Deadfalls and Snares - Forgotten Books€¦ · DEADFALLS AND SNAKES CHAPTER I BUILDING DEADFALLS During the centuries that trapping has been carried on, not only in America but thruout

Copyright 1907

By A. R. HARDING

CONTENT S

CHAPTER . PAGEI . BUILIHNG DEADFALLS

I I . BEAR AND COON DEADFALL

I I I . OTTER DEADFALL

IV . MARTEN DEADFALL

V . STONE DEADFALL

V I . THE BEAR PEN

VI I . PORTABLE TRAPs

VI I I . SOM E TRIGGERs

IX . TRIP TRIGGERS

X . How To SET

XI . WHEN TO BUILD

XI I . WHERE TO BUILD

XI I I . THE PROPER BAIT

XIV . TRAPs KNOCKED OFF

XV . SPRI NG POLE SNARE

XV I . TRA IL SET SNARE

XVI I . BA IT SET SNARE

XVI I I . THE BOX TRAP

X IX . THE COOP

XX . THE PIT TRAP

XX I . NUMBER OF TRAPS

XX I I .

XX I I I .

XXIV .

XXV .

XXVI .

XXVI I .

XXVI I I .

CONTENTS

WHEN TO

SEASON ’

S CATCH

GEN ERAL INFORM ATION

SKI N NI NG AND STRETCH I NG

HANDLI NG AND

FROM AN IMAL TO MARK"

STEEL TRAPs

PAGE

LIST OF ILLU STRAT IONS .

PAGE

A Good D'eadfa l l Frontispiece.

The Pole Dead fall

Sma l l Animal Fall

The P inch Head

Board or Pole Trap

Bait Set Deadfall

Tra i l Set D'eadfall

Bea r or Coon Dead fall

Otter Dead fall

Marten Deadfa l l

Marten Trap Tr igge rs

Another Marten Deadfa l l

Hi gh Built Marten Dead fall

Tree Dead fall

More Marten Trap Trigge rs

Flat Stone Trap

Stone Deadfall Tr iggers

Th e Invitation — Skunk

Killed Without Scenting

Right and Wrong Way

Bea r Pen Trap

9

10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGEBea r Entering Pen

Den Set Dead fall

Portable Wooden Trap

The Block Trap

The Nox - Em-All D'

ead fall

Illinois Trapper’s T r iggers

Tr ip Tr igger s

Animal Entering Tr ip

Tr ip T r igge r Fall

Canadian Tr ip Fall

The Turn Tr igge r

Two P i ece Tr igger Trap

String and Tr igge r Trap

Tra i l or Den Trap

Sp r ing Po l e and Snare

Sma l l Game Snare .

Wi r e or Tw i n e Snare

Sna re Loop

Path Set Sna re

Tr ip Pan or P late

Double Tra i l Set

T ra i l Set Sna res

Path Sna re

Rat Runway Sna re

Underground Rat Runway

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 11

PAGERunway and Cubby Set

Log Set Snare

Cow Path Snare

Lifting Po l e Snare

Bait Set Sna re

The Box Trap

The Coop Trap 4

The Pit Trap

A Good Catcher

Sing l e and Three Board Stretcher

Some Stretch ing Patterns

Dakota Trappe rs Method

Holder for Ski nn ing

Wi re Coon Method

Wi r e and Tw ig Coon Method

Si z e of Stretch ing Boards

Po l e Stretchers

Fleshing Board

Stretch ing Frame

Skin on Stretcher

Hoop Stretcher I

Sma l l Stee l Traps

NO.81 or Web Jaw Tr a p

NO. 91 or Double Jaw Tr ap

Mink a n d Fox Tr a p s

12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGEOtter and Beave r T raps

Otter Trap s with Teeth

Otter Trap w ithout Teeth

Offset Jaw Beaver Trap

Clutch Detachable Trap

Newhous e Wolf Trap

Sma l l B ear T rap

Sma l l B ea r Trap w ith Of‘fset Jaw

Black Bea r Trap

Regular Bear Trap with Offset Jaw s

Gr i z z ly’

B ear Trap

Bear Chain Clev is

Ste e l Trap Setting Cl amp

INT RODU CT ION

Scattered from the Arcti c Ocean to the Gulfof Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific

Ocean are thousands Of trappers who use deadfall s

,snares and other home-made traps

,but

with in this vast territory there are many thousand who know l i ttl e or nothing Of them .

The best and most successful trappers arethose of extended experience . Building deadfall s and constructing snares, as told on the fol ~

l owing pages, w i l l be Of value to trapperslocated where material — sapl ings

,pol es

,boards

,

rocks,etc .

— i s to be had for construct ing. Themany traps described cannot a l l be used toadvantage in any sect ion

,but some Of them can .

M ore than sixty i l lustrat ions are used to

enable the beginner to better understand the

constructing and workings of home -made traps .

The i l lustrations are mainly furnished by the“Old timers .

”

Chapters on Skinning and S tretching, Handl ing and Grading are added for the correcthandl ing of sk ins and furs adds largely to theircommercial value.

A . R. HARDING .

DEADFALLSAND SNAKES

CHAPTER I .

BU ILDING DEADFALLS.

During the centuries that trapping has beencarried on

,not only in America but thruout the

entire world, various kinds of traps and snares

have been i n use and — taken by al l classes of

trappers and in al l sect ions the home -made trapsare of great numbers . The number Of furs

caught each‘

year is large.

The above was sa id by a trapper some yearsago who has spent upwards of forty years inthe forests and i s wel l acquainted w ith traps

,

trappers and fur - bearing animals . Whether thestatement i s true or not , matters but l ittl e, althoone thing i s certa in and that i s that many of themen who have spent years in trapping and have

been successful use the deadfal l s and snares aswel l as steel traps .

Another trapper says " “In my opiniontrapping i s an art and any trapper that i s notable to make and set a deadfal l , when occasion

demands, does not belong to the profession. I

18 DEADFALLS AND SNARES

wi l l give a few of the many rea sons why deadfal l s are good .

1 . There i s no weight to carry.

2 . M any of the best trappers use them .

3 . It requires no capita l to set a l ine ofdeadfa l ls .

4. There i s no l oss of traps by trap thieves,

but the fur is in as much danger .

5 . Deadfal l s do not mangl e animals orinj ure thei r fur .

6. I t i s a humane way of ki l l ing animal s .

7 . There i s no loss by animals twi sting off

a -foot or leg and gett ing away .

8 . Animal s are ki l l ed outright,having no

chance to warn others Of their kind by theircries from being caught .

9 . Trappers always have the necessary out

fi t (axe and kni fe ) w i th them to make“

and set adeadfa l l that wi l l k i l l the largest an imals .

10. The largest deadfal l s can be made tospring easy and catch smal l game i f requ ired .

1 1 . Deadfa l ls wil l k i l l skunk w ithout leav

ing any scent .

12 . D eadfal l s are cheap and trappersshould be famil iar with them .

I t i s a safe proposition, however, that notone- hal f O f the trappers of today can bui ld adeadfal l properly or know how to make snares

and many Of them have not so much as seen one.

BU ILDING DEADFALLS. 19

F irst a l i ttl e pen about a foot square is bui l tOf stones

,chunks

,or by driving stakes close to

gether,l eaving one s ide Open . The stakes should

be cut about thi rty i nches long and driven into

the ground some fourteen inches,l eaving six

teen or thereabout above the ground . Of coursei f the earth is‘very sol id

,stakes need not be so

THE POLE D EADFALL.

l ong,but should be so driven that only about

sixteen inches remain above ground . A sapl ing say four inches in diameter and four feetlong is la id across the end that i s open . A sap

l ing that is four,five or six inches in diameter

,

owing to what you are trapping for,and about

twelve feet. l ong,i s now cut for the “fal l .”

Stakesare set so that this pol e or fal l wi l l play

20 D EADEALLS AND SNARES.

over the short pol e on the ground . These stakesshould be driven in pairs ; two about eighteeninches from the end ; two about fourteen fartherback . ( See il lustration . )

The small end of the pol e should be spl it. anda smal l but stout stake driven firmlv thru i tso there wi l l be nO danger of the pole turningand “going off” Of its own accord . The trap i sset by placing the prop (whi ch i s only seveninches in l ength and hal f an inch thru ) betweenthe top log and the short one on the ground , towhich is atta ched the long trigger

,whi ch is onlv

a. st ick about the si ze Of the prop,but about

tw ice as l ong,the baited end Of which extends

back into the l ittl e pen .

The ba it may consist Of a piece of ch icken,

rabbi t or any tough bit of meat so l ong as i tis fresh and the bloodi er the better . . An anima lon scenting the ba i t w i l l reach into the trapthe top of the pen having been careful ly cov

ered over — between the l ogs . IVhe’

n the an imal seizes the ba it the long trigger is pu lled off

of the upright. prop and down comes the fal l ,ki l l ing the animal by its weight . Skunk , coon ,

opossum,mink and in fact. near"

.

r al l kinds of

animal s are easi ly caught in this trap . The fox

i s an except ion,as i t i s rather hard to catch

them in deadfal ls .

The. more care that you take to bu ild the

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

22 DEADPALLS AND SNARES.

that most a l l animal s can be captured in themas shown in i l lustration . You w i l l see the dead

fal l i s constructed Of stakes and rocks and i smade as fol lows " Select a place where therei s game ; you need an axe. some nai l s . alsostrong str ing

,a pole four Inches or more in

d iameter . Notic e the cut No. 1 being the droppo le which should be about six to seven feetlong . X0 . is the trip st i ck, No. 8 is stringt i e d to pole and trip st ick

,No . I is the stakes

for holding up the weight,No . 5 i s the smal l

stakes dr iven around in the shape of l etter C,

should be one foot w ide and two feet l ong . NO.

6 is the rocks,NO. 7 is the bait .

V ow th is i s a great trap for taking skunkand i s soon bu i lt. where there are smal l sapl ingsand rocks . This trap is a lso used for mink and

The trapper'

s success depends entirely uponhi s sk i ll and no one can expect the best returnsunless his work is skillfullv done . DO not

Ittempt to make tha t deadfal l unless you arecerta in that vou can make it. r ight and do not

leave it t i l l vou are certain that i t. could not beanv bet ter made . I have seen deadfa l l s so poorly

made and improperlv set that they would makeangel s weep

.neither were they located where

game was apt to travel . The deadfal l i f made

B L'

ILDING DEADFALLS.

right. and located where game fre quents is quit esuccessfu l .

Ano ther thing . bovs. th ink out every l itt leplan before vou attempt it . I f so and so set shis traps one way . see i f you can

’

t improve on

h is plan and make it a l it t le bet ter . Do nor

rush blindlv into any new scheme . but lo ok ati t. on a l l s ides and make vourself wel l a cquaintedw ith the merits and drawba cks of it . M akegood use of your bra ins . for the anima l inst inctis its only protect i on and it i s only by makinggood use of your reason ing powers that you canfool h im . Experience mav cost monev somet imes and loss of pa t ience and temper. but in

my estima ti on it i s the trapper’

s best capital .

An old trapper who has a couple of traps andlots of experience w i l l ca tch more fur than the

greenhorn w i th a complete outfit . Know l edgei s p ower in trapping as in a l l O ther trades .

