouth of den. These hairs may be either white or black, but are usually both--one end white and the other black. These hairs are from three to five inches in length.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLACK SKUNK IN NO. 1 1/2 VICTOR.]

The dens can also be told by their droppings or manure which is usually found a few feet to one side of the den. Skunk "droppings"

can be told by observing closely as it contains parts of bugs, gra.s.s-hoppers, etc., the skunk being very fond of these.

At such dens place your trap which should be a No. 1 Newhouse, No. 1 1/2 Victor, or No. 2 Jump. While catches may be made without any covering it is best to secret the trap carefully for a fox might happen along, or if near water, a mink.

The best place to put the trap is just at the entrance of den so that an animal in coming out will get caught also one going near to the den, but not entering as they often do.

Remove the earth sufficient to bed the trap so that after it is covered the covering will be on a level with the surroundings. Make a covering with whatever you removed. If there is gra.s.s in mouth of den, cover with gra.s.s, if leaves, cover with leaves, etc.

Another good set is to find where skunk are feeding, digging for insects, or their trails leading from one den to another, and make a cubby, placing bait in it, and setting trap. Bait should be rabbit, squirrel, chicken, bird, or in fact, almost any kind of meat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BAITED AND CAUGHT AT CUBBY SET.]

CIVET.

Civet or civet cats are caught much the same way as skunk. This is the little spotted animal often called pole cat, and smaller than the skunk. Skunks have a spot on the head and two stripes while the civet has several stripes and these sometimes run across the body instead of along the back from head to tail as on the skunk.

This animal is caught much the same as the skunk, but being much smaller does not require as strong a trap and the No. 1 of most any make will usually hold this animal. Bait the same as for skunk.

RING TAIL CAT.

The Ring Tail cat or Basarisk is found princ.i.p.ally in Texas, although there are some in California, Oregon and Was.h.i.+ngton. They can be trapped by baiting with insects, frogs or mice. The No. 1 Newhouse, or No. 1 1/2 Victor, or No. 2 Oneida Jump are correct sizes for this animal.

The traps can be set about as for skunk or may be placed on logs and baited or the bait can be nailed to a tree that they frequent, the trap placed beneath and carefully covered.

BEAR.

Bear are caught after finding a place that they visit in search of food, by building a "cubby", made by driving old dry stakes in the ground so as to form a V-shaped pen. Then cover all except the entrance with green brush. This should be three feet high, about two wide, and about three or four feet long.

If a rock or old log is laying where the cubby is to be built it can be used for one side. The "cubby" must be built strong or the bear is apt to tear it down and secure the bait without getting caught.

The bait can be a piece of dead horse, hog, sheep, or most any animal, and the more it stinks, the better. Fish is also good bait.

Stake the bait back in the cubby, and set the trap at the entrance.

Cover carefully. The trap should be fastened to a clog weighing thirty pounds or more. This clog should be several feet long and if a few knots are left on so much the better.

The Nos. 5, 15, and 150, are all adapted for black bear, while the No. 6 is especially designed for grizzly bear. It is the largest trap made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THERE TO STAY--IN A NEWHOUSE.]

In setting bear traps the Newhouse champ, described elsewhere, is much used. It is not very safe for a lone trapper in the forest to undertake the setting of a powerful steel trap without clamps.

MOUNTAIN LION.

Mountain lion are powerful animals yet they are successfully caught in No. 4 1/2 Newhouse traps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOUNTAIN LION SECURELY CAUGHT.]

If you find where mountain lions have killed an animal and left part of it there is the place to set a trap for they are almost sure to return in a night or two.

This animal is also frequently caught by setting a trap where deer or other game has been killed. The chances are good if there is a lion near it will smell the blood and be attracted to the spot as many hunters know that have killed game, dressed and left it until the next day, to find on returning that a lion had been there and helped itself.

In setting for this animal the trap should be fastened to a clog--never solid--as they are quite strong.

CHAPTER XXVI.