This i s the old rel iable “ pinch - head"

The

pit’tm‘

e does not Show the cover . SO I w i l l dcL

scribe it . Get some short pieces of boa rd or

short p ol es and lav them on the stones in theback part of the pen and on the ra ised st i ck infront . Lav them close tog ether so the animal

cannot. craw l in at the top. Then get someheavy s tones and lav them on the cover to

weight down and throw some dead weeds and

grass over the pen and triggers and your tra p

24 DEADFALLS AND SNARES.

i s complete . \t n the an imal tri es to enterand sets Off the trap by pressing aga inst thelong trigger in front

,he brings the weighted

pol e down in the middle Of hi s back, which soonstops his earth ly career .

Thi s deadfa l l can also be used at runwayswi thout bai t . No pen or bai t is required . Thegame wi l l be caught coming from either direc

THE PINCH HL'

AD.

t ion . The trap is “thrown ' by the trigger or

pushing against i t when passing thru . Duringsnowstorms the trap requires considerabl e at

tention to keep in perfect working order,but at

other times i s always in order when placed atrunways where i t i s used w ithout bai t .

The trap can al so be used at dens w ithoutbait with success . I f used with ba i t i t shouldbe placed a few feet from the den or near anyplace frequented by the animal or animal s youexpect to catch .

O f course we al l admit the steel trap is more

BUILDING DEADFALLS. 25

convenient and up- to- date

,says a

,New Hamp

shire trapper . You can make your sets fasterand can change the steel trap from place toplace ; of course

,the deadfal l you cannot . But

al l th is does not signi fy the deadfal l is no good ;they are good and when mink trapping the deadfal l i s good . TO the trapper who traps in thesame local ity every year

,when his deadfal ls are

once bui l t i t i s only a few minutes’work to putthem in shape

,then he has got a trap for the

season .

I enclose a diagram of a deadfal l ( cal ledhere Log Trap ) which, when properly made andbaited

,there i s no such a mink catcher in the

trap l ine yet been devised . This trap requiresabout an hour to make and for tool s a camphatchet and a good strong j ackknife

,also a

piece of strong string,which al l trappers carry

This trap should be about fifteen inches wide

with a pen bui l t w ith st icks or pieces of boardsdriven in the ground . ( See diagram . ) Thej aws of th is trap consist of two pieces of boardthree inches wide and about three and a halffeet long

,resting edgeways one on the other.

held firmly by four posts driven in the ground .

The top board or drop should move easi ly — up

and down before weights are put on. The tred

dle should be set three inches inside l evel w i th

the top of bottom board . This is a round stick

DEADI~‘AI.LS AND SNARES.

about three - fourths inch thru,resting against

two pegs driven in the ground . ( See diagram . )

The lever shoul d be the same in si ze . Now putvour stout string around top board . Then set

,

pass lever thru the string over the cross piece

BOA RD OR POLE TRAP.

and latch i t in front of the treddle . henon weights and adjust to spring, heavy or l ightas desired . This trap should be set around old

dams or log j ams bv the brook, baited with fish,muskrat

,rabbi t or ch i cken .

I herewi th enclose a drawing of a d eadfal l

BU ILDING DEADFALLS. 27

that I use for everything up to bear,writes a

Rocky M ounta in trapper . I hate to acknowl

edge that I have used i t to get “lope meat With ,

because I sometimes bel ieve in firing as few

shots as I can in some parts of the M ountains .

B A IT SET DEADFALL,

Drawing NO. 1 shows i t used for bait ; asnare can be used on it at the same time byputting the drop or weight where i t Isn’t l iabl eto fal l on the animal . Put the weight on the

DEADFALLS AND SNAREs.

other s ide of tree or make it fal l w ith the animal to one s ide . In this case a pole must bestri ctly used . A good sized rock is al l ri ght forsmal l animals . The closer Spikes 1 and 2 aretogether and the longer the tugger end On bot

tom,the eas ier it w i l l pul l off .

F ig. 1 . Spike driven in tree one- half inchdeeper than spike NO. 2 ( F ig. No . 2 ) to al lowfor notch .

3 B ai t on end of trigger .

4 Heavy rock or l og .

5 Wi re,fine soft steel .

6 Trigger wi th notch cut in - it.

7 Notch cut in trigger F ig 6. Spike No. 2

must have head cut Off and pounded flat on end .

In sett ing i t across a tra i l a peg must bedriven in the ground . In this peg the spikes aredriven instead

'

of tree as in drawing No . 1 . Theend of brush sti ck i n between peg and triggerend and when an animal comes either way i twi l l knock the brush and i t knocks out thetrigger . Good

,soft steel wire should be used .

In setting this deadfa l l a long river bank a stoutstick can be driven in bank and hang out over

water . This sti ck wi l l take the place of a l imbon tree . One end of a pole held i n a slantingposit ion by weigh ing one end down wi th a rockwi l l do the same as l imb on tree . If a tree i shandy and no l imb

,l ean a stout pol e up aga inst


30 DEADFALLS AND SNAREs.

G— IV ire .

7 Tree .

8 Brush put in trai l w ith one end betweentrigger and peg to knock O ff trigger whentouched .

Thi s deadfal l has never fai led me and whentrapping in parts of the country where lynx,coyote or wo lverine are l iabl e to eat marten intraps

,use a snare and i t wi l l hang ’em high and

out Of reach . Snare to be fastened to trigger .

O f course a l i ttl e pen has to be bui l t whensetting this deadfal l w ith bai t . In sett ing intra i l i t beats any deadfa l l I have ever used forsuch animals as have a nature to fol l ow a tra i l .

A ‘fine wi re can also be tied to the trigger andstretched across tra i l instead of a brush andti ed on the opposite s ide of trai l . I l ike i t

,as

the weight can be put high enough from theground to ki l l an clk when it drops .

CHAPTER II .

BEAR AND GOON DEADFALL .

I w i l l explain how to make the best beardeadfal l

,also the best one for coon that ever

was made,writes an old and successful deadfal l

trapper . F i rst get a pol e six or eight feet longfor bed piece

,get another sixteen or eighteen

feet long and lay it'

on top of bed piece . Now

drive two stakes,one On each side of bed piece

and pole and near one end of bed piece . About1 8 or 20 inches from first two stakes drive two

more stakes,one on each side of bed piece and

fal l pole. Now drive two more stakes directlyin front of your two back stakes and about two

inches in front .

Next cut a stick long enough to come j ust tothe outs ide of last two stakes driven . Thenwhittle the ends off square so i t w i l l work easybetween the treadle stakes and the two insidestakes that your fal l works in ; next ra ise yourfal l pole about three feet h igh . Get a stick

about one inch thru,cu t i t so that it - w i l l be

long enough to rest against your treadle andthat short sti ck i s your treadl e when i t is raised

above the bed a piece,cut the end off slanting

so i t wi l l fit against the treadle good .

BEAR AND COON DEADFALL .

S lant the other end so the.

fal l pole wi l l fitgood . Now five or six inches from

'

the top of theslanted st ick cut a notch in your slanted sti ck .

Go to the back side,l ift your pole up

,set the

post on the bed piece . P lace the top of theslanted st ick against the fal l pole . Then placethe pol e O ff post in the notch in slant sti ck .

Press back on bottom of slanted sti ck and placeyour treadle against the stick . Your trap is set .

Make V shape on inside of “

treadle by drivingstakes in the ground

,cedar or pine

,and hedge

i t in t ight“

al l around . I f such there is not,make

it as tight as you can . Cover the top tight,tho

cubby should be 3 feet long,3 feet high and

wide as your.

treadle stakes .

Stake the bait near the back end of cubby .

Be sure the tread l e is j ust above the bed pieceTake the pole off the cubby to set the trap as.you have set it from this side . You can set i theavy or l ight by regulating the treadle . Isometimes drive spikes in the bed piece and fi lethem off sharp as i t wi l l hold better . You canweight the fal l poles as much as you l ike afterit i s set. Don’t you see, boys, that the old fel lowcomes along and to go in he surely wi l l step on

the treadle . Bang,i t was lowered

'

and , you havegot h im .

This i s the best coon deadfal l I ever saw.

The fal l pol e for coon should be about 14 inches

34 DEADRALLS AND SNARES.

high when set. Set i t under trees or alongbrooks where you can see coon signs . Bait w ithfrogs

,crabs or fish

,a piece of muskrat or duck

for coon . Buil d i t much the same as for bearonly much smal ler . You wi l l find th is a suc

cessful trap .

I wi l l describe a deadfal l for bear whi ch I

use,and wh ich works the best of any I have

tried,says a M ontana trapper . I have two smal l

trees about 30 inches apart,cut a pole 1 0 feet

l ong for a bed piece and pla ce in front of treesthen cut a notch in each tree about 2 7 inchesabove the bed pi ece

,and na il a good

,strong

piece across from one tree to the other in thenotches . Cut a long pole five or six inchesthrough for the deadfal l

,place the large end on

top of bed l og,l ett ing end sti ck by the tree far

enough to place on poles for weights .

Then cut two stakes and drive on outside ofboth poles

,and fasten top of stakes to the trees

one foot above the cross piece . Then on the in

s ide,30 inches from the trees

,drive two more

sol id stakes about 2 feet apart and nai l a pieceacross; them 6 inches l ower than the cross piecebetween the trees . Then cut a lever abont threefeet long and flatten one end

,and. a bai t stick

about two feet l ong Cut two notches 6 inches

apart,

. one square on the top and the other on

BEAR AND COON DEADFALL . 35

the bottom , and both close to the top end of baitst i ck .

Fasten bai t on the other end and then raiseup the deadfal l place the l ever st ick across thesti ck na iled between the two trees

,l etting the

end run six inches under the deadfal l . Take thebait sti ck and hook lower notch on the piecenai l ed on the two stakes and place end of leverin the top notch, then cut weights and place oneach side unti l you th ink you have enough to

hold any bear . Then put on as many more andi t wi l l be about r ight . Stand up Old chunksaround the sides and back and lots of greenbrush on the outside . Get i t so he can’t see thebait .

I t doesn’t requ ire a very sol id pen . I driveabout three short stakes in front and leave themone foot h igh

,so when he pul ls back they wi l l

come against h im and the set i s complete . You

can weight i t w ith a ton of poles and sti l l it wi l lspring easy . The closer together the two notches

the easier it wi l l spring .

This trap can be bu il t l ighter and - i s good forcoon . In fact

,w i l l catch other fur bearers

,but

is not espec ial ly recommended for smal l ani

mals,such as ermine and mink .

CHAPTER III .

OTTER DEADFALLS.

At the present day when steel traps are ' socheap and abundant i t may sound very primit ive

'

and an uncerta in way Of trapping theseanimalsfor one to advocate the use of the deadfal l

,

“

especia l ly as every hunter knows the animal is much more at home in the water than on

land . But on land they go and i t was by deadfal l s the way- back Indians kil led a many thatwere in their packs a t the end of the huntingseason .

O f course these wooden traps were not setat haphazard thru the brush as marten traps

,

but were set up at the otter s l ide places,and

where they crossed points in river bends, or i tm ight be where a narrow strip of land connectedtwo lakes . These places were known from one

generation to another and the Old traps werefreshened up spring and fa l l by some memberof the familv hunting those grounds .

These special deadfal l s were cal led ot tertraps

,but reallv when once set were Open for

most any annual of a medi um size passing tha t

path . The writer has known beaver,lynx, fox


OTTER DEADFALLS. 39

Of your picket or uprights,see that this fal ls

easy and clear .

Now cut two short poles for the forks to layin from side to side of the path

,being in the

same di rection as the choker . At the middle ofone of these short pol es t ie a good stout cord or

rope ( the Indians used spl i t young roots ) , making a loop

'

of same long enough to lay over thepole in front and down to the height the chokepole i s go ing to be . When set

,next comes the

trigger which must be of hard wood and abouta foot l ong

,round at one end and flat at the

other . A groove is hacked out al l around thest ick at the round end . This i s to t ie the cord to .

The choke'

stick i s now brought up to say

twenty inches from the ground and rested ontop of the trigger . A sti ck about an inch indiameter i s placed outside the pickets and the

flat end Of the trigger is laid in against this .

The tied sti ck to be about eight inches from the

ground . The tying at the end of the triggerbeing at one side wi l l create a kind of l everagesufficiently strong to press hard against thet ied stick . Care must be taken, however, tohave this pressure strong enough but not too

strong for the animal to set off .

Now load each end of the choke sti ck wi th

smal l laps of wood to insure holding whatever

may catch .A l ittl e loose moss or grass is placed

40 DEADI‘ALLS AND SNAREs.

fluffy under tread st ick when set to insure theotter going over and not. under . When he clamhers over. the tread st ick hi s weight depresses it

,

the trigger fi ies up,l etting the loaded bar fal l

on his body,which holds h im ti l l death .

IVhile my description of the making of adeadfal l for otters i s pla in enough to me

, yet

the novice may not succeed in constructing one

the first t ime . Sti l l i f he i s a trapper he wi l lvery soon perceive where any mistake may beand correct i t . I have used both steel traps anddeadfal l s and altho I do not wi sh to start a con

troversy yet I must sav that a deadfal l wel l seti s a good trap . For marten on a stump they arenever covered unless wi th snow

,nor is the mar

ten when caught destroyed by mice .

O f course,to set a deadfa l l for otter i t must

be done in the fa l l before the ground i s frozen .

Once made,however

,i t can be set up either

Spring or fa l l and w i l l,wi th a l itt l e repai rs

,last

for years . I am aware the tendency of the ageis to progress and not to use obsol ete methods,st i l l even some Old things have their advantages .

zlood po ints are not to be sneered at and one

of these I maintain for spring and fal l trappingin a d istri ct. where otter move about from laketo lake or river to river i s the O ld time Indiandeadfal l .

CHAPTER IV.

DIARTEN DEADFALL .

Having seen a good many descriptions ofdeadfal l s in the H-T-T lately

,writes a Colo

rado trapper,I thought I would try to show

the kind that i s used around here for marten .

I t i s eas i ly made,and can always be kept above

the snow.

F i rst,cut a pol e ( z ) five or six inches

through and twelve feet long,lay i t in the crotch

Of a tree five feet from the ground . Then cuttwo st i cks two inches through and fifteen incheslong

,cut a notch in each three inches from the

top and have the notch in one slant downwards

( B ) , the other upwards (A ) . The sti cks shouldbe na i led on each side of the pole ( z ) , the topof which should be flattened a l itt le. Have thenotches about six inches above the top of thepol e .

Cut another stick 10 inches long ( F ) , cutthe top off square and nai l i t six inches fartherdown the pole on the same side as (B ) , have thetop five inches above the top of pole ( " ) . Now

cut two more sticks two and one - hal f feet long

( 0 -D) , cut a notch in each two inches from the


top and nai l a sti ck (E ) across them in thenotches

,so they w i l l -be about. seven inches apart .

Set a straddle of the pol e ( " ) they should be

two inches farther down the pol e than ( F )Then at another pol e (X ) ten feet long, lay it

MA RTEN DEADFALL.

under ( " ) , l i ft up one end of i t and nai l the

st ick C and D t o each side of i t . See that whenthe st icks C

,D and E are l i fted up they w i l l

fal l c lear and easi ly .

Now cut a bai t sti ck (G ) one- hal f inch

MARTEN DEADFALL. 43

through and seven inches long,sharpened at

one end . Cut another st ick (H ) an Inch throughand fifteen inches long

,fiatten a l ittl e on one

side . To set the trap l ift up G,D

,E and X

,and

put the end of H under E and rest it on the topof F, hold down the other end whi le you put thebait stick (G ) in the notches A and B

,then let

the end of H come up on the outs ide of Bagainst the end Of G . Put the bait on the otherend of G ; when the end is pul led out of thenotch the trap wi l l Spring and spring easi ly i fmade properly. Lay a bl ock of wood at the backend and some smal l st icks on top, so the an imalw i l l have to craw l under E to get the bai t . M uskrat makes the best bai t for marten .

When you find a tal l straight spruce or something that is pretty straight (not a balsam ) cutit about a foot over your head

,says a North

western trapper,or as high as you can . IVhen

you have cut i t,Spl it the stump down the center

two feet . Be careful doing this,for you are

striking a dangerous blow as I have good causeto know and remember . Trim out the tree cleanand taper off the butt end to make i t enter intospl i t . Drive down into Spl i t about fourteeninches . Cut a crotch into ground or snow sol id .

Now cut the mate of th is pi ece already in,


spl i t and put into Spl i t and into crotch on topOf other . Have the piece heavy enough to holdwolverine. See cuts for the rest Cover bai t asshown in cut . I do not make my trip sti cks thesame as others

,but I afra id that I cannot

MA RTEN TRA P TRIGGERS.

expla in it to you. See cuts for thi s al so . Use

your own j udgment . O f course you w i l l sometimes find it i s not necessary to go to al l thisbother . For instance

,sometimes you w i l l find

a natural hanger for your trap . Then you don’t

have to have the long peg or pole to hold i t st i ff .

This trap is used heavy enough by some “l ongl ine” trappers for wolverine . They blacken bai tand cover as shown in No . 4. In the two smal li l lustrat ions the tri ggers are shown in No . 1

separate and in No. 2 set. A is the bait andtrip sti ck

,B the lever

,O i s the upright . B in

NO. 1 i s where the bait should be .



In No . 3 A is bait,E i s pin wh ich fastens

deadfal l to under pole and prevents deadfal lfrom turning to one s ide . F i s post to keepunder pol e from bending .

In No . 4 EH are nai l s wh ich fasten down a

springy p iece of wood to keep cover over bai t .

Cover wi th fir or spruce boughs .

Another deadfa l l much used by marten trappers is constructed by cutting a notch in a treeabout a foot in diameter

,altho the size of the

tree makes l i ttl e di fference . The notch shouldbe four inches deep and a foot up and down andas high up as the trapper can cut four or fivefeet .

Only one pol e is needed for th is trap as thebottom of the notch cut answers for the bed or

bottom piece . ( See i l lustration . ) T he pole for thefal l shou ld be four inches or more in diameterand anywhere from six to ten feet in l ength

,de ~

pending upon the place selected to set .

The end fartherest from the bait or notchedtree must be a s high a s the notch . Thi s can be

done by driving a forked stake i nto the groundor bv tving that end of the pol e to a smal l treei f there i s one grow ing at the right place .

I f the pol e for the fal l i s larger than the

notch i s deep,the end must be flattened so that


i t w i l l work easy in the notch, as a piece of woodhas been nai led over the notch to hold the fal l

pole in place .

The triggers used are general ly the figure 4and set wi th bait pointing as shown . There i sno place for the marten to stand whil e eating

TREE DE'ADFALL.

bai t,only in Shel f

,and of course when the Spin

dle i s pul led,down comes the pole ki l l ing the

animal .This shel f protects the bai t and bed piece

and the snow does not fi l l i n between and re

quire so much attention as the one first described .

This deadfal l may also be bui l t on a. stumpwi th a smal l enclosure or pen and t he two- piece

MARTEN DEADFALL . 49

trigger used . M ost trappers place the bait or

l ong trigger on bottom pole,when trapp ing for

marten . I t wi l l be readily seen that a marten,

to get the bait, wi l l s tand between the ‘fal l” andbed or under pol e and of course is caught whi l etrying to get the bait .

The height that deadfal l s for marten shouldbe bui l t depends upon how deep the snow gets .

MORE M A RTE N TRA P TR IGGERS.

In the fal l and earlywinter they can be buil t onthe ground or logs and other fur - bearers aretaken as wel l .

A few inches of snow wi l l not interfere w iththe workings of deadfal ls on the ground

,bu t

deep snows wi l l . To make catches the trappermust clean out under the fal l pol e each round .

Thi s i s no smal l task . The trapper is always

50 DEADFALLS A N D SNARES.

on the l ookout for suitabl e places to construct

marten deadfal ls .

When the snows get severa l feet deep,and

the trapper makes hi s rounds on snowshoes,the

deadfa l ls constructed severa l feet above theground are the ones that. make the catches .

CHAPTER V .

STONE DEADFALLS.

The stone deadfal l here described is used bytrappers wherever fiat stones can be found and

i s a good trap to catch skunk,opossum

,mink and

other smal l game in . The trap i s made as follows "

The figure 4 tr igger is best for this trap andis made after this manner " standard ( 1 ) i smade by cutting a sti ck five or six inches longout of hard wood and whittl ing it to a flat point,but blunt at one end ; ( 2 ) i s about five incheslong with anotch cut within about one and one

half inches of the end wi th the other end madesquare so that i t w i l l fit in ( 3 ) which is the bait

sti ck . This i s only a straight sti ck Sixteen or

eighteen inches long,whi le the other end of the

sti ck should have a smal l prong on i t,a tack

driven in,or something to hold the bait in posi

t ion . The best way w i l l be to t ie the bai t on

also .

After you have found a flat stone weighingfrom 50 to 100 pounds, depending upon whatgame you expect to trap, select the place for thetrap

,first place a smal l fiat stone underneath so


that your game wi l l be ki l l ed quicker and al so sothat the upright tr igger w i l l no t sink into the

ground . L i ft up the large,or upper stone,

kneel ing on one knee before the stone rest ing the

weight Of the stone on the other . This l eavesboth hands free to Set the trap . This i s done by

FLAT STON E TRAP .

placing the tr iggers in the posi tion shown in il

l ustrat ion and then lett ing the stone down very

easilv on the triggers . You should keep yourknee under the stone al l th e t ime unti l you see

that i t comes down easily and does not “go off”

of i ts own weight . The bait should always beput on before the trap i s set . This trap w i l l go

off easy and youmust be careful that the bait you


54 DEADFALLS AN D SNARES .

F i gure 1 represents a top view and the piecenext below i t i s a side view of the piece of woodas i t shou ld be made

,and end fartherest from the

Fi g . 1 .

STONE DEADFALL TR IGGERS .

notches being trimmed to a point to hold thebait . This consti tutes the trigger .

The lever is shown in F i g. 2,the cut above

giving a s ide vi ew and that below i t a bottom

STO N E DEAfiFALLs. 55

V i ew of th is part of the trap . The piece of woodneeded for i t i s six and one- half inches long

,one

inch w ide at one end,and tapering down to

three - sixteenths of an inch at the other ; a notchis cut across the under s1de one and a hal f inchesfrom the w ide end . Level off the upper side ofthe narrow end to about one- hal f the originalthickness . I f the flat stone to be used is a heavyone

,the notch must not be more than 1 inch

from the end ; otherw i se the l everage on thenotches would be greater than is desirable, tending to hold the parts together too rigidly.