WATER TRAPPING.

Here is where the steel trap reveals its superiority over all other traps, for the homemade ones cannot be used for water sets. Strictly speaking all the "water animals" that are valuable for fur are the otter, beaver and muskrat, although large numbers of both c.o.o.n and mink are caught at water sets, as they frequent the streams, ponds and lakes, a great deal in search of food.

In the New England states, as well as some other sections, foxes are caught in water sets mostly at springs. They are generally trapped this way in the fall and early winter before freezing weather.

BEAVER.

The beaver, as I know him, is a very shy and cunning animal, always on guard against danger, which makes it pretty hard to trap, unless the trapper thoroughly knows his ways and habits. My experience has been wholly confined to the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and State of Was.h.i.+ngton, writes a trapper of experience.

The beaver lives along streams or lakes. On streams he builds dams, thus making a reservoir or lake. Sometimes he builds a dam at the outlet of a natural lake, thus raising the height of the water. After he has prepared his dam and built his home, he commences to gather food, which consists of branches of trees, bushes, and even small trees themselves. He always chooses tender, green ones. These he puts in the bottom of the lake or stream in his hut or lodge. If he be disturbed at any time he will stop work for several days and live off the boughs already gathered and sunken, and it is almost impossible to get him until he commences to gather again.

He usually does his work among young sprouts which grow along the bank of his lake or stream. Sometimes he will go a short ways up the stream and float the boughs down to his dam or hut, and then sink them to the bottom, so when the ice gets thick he has sufficient food sunk in the water to last him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BEAVER, TRAP AND TRAPPER.]

There are several different ways to trap him, but I only know of two or three, and will attempt to give them. The first thing is a No. 3 or 4 Newhouse trap with a long chain and big ring. Then the best way is to take some bait, (described elsewhere), cut some small twigs, one for each trap, and having found the dam of a family of beavers, put on a pair of rubber boots, or remove your boots, and wade up stream along the sh.o.r.e, or go in a boat to where they have been at work gathering the sprouts. Be very careful, and don't step out of the water on the land so they can see your tracks or scent you, for should his suspicion become aroused by any human smell the beaver will stay in his home for several days, thus making it tedious work to trap him. When you have a place selected where the bank is steep, fasten your trap chain to a strong stake beneath the water. Then fasten a heavy rock to your trap and dig a flat place in the bank a few inches beneath the water, placing your trap thereon. Then dip the twig into the "madcin" and stick the upper end in the ground, just out of the water, and leaning over the trap. Now your trap is ready.

The beaver comes out of his hut as it grows dark and starts toward the ground where he has his feeding place. As he swims along up the stream, his nose comes in contact with a familiar smell, and he will swim right up to the twig to investigate. As his foot touches the ground the trap springs and he at once plunges for deep water. The stone rolls down to the bottom and pulls him under and he drowns in a short time. He makes no noise to scare the rest, and before he has time to gnaw off his foot he is drowned. In this way you can catch the whole family.

Another way is to cut a hole in the top of dam and set the trap just below the top of water just under the hole. Just as soon as he comes out his eyes tell him his dam needs fixing. He goes at it at once, and all the rest help him. He gets into the trap often before the eyes of the rest, and they will leave the place at once never to return.

Another way is to cover the trap carefully in the path where the beaver goes from the water to his feeding grounds, but doing this it is liable to scare the rest of them entirely away.

OTTER.

The otter is a pretty hard animal to catch. When I set a trap in an otter hole, I cut a chunk of snow with an axe a short distance away and set over the hole, covering it all over with loose snow. That prevents it from freezing up for some time.

The best time to catch otter is in March when the first thaw comes. I have kept traps set all winter for an otter and then got him in the spring. The trap should be set a little to one side of the hole in ten inches of water. I caught an otter once in an otter hole so deep that I had to put in an armful of cedar brush, so as to make it the right depth, and when he came to slide around there he got a surprise, writes a Colorado trapper.