The upright post,F ig . 3

,is seven inches long

,

sl ightly forked at the bottom ( to make it standfirm and prevent twi st ing round when in use)the upper end bevel ed from the front backwards

at an angle of about 45 degrees . The front of theupright i s the side that would

‘

face a personstanding exactly opposite the trap when set .

On the right side cut a l ong notch, half the

w idth of the wood in depth, commencing the hol

low sl ope of the notch one inch from the lowerend and making the square shoulder just threeinches from the bottom of the post ; l evel theshoulder off from the front so as to leave only anarrow edge . P l ace the post upright, ( see F ig.

4) it’s forked end standing on a smal l piece of

wood or flat stone,to prevent i t from sinking

into the ground ;bait the pointed end of the trig

56 DEADFALLS AND S NARES.

ger and hold it up hori zontal ly wi th i ts middlenotch

,catch ing behind the shoulder of th e notch

in the upright post ; then place the beveled end ofthe l ever in the notch at the end of trigger

,the

notch in the l ever laying on the edge of the topof the upright post .

Lastly,make the stone rest on the top of the

l ever,arranging the stone so that the bait wi l l be

near the l ower end of the stone .

I t i s a good plan to hol low out the groundsomewhat under where the stone fal l s

,to al low

a space for the pieces of the F i g .

-1 to l ay withoutdanger of being broken . The bait

,al so

,should

be something that wi l l flatten easi ly and nothard enough to ti l t the stone up after i t hasfal l en .

The trouble with most deadfal ls usual ly set,

i s in the weight of stone . Wh en you get one

heavy enough it w i l l not trip easy when gametakes hold

,and oftentimes break head piece

where the head takes hold of standard . Thehead piece from stone down to where standardsets in notch should be ful ly 2} inches, so whenstone starts to fal l i t throws triggers out fromunder ; otherwise, stone wi l l catch and breakthem .

Young trappers when you are making triggers preparatorv for your sets, tie ea ch pair together separately a s they are finished

, then'

when


you are ready to set there are no misfits . Now

we are up to the bai t sti ck . I t should under no

condition,be more than 9 inches lon g

,and often

t imes shorter wi l l answer better . A slotted

notch on one end the width of triggers,and

sharpened at the other,i s al l that i s necessary .

Then the bai t wi l l lay on the foundation of trap

with in 5 or 6 inches of front of the trap . Don’t

put bai t away back under stone . You loose al l

th e force when it falls.

I n build ing foundations for traps the utmost

caut ion should be exerci sed in getting them good

and sol id . ( See how wel l you can doi t insteadof how quick . ) Begin in the fal l before the

trapping season i s on,l ocate and bui ld your trap,

and be sure the top stone i s plenty heavy, ra ise i t

up and let it fal l several t imes . I f it. comes - to

gether w ith the hang of a wol f trap and wi l l

pinch a hai r,so much the better .

To i l lustrate " Whi l e squirrel shooting one

morning in the fal l of 1905,I was standing on a

ledge where I used to trap for coons,and I hap

pened to remember of a trap underneath me . Ij ust thought I would see i f i t was there . I wentdown and ki cked away the dri fted leaves andfound i t intact and ready for business . When Il i fted i t up the foundation was as sol id as theday I pu t i t there

,and that was in the fal l of


1890, and I want to say right here that i t tookal l the strength I had to set i t .

Trappers,i f you

'

w i l l try one or more of theabove described deadfal l s for those skunk

,I

think you can t i e thei r pelts about your neck forprotect ion cold mornings

,and none w i l l be the

w i ser as far as smel l goes,provided

,

‘ however,you put some obstruction to the right and l eft ofthe trap so i t w i l l compel his skunkship to enterd irect in front

,and then carefully adjust the

length of bai t st ick so stone wi l l c rush him aboutthe heart . I have taken quite a lot of skunkand very few ever scented where the head andheart were under stone

,writes an Ohio trapper .

I alwavs had a preference for above describedtraps for many reasons

,yet i f you l ive where

there i s no stone,you are not in i t .

Deadfa l l s come in handy somet imes and withno cost whatever — unless the cost i s bu i ldingthem . W’

i l l send two i l lustrations of the stonedeadfal l s writes a successful deadfa l l trapper .

say that there i s a. righ t and a wrong wavto set the deadfal l . I f you want to make sureof vour catch never set your deadfal l flat withshort tri ggers shaped l ike figure 4

,but make long

triggers instead and have the weight or chokersit a lmost upright and draw the top trigger close


02 DEADFALLS AND SNARES

to the one that i t rests on at the bottiw

In thisway you have a trap that w i l l be my easy totouch off .

The way that some set thei r deadfal l s theanimal can remove bai t without being caught,simply because they draw the bait out from un

der the trap and stand far enough away to be out

of danger of being caught . I can take a two

hundred pound wei ght and set a deadfal l thatwi l l catch a smal l field mouse but it would notdo to have them knock that easy for you wi l l get

game that i s too smal l to handle .

CHAPTER. VI .

THE BEAR PEN .

I wi l l give a descript ion of a bear pen, wr ites

a Canadian trapper . The bottom of the floor ismade first of two logs about ( 1 - 1 ) nine feet longand nine or ten inches thick . The-

y are placedside by side as shown in cut and two other logs

(2-2 ) nine feet long and eighteen inches in thickness are placed one on each side of the bottomlogs . T-hen cut two short l ogs about twelve or

fourteen inches th ick and long enough to reachacross the pen and extend about six inches overeach side . Notch these down

,as shown in cut

( 3 - 3 ) so that the top of the logs are about threeor four inches higher than the sides .

Cut notches in the top of these logs so that

when logs 4-4 wi l l lay sol id on top of the otherside l ogs . I f they don’t l ie sol id enough boreholes in the ends of the short logs and drive

woodenpins in the holes . The top of the shortlogs and the ins ide of the long logs should beflattened and a short block ( 5 ) fitted looselyin one end

,and the other end should be closed

by a block driven down in notches cut in the

sides of 4-4 as shown in smal l cut . The top of

THE BEAR PEN. 65

the block ( 6 ) should be about five inches l owerthan the top of the side logs. Notches are nextcut in the side logs

,directly over this block

,so

that when the rol l er ( 7 ) i s in place, i t wi l l fitdown snugly on this b lock . The rol ler i s aboutfive inches thick and should turn easily in thenotches .

The next step is to make the l id . I t shouldbe made of two l ogs of such a size that they wi l lentirely c lose the top of the trap . They arenotches down and pinned onto the rol ler andblock 5 . These logs should proj ect over rear endof pen about four or five feet . Before pinningthese logs in places

,a hole should be made for

the bait st ick,half of i t being cu t in each log .

P ins should be driven in the s ide logs, over therol ler

,so that the bear cannot raise the l id . Two

crotches are then cut and set up at the s ideso f

'

the trap and spiked sol id to the sides . A

short pol e is then placed in the crotches and a

long pole,running lengthw ise of the trap

,i s

fastened to the l id at one end wi th wire and theother ends fits into a notch in the bait stick whenthe trap is set. The bai t st ick has a spike driventhru i t on the inside of the trap to keep it

'

from

pul l ing thru .

To set the trap,pil e stones on the end of the

‘ l id unti l i t w i l l t i p easi ly, then put a pole thru

under lid and go inside and fasten the bai t on


the bai t st i ck . Then pul l the long pole downand hook it into the notch in the bai t sti ck . Re

move the stones from l id and take the pol e fromunder i t and the trap i s set and ready for thefirst bear that comes al ong. If the l id does notseem heavy enough

,pi l e stone on i t . A trap of

th is kind may be made by two men in hal f a

day and wi l l be good for a number of years .

The log trap is one of the very best methodsof taking the bear

,i t beats the deadfall a l l to

nothing,says an old and experienced Ohio bear

trapper . I t i s a sure shot every time ; I havenever known i t to fa i l except where the pen hadstood for a number of

,years and become rotten .

In a case of that kind the bear would have nodifficulty in gnawing his way out. This trap or

pen,as I shal l cal l i t

,has been time tried and

bear tested . M y father used to’

make these trapsand many i s the .time when a boy

-I have riddenon horseback upon a narrow path

,cut for the

purpose of letting a horse pass along and on

nearing the pen heard the growl ing and tearingaround of the bear in the pen and the hair onmy head would almost crowd my hat off .

Go about bu ilding i t this way" F irst sel ec tthe spot where vou have reason to bel ieve thatbear inhabit ; now having made your selecti on,

THE BEAR PEN . 67

get a l evel place and on this spot lay a courseof l ogs w ith the top flattened off ; th is may beeight by three feet . This being done

,commence

to lay up the house of logs six to eight inchesin diameter . Three sides of each log should beflattened ; these wi l l be the top, bottom and theinside . I t i s necessary thi s be done

,for they

must fit c losely together in order that the bearcannot get a starting place to gnaw . This iswhy I suggest that the inside of the log be flattened . It is a wel l - known fact that you can putany gnawing animal into a square box and hecannot gnaw out for he cannot get the startingpoint .

Lay a short log first,then a l ong one

,notch

ing each corner as you go so the logs w i l l fitclosely together . Now for the front corners ;drive a flattened stake into the ground

,letting

the flattened side come against the logs . Now

as you proceed to lay on a course of logs pinthru the stake into each log. Now go on up unti l

you get a height of about four feet, then lay on,

for the top,a course of short logs commencing

at the back end .

Between the second and third logs cut out

a l ittl e notch and flatten the under side of th is

log around the notch ; th is i s to receive the trigger

, which i s made of a smal l pol e about three“

inches thick . Put this into the hole and let it

68 DEADFALLS AND SNARES .

come down wi th in ten inches of the floor . Then

cut a notch in the side fac ing the front of the

pen and so it wi l l fi t up against the under side

of the leg wi th the notch in ;now youmay make a

BEA R ENTER I NG PEN.

LOtCh in the trigger about six inches above the

topof the pen and on the same side of the trig

ger that the first notch was made . Now the

trigger i s ready except adj usting the ba i t.



slaught, you may cut a notch in the outside of

the stake near the top; get a pole eight feet inlengt h

,sharpen the ends

,letting one end come

in the notch of the stake and the other into theground ; th is wi l l hold the door perfectly Sol id .

Cut a sl ight notch in the top l og of the door for

the end of the Spindle and the next move is toraise the door to the proper height . Set a studunder the door to keep i t from fal l ing. Get yourspindle ready

,flatten the top of ei ther end a

l ittle,then cut a stanch ion j ust the right length

to set under the spindle on the first top log.

Tie your bai t onto the lower end of - the trigger

,one man go ing inside to put the trigger in

the proper place . To o facilitate the springing of

the trap,l ay - a smal l round stick in the upper

notch of the trigger,l etting the end of the spin

dle come up under the sti ck and as the beargets hold of the meat on the bottom of the trigger the l east pul l wi l l ro l l the trigger from theend of the spindle . However

,i t wi l l spring very

eas i ly as the stanchion under the end of thespindle is so near the end .

This‘

kind of trap can be made by two menin one day or less

,and i t often happens that the

hunter and trapper wants to set a trap for beara long way from any settlement " or road . Thecarrying of a fifty pound bear trap a distance oftwenty or th irty mi les i s no l i ttl e task . Then

THE BEAR PEN . 7 1

again,th is trap costs nothing but a l ittl e time

and the trapper’s whole l i fe i s given over to time .

One man can make this trap a lone and set it,

but i t i s better for two to work together in this

work, for in case the door should spring uponhim whi le he was inside he would be foreverlost . I have caught two Wi ldcats at once in thispen

,but i t i s not to be expected that you wi l l get

more than one bear or other large animal at a

time.

CHAPTER VI I .

PORTABLE TRAPs

In describ ing a portable deadfal l an Indianatrapper writes as fol l ows " We took a piece ofsawed stu ff 2 x 4

,say 5 feet long

,then another

the same s ize and length . For upright pieces tohold the main pieces so one would fal l square onthe other

, we used sawed stu ff 1 x 3, two piecesset stra ight up and down at each end

,or about

far enough to l eave the back end sti ck out threeinches

,and front end or end where the triggers

set,6 i nches .

Nai l these 1 x 3 two on each end as directedabove

,nai l t o l ower piece 2 x 4 only

,then at back

end bore a hole through the two uprights andalso upper 2 x 4

,or the piece that . fal l s

,put a

bol t through,or a wood pin i f the hol e in the

2 x 4 i s larger than those through the uprights ;then you are ready to ra ise i t up and let i t“drop” to see whether i t works smoothly or nOt .

Better nai l a block 2 x 4 between the tops of

the uprights to keep them from spreading apart,then. i t. i s readv al l except the triggers and stringfor them to run against . I t i s portabl e

, youcanpick i t up and move i t anvwhere, only a stake or


two needed driven down on each s ide . Wherestring is shown as ti ed to l i ttl e bush should be a

smal l stake.

“SHEAR TRAP .

”

I send a drawing of a trap cal led the “ShearTrap

,

” wri tes an Eastern trapper. This is not

a new trap,neither is i t my own invention . I

have used this styl e and can recommend i t to be0 . K

,cheap

,easy made

,l ight to move

,wi l l last

and wi l l catch most any smal l animal .This trap is made as fol lows " Take 4 strips

of board 4 feet 4 i nches l ong,by 3 inches wide .

Bore one inch hol e two inches from end of al lfour of them . Now make two rounds about 13

inches long and put two of the boards on eachside O f the round . At the other end put the two

middle boards on the other round ( see i l lustrat ion ) . M ake one other round fifteen incheslong

,same size as the others . Put the two out

s ide boards on i t,forming two separate frames

at the other end so the two inside boards canturn on the round to wh ich they are coupled .

Take two strips three inches wide, two feet

and six inches long. Bore one inch hol e twoinches from the top end and put round broomsti ck thru i t seventeen inches l ong. Fasten al lthe rounds by wedges or smal l wooden pins .


Stand the two strips last mentioned on the out

side of the frame at the end they separate andmake them fast so as to stand perpendicular .

For bai t sti ck take lathe or One - hal f inch boardone inch wide . Bore hol e as shown in cut ( fiure 6 ) cut notch ( figure For trigger anystick 1 8 inches l ong, 3 inch thick w i l l do " ti estring 2 inches from end and t ie other end at figure 1

,pass the short end under round from the

outside ( figure 3 ) and catch in notch in bait. lath

( figure the other end bait at figure 4. Putweight at figure 5 . Cover trap at figure 6 tokeep animal from going in from back up to figure 7 . For bait I use fresh fish

,muskrat, b ird,

etc ., and scent wi th honey or blood .

96

THE BARREL TRAP .

I promised in my last'

l etter to describ e the

barrel trap,says a Northwestern trapper, which

I use for capturing rats . Other trappers mayhave used th is trap for years, but I only mean

thi s for the young trappers who know noth ing

about this trap .

Take any k ind of an Old barrel made of hard

wood ( a sal t barrel makes a good one) , and fix aboard on one side of the top wi th a hinge . Let

one end of the barrel proj ect out directly over

the barrel to wi th in about 5 or 6 inches of the



the block,piece Of corn cob or anything wi l l do.

Cut the foot off to get the an imal out. of thi ssnare .

The i l lustration shows a square block wi ththe hol e bored in the side . This i s done to bettershow how i t shou ld be done

,al though when set

,

THE BLOCK TRAP.

the hol e should be up . Bait wi th a piece of freshrabbi t

,frog

,or anything that coon are fond of .

Instead of the blocks the auger hol e can bebored in a log or root of a. tree i f a suitabl e onecan be found where coon frequent .

THE “NOXEMALL” DEADFALL .

The best material i s spruce,but i f spruce i s

not to be had,hard wood is better than soft . Fol

low directions closely ; never use Old, dozy wood ;

PORTABLE TRAPS. 79

good,sound

,straight - grained material i s the

cheapest to use. A good way to get your material i s to go to the saw-mil l

,select good straight

grained 2 x 4 studding,have them ripped length

wi se again,making four strips out Of the origi

anl 2 x 4,each strip being two inches wide by

one inch thick ; then have them cut in the lengths

THENOX- EM— ALL DE'ADFALL.

two standards (A ) , 14 i nches long ; (B ) twoside pieces

,2 15 feet long ; ( C ) two drop bars, 2%

feet . Bore a hol e in each piece wi th a one inch

b it, two inches from the end of the piece to the

center of the hol e . (D) A piece of lath about 8inches long

,wi th one end bevel ed Ofl" to fit in slot

of E ; t ie a piece of smal l rope, about a foot long,two inches from the other end . (E ) A piece ofl ath

,2% feet long, wi th a slot cut crosswi se two


inches from one end and a piece of rope tied two

inch from the other - end,about a foot long.

I f you get your material at the mil l have four

rounds ( F ) turned out of oak or mapl e (must

be hard wood ) , three of them being 12 inches

long, one being 8 inches

'

long, inch in diameter .

They must be some smal ler than the hol e, as they

swel l when wet.

Your trap i s now ready to put together .

Take one 12 inch round sl ip on the s ide pieces

B first,then the two standards A ; next place a

12 inch round in the holes in the top of the stan

dards . The front end of the trap is done, except

fastening the standards to the round and the set

t ing apparatus to the top round of standards .

Next take the remaining 12 inch round sl ip on

the drop bars C first,then the side pieces B out~

s ide ; next place the short round G i n the front

end of drop bar C .

‘

You can drive nai l s thru the outside pieces

and the round . “7here there are two pieces ona s ide on one round

,fasten thru the outside

piece,always leaving the inside piece loose so

that i t wi l l turn on the round . A much betterway, altho i t i s more work, i s to bore a hol e thruthe s ide piece and round and drive in a hard

wood plug . This is the best way, because i f any

part of the trap breaks you can knock out the

PORTABLE TRAPs. 8 1

plug much easier than to pul l out an ail. Theholes should be bored w i th a 9; inch bit .

Tie the rope attached to E to the rear round,

leaving two inches play,between E and the

round . Tie the rope attached to D to the topround of standards

,l eaving two inches play at

top and two inches between lower end of D andbottom round .

F i rst place a stone on the drop bar, weigh

ing 20 pounds . Then rai se the drop bar highenough so that you can place the short lath under the round of drop so that the weight restson the rope . These is the secret of sett ing. Thepressure on top forces the l ower end to fly up .

Now place the beveled end of the short l ath inthe slot of the long lath and the trap i s set.

Hang your bai t from the drop bars,under the

weight,about eight inches from the front . The

game wi l l then come to the side of the trap .

Never tie bai t on the lath .

Set the trap in front of the hole,block up by

setting up two stones V shape on the upper sideof hole, forcing game thru the trap to enter or

come out.

CHAPTER VI I I .

SOME TRIGGERS.

I

During my trapping experiences I remember of visit ing an old trapper’s deadfa l l s and

at that t ime I had never seen or used any tr igger other than the figure 4

,but this trapper

used the prop and spindle . I looked at severa l

of his traps ; in fact, went considerably out of

my way to l ook at some eight or ten of them .

Two of these contained game — a skunk and

opossum . I had often heard of these triggers,but was skepti ca l about them being much good .

I now saw that these triggers were al l r ight and

on vis iting my traps again set a few of them

wi th these . triggers . S ince that time I have

never used the figure 4.

The prop and spindle I know wi l l look tomany too hard to “go Off

,

” but they can be set

so that they w i l l go off fairly easy . I t is notnecessary that the trap be set so that the l easttouch wi l l make i t go Off . I t is best to have thetrap set so that mice nibbl ing at bait wi l l not

throw i t .Trappers who have never used the deadfal l

will, no doubt, find that a fter they use them a

SOME TRIGGERs. 83

short time and become better acquainted withthei r construct ion and Operat ion that they w i l lcatch more game than at first . This is only nat ~

ural as al l must learn from experience largely,whether at trapping or anything else.

The prop i s a straight piece about seveninches long and about one- half inch in diameter .

The spindle,or long trigger

,is about the size of

the prop,but should be sixteen or eighteen

inches long with a prong cut Off within two

inches of the end to help hold the bait on moresecurely. See cut elsewhere showing these triggers and of the figure l ikewi se . These i l lustrations wi l l give a better idea of how the triggers are made to those who have never seen or

used them .

I saw some time ago where a brother wantedto know how to make a deadfal l, writes anI l l inoi s trapper . I send a picture of one thatI think is far ahead of any that I have seen inthe H-T -T yet

,that is

,the triggers . I have seen

deadfal l triggers that would catch and not fal l

when the.

bai t was pul led at,but there is no

catch to these.

Trigger NO. 1 i s stub driven in the ground

with. a notch cut in the upper end for end ofbait . St ick NO. 5 to fi t in No . 3 i s another stubdriven in ground for bai t stick NO. 5 to rest on

DEADEALLs AND SNARES.

top . No . 3 i s a stick,one end la id on top of bai t

stick outside of stub No . 2,the other end on top

of lower pole . No. 4 i s the prop stick . One

end i s set on sti ck No . 3 about one lnch inside

the lower pole the other end underneath the

ILLINO IS TRAPPER ’S TR IGGERS .

upper pole . The X represents the bait . Whenthe bai t sti ck i s pul led out of notch in stub No .

1,the upper pole comes down and has got your

anhnaL

I f you find vour ba i t i s caught between the

poles you may know the ba it i s not back i n the

box far enough . If you find the trap down and

bai t and ba it st i ck gone, you may know that the

bai t i s too far back . The animal took hi s whole

body in before he pul led the ba it .

I have tried to descri be this trap for the ones

that don’

t know how to make a deadfa l l .

Somebodv wants t o know how to make a

good deadfa l l . \Vel l the plans publ i shed in

back numbers of H- T -T are al l right except the

figure four sti cks and bait . M ake your st icks


86 DEADFALLs AND SNARES.

I cut a tree from 8 to 10 i nches in d iameter

and cut Off 7 feet l ong . Spl it the piece open andbury one piece on a level w ith the earth spl i ts ide up — and place the other hal f on top . Ihew ofi any bumps and make a perfect fi t . Then

I cut out bushes the s ize of my arm,and drive

them down on each side of my fal l and l eavethem an inch or two higher than I expect mytop log to be when set . Be sure to begin farenough

‘

at the back to force the animal s to goin at the front . I use the figure four triggersand t ie the bait to the long trigger .

Another trigger i s made as fol lows " Cut

two forks and lay pol e a cross j ust in front of

the log on top Of the forks . Take another pieceof t imber about four feet long

,t ie a string to

each end and let One end have a trigger and theother be tied on your top log . I drive a nai l inthe top log and ti e the string to i t

,and I cal l

this my F ly trigger . It acts as a lever,for when

the fly comes up over the piece on the forks andthe trigger goes over ha l f way back by the sideOf the log

,and the trigger about a foot long

stra ight and thin,and sticks under the log

have a short trigger t ied to the fly pole and aforked sapl ing the size of your finger and longenough to sti ck in the ground to hold the trigger . Put the bai t on long trigger and catch the

short trig-ger through the fork and let i t catch

SOME TRIGGERS . 87

the long tri gger . This trigger leaves the fal lopen in front and is the one I prefer .

Take two smal l logs about 10 or 12 feet longlarge enough to break a coon’s back

,and make

a pen about midway,or one- th ird from front

end,t o put “ the bai t in

,and the trigger . Two

foot boards,or sapl ings wi l l do, and make the

pen so that the animal w i l l have to step acrossthe bottom log and take the bait

,and be sure to

set so that the top log wi l l fa l l across the mink,coon

,skunk

,or opossum

,as they are the ani

mal s I ki l l w i th the fal l . Use fly pole triggers

as above,for th is deadfal l .

I make these fal l s near the runways Of theanimal s I w ish to catch . When I am sure tostay at a place

,I buil d my fal ls in the summer

and by the trapping t ime they look Old and nat

uraL

CHAPTER IX .

TRIP TRIG GERS.

The deadfal l shown here can be used at dens

or in paths where animals travel frequently .

“( hen set across the entrance of dens it wi l lcatch an animal going in w ithout bait . That is ,i t wi l l catch an animal going in, as the triggers

are so constructed that they can only be pushedtowards the bait as shown in i l lustration . I f

the trap i s to be used at dens w ithout bait theregular figure 4 triggers had best be used

,but

set extending along the l og instead of back into

the pen . An animal in entering wi l l strike thetrigger and down comes the fal l .

The trap shown here and the triggers aremade as fol lows " Cut two l ogs and lay one on

the ground . This log should be at least fourfeet long . P lace i t firmly on the ground w ith

flat side up . This l og need not be as flat as

shown in i l lustration,but should be flattened

sl ightly . Drive two stakes three feet long w ithi n a. foot or so of one end ( 8 ) and

Now cOme to the other'

end and drive two

more ( 10 ) and S take ten whi ch is d irectly opposite from ( 1 1 ) you want to be care

TRIP TRIGG ERS. 89

ful not to spl i t, as one Of the triggers rests onit . The fal l is now placed in position

,that is

the upper log . The end of this i s spl i t and astake driven in the ground so tha t the fal l

wi l l not turn between the stakes but is heldfirmly . See that the fal l wi l l work easi ly up

AN IMAL ENTER I NG TR IP DE'ADFALL.

and down ; that the stakes are not so c lose together that the fal l b inds

,yet i t wants to fit

snugly .

Cut trip stick (4) and trigger l i ftingthe fal l up w ith one knee and place end of ( 3 )onto (4) sl ightly, so that a smal l pressure on

(4) wi l l spring the trap . After you have the


trap set spring i t to see that i t works al l right .

I f the trap works al l right and you are setting

across the entrance of a den the pen of course

i s not wanted . I f you are setting in paths or

near dens, drive stakes in a semi - c ircl e as shown

in il lustration,but the stakes should st i ck above

the ground some eighteen inches or about as

h igh as the “fal l” pole when set . It is a good

plan to throw leaves or grass on the stakes .

A smal l notch ( 5 ) should be cut in uprightpost ( 8 ) f or trip sti ck to fit in to hold i t up to

that end . Be careful,however

,that this notch

is not cut too deep . The bai t ( 6 ) i s placed back

in the pen and fastened wi th wi re or a stake

driven thru it into the ground . The open space

over bai t is now covered over and the entire trap

can be made to not look so suspicious by cut

t ing brush and throw ing over i t excepting in

front Of the bai t . An animal in going in forbait steps on or pushes the long sti ck (marked4 at one end and 5 at the other ) Off of ( 3 ) andi s usual ly caught .

This i s another good tri p trigger deadfall.

A short log should be laid on the ground and thetwo stakes driven opposite each other as in thetrap j ust described . These stakes are '

not shown,

TRIP TRIGGERS. 91

as a better view of the tr iggers and workings ofthe trap can be had by omitting these.

In the i l lustration the “fa l l” pol e i sweighted, but i t i s best to have the pole heavyenough and not

l

weighted . The stakes on whichthe upper or cross piece i s nai led should be fromtwelve

‘

to eighteen inches apart . The cross piece

TRIP TRIGGER FALL.

need not be heavy,yet should be strong so that

the weight of the fal l wi l l not bend it .

The pens or enclosures used cannot beered

, as th is would interfere w ith the workingsOf the triggers . I f the pen i s sixteen inches orhigher very few animal s wi l l c l imb over to getbait

,but .wi l l go in where the trapper wants and

i f properly made and set are apt to catch thegame .


Al ong in the late seventies or beginning of

the eighti es,when a g

'ood sized muskrat woul dbring about as much as a common prime mink

,

and a steel trap was quite a prize to be in possession Of

,I had perhaps two dozen traps

,some

Old fashioned,that would be quite a curiosi ty

at present,bes ides a few Newhouse No . 0 and 1 .

That was in Ontario, Canada . Skunk,mink

,

coon,muskrat and fox were the furs in that

part,Waterloo

,Brant and, Oxford Counties .

Later I used this deadfal l w ith success in Iowaand other sect ions

,so that there is no doubt but

that i t w i l l be found a good fur catcher in mostlocal it i es .

I used to catch a great deal wi th deadfal ls,

picture of wh ich I here enclose . I have seennearly al l the di fferent make-s of deadfal l s andhave tried some Of them

,but the one I here send

you the picture of,whi ch can be eas i ly under

stood,is the one I have had the most Success

with . I bel ieve they are the best,and an animal

can’t get at the bai t wi thout striking i t Off, besides some animal s wi l l examine a ba it w i thou ttouch ing i t . Thi s deadfa l l

,i f they are curious

enough j ust to enter inside and put thei r footon the trigger sti ck

,they are yours i f the trap

i s set properly .

This stvle of deadfal l can be successful ly.

used over Skunk hol es,game runways and there



to work up and down in . The top log Should be

Six or eight/ feet long,according to size Of ani

mal you a im to use trap for,and about the same

Size as the bottom log . Cut a forked sti ck about12 inches l ong for the ba i t sti ck

,notching one

end and tapering the other as Shown in F ig . N0 .

FIG . FIG 2

THE TURN TR IGGER .

2 . A sti ck 24 inches long should then be cut

and flattened at both ends .

To set the trap,raise one end of the upper

log and s ti ck one end of the flattened stick

under i t,resting i t upon the top of the stake

on the outside of the log . P la ce the bait st ick ,point downward, inside the pen upon a ch ipof wood or rock to keep it from Sinking into the

TRIP TRIGGERS. 95

ground and set flat Stick in the notch . Whenthe animal pul l s at the bai t i t turns the baitstake and throw s the cross piece out of the notchof the bait sti ck and let the top log fal l .

CHAPTER X .

How TO SET .

In explaining size pen some make them 2 feetlong

,wri t es a New York trapper

,whil e one 12

inches long ( as used on th is trai l ) , i s suffi cient ;not only that

,but i t i s super ior for the fol low ing

reasons " A 2 foot pen would let the animal passinside and beyond the dropwhen sprung, unlessthe animal stepped on the treddl e .

The Indians’ tra p is made by cutt ing a sap

l ing 3 or 4 inches in diameter off the butt endcut a piece 2 foot and place on the ground for abed piece ; drive four stakes, two on either sideof bed piece

,l eaving a space between of 12

inches,using the balance of pol e for th e drop to

play between the stakes . For balance of pen afew stakes

,bark or slabs cut from a tree .

For a Spindle, cu t from a hemlock,spruce or

other dry l imb a piece eight or ten inches long,sharpen one end to a point

,the other end flatten

a trifle for an inch or two on the underside, so

that when placed on the bed piece i t w i l l laysteady . Now w i th a sharp kni fe

,commence ""

inch back,and round off top Side of spindle on

whi ch to place a standard four inches in length,

cut from same material a s spindle .

How TO SET . 97

In setting,place the bait on the Spindle so as

to leave a space of only Six inches from bait tothe standard ; now take spindl e in left hand

,

standard in right hand,kneel down

,raise the

drop placing one knee under i t to hold it up theright height . Lay spindle onto center Of bedpiece and place the standard on top of Spindl e,l ett ing drop rest on top Of standard SO as to keepthe pieces in posit ion . Now by moving the standard out or in on th e spindl e

,the Spring of the

trap can be so gauged that i t w i l l set safely forweeks or months

,Sprung easi ly

,and hold any

thing from a weasel to a raccoon .

It is sure,as i t ki l l s immediately

,giving them

no chance to escape by twi st ing or gnaw ing Offthei r legs . I t i s not so quickly made and set as

a steel trap,and never gives “Sneakums” induce

ments to approach i t for future use . After thetrap is set

,place bark or something suitabl e be

tween the stakes above the drop and cover topof pen so as to compel the an imal to enter infront

,and a t the same time ward O ff snow and

sleet from interfering w i th its workings . Weightthe drop pole on either side of pen by plac ing onchunks of wood or stone .

There are several ways to set deadfal l s as

different triggers are used . The manner in con

How To SET. 99

structing these traps i s varied somewhat in thedifferent sections . The i l lustration Shown herei s of a trap that i s used to a considerabl e extentin al l parts of America . The trapper for marten in the far North

,the Opossum

'

trapper of

West'

Vi rginia,Kentucky and M issouri

,the

skunk trapper of the New England S tates andthe mink trapper of the West have al l used thistrap With success . I t i s for the hundreds ofyoung and inexperienced trappers that the deadfal l i s Shown here .

The trigger as shown, that is the one extending back into the pen

,i s a l l one piece . This trig

ger i s usual ly cut from a bush and Often re

quires some time to find one sui ted . I f you intend to bui ld a few traps of th is kind i t is wel l tobe on the l ookout in advance for suitable triggers . This trap is set w i th only two triggers,the one w ith the stra ight part extending backinto the pen and the prong on which the “fal li s resting and the other trigger is driven intothe ground SO that i t i s only a l ittl e higher thanthe under log of the trap .

This trap can be set w i th the triggers knownas figure 4 i f preferred . Coon

,mink

,Opossum,

Skunk and marten are usual ly not hard to catchin deadfal l s

,although now and then an animal

for some reason is extremely hard to catch .

In building deadfal l s i t is best to Spl i t the

100 DEADEALLS AND SNARES.

end of the pol e fartherest from the pen or bai tand drive the stake there . Thi s wi l l hold the upper or “fal l” pole sol id, SO that there w i l l be nodanger of it s turning of i ts own weight and

fal l ing.

I enclose plan and descript ion of a deadfal l Ihave used w ith success on Skunk and other fur

STR ING AND TR IGGER TRAP.

an imals,wri tes a trapper from \ ew York State .

Never having seen anyth ing l ike i t described Ithought i t might be a help to those using thesetraps . During November and December, 1 897,I caught 1 1 skunk in one deadfal l l ike thi s one .

Stakes are dri ven in the ground to form the

pen same as on figure 4 or other deadfal l , but no


CHAPTER XI .

WHEN To BUILD .

If you have determined upon your trapping

ground it i s best to bu i ld your t raps in advance

of the trapping season,so that they wi l l become

old and weather beaten . This,of course, i s not

necessary as traps are Often bui l t,baited and

on the return of the trapper the fo l lowing morning game securely caught . Whi l e the above isOften true

,deadfal ls can and Should be bui l t in

advance of the trapping season . There are atl east two reasons for th is " first

,i t al lows the

t raps to become weather beaten and game is not

so suspic ious ; second, a l l the trapper has to do

when the trapping season arrives i s to vis i t andset h is traps .

Some ob j ect to deadfal l s on the ground thatthey require lots of work to bui ld and that atrapper’s time i s valuable a t th is season of theyear . Such may be true of the amateur

,but the

professional trapper usual ly has much id le t ime

in August,September and early October

,when

he is glad to l ook out for trapping grounds forthe com ing w inter . I t

‘

i s a day’s work for one

man to bui ld from eight to ' twelve deadfalls, de

WHEN TO BUILD . 103

pending of course upon how convenient he findsthe pole to make the fal l . The other material i susual ly not hard to find or make . That is stakes

,

chunks and rocks . I f you only bui ld six oreighttraps and construct them right they are worthtwi ce as many poorly bui l t . When properlybui l t they wi l l last for years

,requiring but l i ttl e

mending each fal l at the opening of the trappingseason . Taken al l in al l we do not know that acertain number of deadfal l s take up any moretime than an equal number Of steel traps . Infact more deadfal l s can be set in a day, afterthey are bui l t,than steel traps .

When it i s stated that you wi l l perhaps do aswel l at home as elsewhere, this, of course, depends upon where you are l ocated

,how many

trappers there are in your secti on,etc . I f there

i s but l ittl e to be caught then you had best goelsewhere

,but trappers have been known in

thickly sett led sect ions to catch from $50 to

$300 worth Of fur in a season, lasting from November 1 to M arch 15 . Of course in the far

north,where trapping can be carried on from

October 15 to June 15,or eight months

,the

catch i s much larger,and as the animals caught

are more valuable,the catch of a single trapper

is sometimes as high as $600 toThe trapper who s tays near home has the

advantage Of knowing the territory . I f he was

104 DEADPALLS AND SNARES .

to vi si t a strange sect ion, a ltho a good trappingl oca l i ty

,he would not do SO wel l a s i f he were

a cquainted wi th the localitv and knew the locations of the best dens. Then again his expensesare heavier i f he goes into a strange sect ion

,vet

I f there i s but .l it t l e game near your home,and

you are going to make a business of trapping,go and look up a good trapping section . Under

these condit ions i t i s best for two or three to gotogetherf There is no necess ity of carrying butl i ttl e baggage other than vour gun

,for at the

season Of the vear that prospect ing i s done thereis but l itt l e diflicultv i n ki l l ing enough game tol ive on.

After you have once found a good trappingsection

,and bui l t your cabin

,deadfal l s and

snares,you can go there fal l after fa l l w ith your

l ine Of steel traps,resetting your deadfal l s with

but l ittl e repairs for years . You w i l l a l so become better acquainted w ith the territory eachseason and w i l l make larger catches . Do notthink that you have caught a l l the game the firstseason

,for generally upon your return the next

fal l you wi l l find Signs of game as numerous as

ever.

In locating new trapping grounds,i f two or

three are together and it i s abusy t ime in September

,let one of the party go in advance pros

pecting. This wi l l save much valuable time


CHAPTER XI I .

WHERE TO BUILD .

In determining where to set deadfalls or 10cate snares i f you w i l l keep in mind the denswhere each winter you have caught fur - bearinganimals,or their tracks have Often been seen inthe snow or mud

,and build your traps and con

struct snares at or near such places you are pret

ty sure to not go astrav .

The locat ion,Of course

,depends largely upon

what kind Of game you are trying to catch . I fmink or coon, there i s no better pl ace than alongstreams where there are dens . I f there Shoul dbe a smal l branch leading o ff from the main

stream,at the mouth Of th is i s Often an excel lent

place to locate a trap . I t Should not be too nearthe water as a ri se would damage or perhapsfloat Off at l east part of your trap . Sometimesfarther up th i s smal l stream there are blu ffs and

rocks ; at such places, i f there are dens, i s j ust

the place to bui ld deadfal ls . I f there are severa ldens

,and the blu ff extends al ong several hun

dred feet,i t perhaps wi l l pay to bui ld two or

three traps here .

In cl eared fields,woods or th ickets Skunk are

WHERE TO B U ILD . 107

found anywhere that there are dens you can construct a trap . While

,as a rule

,the th inly set

tled distri cts are the best trapping sections,yet

skunk,muskrat and red fox are found in greatest

numbers in settled sections,

‘

whi l e opossum,rac

coon and mink are found in fa irly wel l settleddistricts . I t i s therefore not necessary that youshould go to the wi lderness to make fairly goodcatches . “7li ile the trapper in the wi ldernesshas the advantage of no one disturbing hi s deadfal l s

,yet he has disadvantages . The trapper

who means business need not go hundreds of

miles away,but if he wi l l bu ild a l ine of traps

along some stream where there are mink, or i nthe thickets and along rocky buffs for skunk,raccoon

,opossum

,etc.

,he wi l l be surprised at

results .

In some sect ions land owners may not al lowtrapping

,but usual ly they w i l l

,especial ly i f you

take the pains to ask before vou commence building or sett ing your traps .

The fact that you have your traps scatteredover a large terri tory gives you better chancesof making good catches

,for most animal s travel

quite a distance from night to night . You mayhave traps at some stream that i s eight or tenmiles from your home and a mink may comealong that does most of i ts seeking for food milesfarther up or down this stream

,nearer

,perhaps,


where it was raised,and vou get him . Thus you

see by going only ten miles away you may catchanimal s that reallv l ive twentv Just how fara mink mav travel up or down a creek or river Ido not know

,but i t is certa in that thev go many

mi les and traps may make a catch of a mink thatl ives many

,many mi les awav . O f course al ong

Smal l streams thev may not go so far . O ften ,however

,they continue their travels from one

stream to another .

If you are an expert trapper you can veryeasi ly detect

,i f you are in a good local ity

,espe

cially i f in the fa l l — September and O ctober .

These are the two months when the most pros

pecting is done . Going along streams at th is

season tracks are plainly seen and in the forestsat dens Signs

,such as hai r

,bones and dung . Of

ten you wi l l come upon Signs where some birdhas been devoured and you know that some animal has been in the local ity . O ld trappers re‘adi ly detect al l these signs and new ones can learnby experience .

I t i s not absol utely necessary to bu il d trapsat or near dens . Some years ago

,I remember

when doing considerabl e trapping in SOuthern

Ohio,I came upon a deadfal l bui l t near a smal l

stream tha t ran thru a woods . I l ooked aroundfor dens

,but saw none . Why th i s trap had been

bu il t there was a puzzl e to me . One dav I hap


WHERE TO B U ILD . 1 11

two swi tches comes in thi s to keep the paddl efrom hitting the bark on side logs .

Next iS ‘

where to set . I f along a creek,find

a place where the water i s w ith in three feet of

the bank,set your trap up and down the creek

at edge of water,dam up from back end of pad

dle to bank wi th brush or briars,then from front

end into water three or four feet . Youw i l l findthe upright trigger has to be a good deal longerthan the notch trigger . You can use roundtri ggers i f you want to by nai l ing a Sh ingle five

inches wide on the long trigger sti ck . Be sureand have your paddle muddy if sett ing alongcreeks . You want to put a l i ttl e stone back beyond paddle

,so when the trap fal l s i t w i l l not

burst paddle . Now you have a trap easy madeand sure to catch any animal that steps on paddle

,which i s five inches w ide and sixteen long.

You don’t need any bait,but you can use bait by

throwing i t under paddle. This trap is hard tobeat for smal l game .

I make a deadfal l that sets wi thout bait,writes an I l l inoi s trapper . I t i s made l ike anyother only di fferent triggers . Set i t across path

,

over or in front of den or remove a rai l and set

i t in the corner of a fence where game goes thru .

1 12 DEADFALLS AND SNARES.

Use thread in dry weather, fine w i re for wet. Two

l ogs for bottom isbetter than one,make triggers

h igh enough to sui t the animal you wi sh to

catch ; i f h e h its the string or wi re he isyours .


1 14 DEADFALLS AN D SNARES.

trap baited w i th Skunk conta ined a skunk . Thisshows that when an animal i s very hungry it i snot very parti cular what i t eats .

In the early fa l l whi le food of a ll k inds i s

easy to find,any animal i s harder to enti ce to

bait and at thi s season bai t Should be fresh i f

the trapper expectsto make profitable catches .

The trapper Should always carry a gun,pistol

or good revo lver w ith which to help kil l gameto supply bai t for his traps . Steel traps set

a long the l ine wi l l a l so help to keep the supplyOf ba i t up at al l t imes . I f vou are successful insecuring a. great deal of bait

,more than wi l l be

used on that round, you wi l l find it an excel lent

idea to leave some at certain places where itcan be secured on the next round should i t be

needed .

Bait mav consist of any tough bit of meat,but rabbit i s an excel lent ba it . " uai l or almostany bird i s good . Chicken also makes good bait .

Squirrel i s al l right . For mink,fi sh i s excel l ent .

M i ce,frogs and muskrat can al l be used . B e

member that the fresher and bl oodier the baitthe better animals wi l l scent it much qui cker .

They are also fonder of fresh bait than thatwhich has been ki l led for days or weeks as the

In baiting i t is important to see that the bai t

is on secure . I t i s a good idea to t ie i t on wi th

THE PROPER BAIT . 1 15

strong thread or Smal l cord . The '

amount ofbait to put on a Single trap is not so important .

M ost trappers use a rabbit in bai ting ten trapsor less ; the head makes bait for one trap, eachforeleg another

,the back about three and each

hind leg one,altho each hind leg can be cut to

make bai t for two traps .

The spindle or tr igger is run thru the baitand Should be fastened on trigger near the endas shown in i l lustrat ion el sewhere . The secur

ing of bait on the trigger is an important,

th ing.

If i t i s not on securely and the trap i s hard toget O ff

,the animal maydevour bait and the trap

not fal l . I f the trigger is only st ick ing loosely

in the bait,it i s easy for an animal to stea l the

bait . Usual ly the observing trapper knows thesethings and are on their guard

,but for those who

are using deadfal ls thi s season for the firstt ime

,more expl ic i t explanation i s necessary .

The bait should extend back into the pen

about a foot and the pen should be SO constructedthat the bai t touches nowhere only on the trigger . The animal in eating the bai t usual lystands w ith its fore feet upon theunder pole, orjust over i t . In this conditi on it can readi ly beseen

,that if its gnawing at the bai t twists the

trigger O ff the upright prop what the conse

quences wi l l be — the animal wi l l be caught

across the back. An animal standing in the

116 DEADPALLs AND SNARES.

posit ion j ust described W111 natural ly pul l down

somewhat on the bai t and in i ts eagerness to getthe bai t pul l s and twi sts the Spindle

,or trigger

,

off the upright prop .

It i s a good idea to try the trigger . That i s,

place the triggers under the fal l j ust the sameas you would i f they were baited and you weregoing to set the trap . By doing this you wi l l

find out abou t how you want to set the triggersso that they wi l l work properly. There is muchin being acquainted wi th the working of traps .

Study them careful ly and you wi l l soon‘

learn

to be a successfu l trapper .



Off the edges SO that the trigger wi l l sl ip off

easier . Again the pen may be torn down andthe animal takes bai t from the rear . Here is

where i t pays to bui ld ‘ traps substantial . Insuch cases rebui ld the pen

,making i t stronger .

Should i t be torn down on subsequent vis its,the

game i s perhaps a fox . O f course i f the pen hasbeen torn down by some trapper or passinghunter

,you can readi ly detect same by the man

ner in which i t has been done . I f the trapper is

sati sfied that i t i s an animal that i s doing themischief

,he wants to plan careful ly

,and if he is

an expert trapper,a steel trap or two w i l l come

into good play and the animal wi l l be caught inthe steel trap . The pen wi l l not be torn downaga in .

When traps are down note careful ly the condition that they are in ; see that the

“fal l” fitson the lower pole c losely

,and by- the way, when

bui lding thi s is an important th ing to noti cethat the fal l fits snugly on the lower or under

pOle.

I f a snare or spring pol e i s up but nothing

caught, Simply reset . Should many snares be up“thrown” and no catches

,the trouble Should be

located a t once . The noose i s probably too largeor smal l or made of l imber or too sti ff string or

wi re, or maybe i t i s too securely fastened . Whenresetting, note al l these careful ly and experience

TRAPS . KNOCKED OFF. 119

wi ll sooner or later enable you to set j ust rightto make a catch . I f a certain snare is botheredcontinual ly

,i t wi l l do no harm to set a steel trap

where you th ink chances best of taking the animal . I t matters but l ittl e to the trapper howthe animal i s caught

,as i t i s hi s pelt that is

wanted .

In using the trip triggers wi th or w ithoutba it

,the trapper should fasten the bai t by ’ either

driving a peg through it and into the ground or

tieing.

In most instances the animal wi l l throw thetrap before getting to the bait

,but i t i s wel l to

take this precaution in case,for any

.

reason,the

animal Should not step on the trip trigger at

first .Sometimes a smal l an imal may jump over the

tri p trigger in order to get the bait and in ' i tsendeavor to get bai t wi l l str ike the trigger . Theanimal does not know that the trigger i s dan

gerous, but now and then either steps or jumpsover . General ly they step on the trigger,

“

for i f

the trapper is “onto hi s”

j ob” the bait and trigger

are so placed that the animal th inks the triptrigger i s the place to put hi s foot .

In using w i thout ba i t the " tr igger is so arranged that the animal rubs or steps on the trigger when entering or l eaving the pen or i f at a

trai l or runway when passing along.

CHAPTER XV

SPRING POLE SNARE .

Whil e the deadfal l i s good for most animals,there i s no one trap that fi l l s al l requ irementsand in all places . Some animal s may be Shy ofdeadfall s that can be taken in Spring poles

,

snares and steel traps . Th is trap i s easi ly andchea ply constructed . I t Should be made nea r

dens orwhere animal s travel frequently.

I f a smal l bush i s not g row ing handy, cut one.

Drive a stake deeply in the ground,pul l i t out,

stick the larger end of the bush cut into it . Theexplanation of thi s trap i s as fol lows " 1

,bai t

sti ck ; 2 , tri gger ; 3, nooSe made of w i re or stoutcord ;4, stay wi re made of wi re or cord ; 5, bait ;6,spring pole .

By noting careful ly the i l lustration th is trapcan be bu ilt easi ly . The Size of the bush or

Spring pol e,of course

,depends upon what Sized

animal s you are’

trapping. This trap wi l l takesmal l game such as mink

,Opossum

,Skunk

,etc .,

or can be made large and strong enough to catchmounta in l ion or bla ck bear .

The snare i s made by bui ld ing a round fencein a pla ce where there i s pl enty of smal l trees .



notches in the s ides of the trees for th e same tofit

,have i t to Spring

’

easy. For snaring rabbitshave the fence qu ite high.

Observe the above descript ion and you canreadi ly make . No 1 is the noose, NO. 2 i s spring

SMALL GAME SNARE.

pole, No. 3 fence,NO. 4 bait . This snare a lready

explained can be made any time in the year whil ethe dead fal l can only be constructed when theground isn’t frozen .

The snares can be either made Of twine or

wi re . M any fox and lynx snare trappers in theNorth use small brass wi re.

SPRING POLE SNARE . 123

Snares work wel l in cold weather and if properly constructed are pretty sure catchers .

A— Spring pole.

B — Staple.

C— Two smal l nai l s driven in tree . ( Three

WIRE AND TWIN E SNARE .

inch nai l head,end. down

,w i th snare looped at

each end w ith a foot Of Slack between . As soon

as the D — three inch nai l i s pul led down, i twi l l sl ip past the nail at top end, when springpol e wi l l instantly take up the slack

,also the fox,

to staple and does its work . )E— S lack l ine or w ire .


F— Loop should be 7 inches in diameter andbottom of loop ten inches from the ground .

R emarks— The na il s Should be driven above

stapl e so i t w i l l pul l straight down to rel ease the

snare fastening .

A grea t many foxes have been caught in th is

country by the plan of the drawing outl ined,

SNARE LOOP.

wr ites J . Hunter,of Canada . A— the snare

should be made of rabbi t w i re four or fivestrand twi sted together . Should be long enough

to make a l oop about. seven inches in diameterwhen set . Bottom side Of snare should be aboutsix inches from the ground . E— i s a l ittl e sti ck,sharp a t one end and Spl it a t the other

,to sti ck

in the ground and Sl ip bottom of snare in Spl i tend

,to hold snare steady .

B — i s catch to hold down spring pol e . Cis stake . D— i s spr ing pol e . Some bend downa sapl ing for a spring pole

,but we think the best


DEADFALLS AND SNARES.

upon . Fail ing to find su ch a tree i n the properplace

,an artific ia l fork is made by crossing two

stout young birch or tamarac,firmly planted in

the ground,and the two upper points ti ed to

gether S ix or ten inches from the top. The balancing or tossing pol e is l odged in thi s fork so

that the part towards the butt would out-weigha bear of two or three hundred pounds suspendedfrom t

‘

he small end .

Next a stout l i ttl e birch or spruce i s selectedand a section of three or four cut off . From thisa l l the branches are removed

,except one, the

smal l end i s pointed and driven deep into theground a few inches at one Side of the bear road .

The snare i s made of three tw i sted strands ofeighteen thread cod l in e and is firmly t ied to thetossing pole . A few dried branches are stuck inthe ground each Side of the path

,the pol e i s de

pressed SO the very end is caught under the tw igon the sti ck driven in the ground for that purpose and the noose is sti ffened by rubbing balsambranches wh ich l eave enough gum to make i thold its Shape .

The noose i s kept in the proper position ( thebottom being about sixteen inches above the roadand the diameter being about eleven inches byblades of dry grass l ooped to i t and the ends letinto a gash on sticks at each side

,put there for

that purpose . No green branches are used in

SPRING POLE SNARE . 127

the hedge about the road because this wouldmake the bear suspic ious . The snare is now

complete and the hunter stands back and examines it crit ical ly . H i s last act is to rub somebeaver castor on the trunk of some tree standingnear the road

,ten or twelve feet from the snare .

This i s done on another tree at the same distanceon the opposite side of the snare .

Bears are attracted by the smel l of the castorand rub themselves against the tree in the sameway as a dog rubs on carrion . When finishedrubbing on one tree he scents the other and ingoing to get at the fresh one tries to pass thruthe snare . H e feel s the noose tighten about h isneck and struggles ; t

‘his pul l s the end of the tossing pole from under the branch trigger

,up goes

the pole and old Bruin wi th it .

M y way, according to a M assachusetts t rapper

,to trap skunk w ithout scenting

,and i t i s

successful,i s to snare them . Use a Spring pole

and i f one does not grow handy, cut one and setit up as firmly as possibl e about four or five feetfrom the burrow and to one Side . Probably theground i s frozen and you wi l l have to brace i tup wi th logs or stones or perhaps lash i t to astump or root . When the top Of the pol e i s bentdown i t should be caught under the end of a log


or rock on the opposite Side of the hol e so thatit can easi ly be dislodged bv an animal , either

g'

oIng In or out of the burrowThe snare or noose i s atta ched to the Spring

pol e directly over the center of the burrows andthe bottom of the noose Should be an inch and ahal f or two i nches from the ground to al low theanima l’s feet to pass under it and hi s l ittl e

pointed nose to go thru the center . Set thenoOse as closely over the entrance Of the hol e aspossibl e and one or two careful ly arranged - tw igswi l l keep i t in pla ce .

Strong twi ne is better for the noose thanlarge cord as the skunk is less l iabl e to noti ce it .

IVhen a Skunk passes in or out Of the ho le thenoose becomes t ightened about hi s neck and asl ight pul l rel eases the spring pole whi ch soonstrangles him.

T Vhile th is mav seem an elaborate descriptionof so Simple a trap

,st i l l

,l ike anv other trap

,i f

set i n a careless,hal f - hearted manner

,i t w i l l

meet w ith indi fferent success and,tho simpl e

,

the snare,w ith a l i ttl e thought and ingenuity,

can be appl i ed in almost any situation for thecapture Of smal l game .


TRAIL SET SNARE . 131

had on Spools at most any hardware store, which

is used for the loops,as it i s SO pl iable yet suf

ficiently strong to hold . any of the Smal l furbearers

,as it is made in many sizes . Use the

brass or copper w ire only for the loops,as ordi

nary stove pipe w ire i s j ust the arti cle for thefinishing of the snare .

For a bl ind set to be placed in the run of theanimals

,make a double loop

,that i s

,two loops

for each snare . Now,take a bunch of these

with you and find the runs or fol low the ravinesand creeks where they feed . If you can find atree in a favorabl e spot on their runs

,take one

of your headless Sp ikes and drive in the base of

the tree a . few inches from the ground .

Now take NO. 2 wi th the pan riveted thereonand hook bent and over spike

,driving spike into

tree unti l pan is level and unti l there is j ustroom enough to hook loop of wire over head of

spike . ( See i l lustration . ) Dig out under pan

so same can fal l when stepped upon . T hen secure a rock or chunk Of suffic ient weight andfasten to other end of wire . Throw this overl imb of tree and hook loop over head of a spike,having first pu t NO. 2 in place .

Put one loop on one Side Of the pan and theother loop on the other s ide

,SO that an animal

coming either waywi l l step upon the pan to h is

sorrow. Thi s done, drive a staple in tree over


wi re running from spike to l imb,which w i l l pre

vent the animal being pul led over the l imb andescaping.

DOUBLE TRAIL SET.

Having covered everything up wi th the natural surroundings and left no Signs, you maycla im the first furrier that happens that wayand he wi l l be wai ting for you. This snare may


Fig . 1 .

SNARES.

TRAIL SET SNARE . 135

a couple of dead stakes on each side so as toleave the opening about ten inches w ide andhang my snare between these stakes and directlyunder the stem of the tree .

The snare Should be about nine inches indiameter and Should be fastened securely to thetree . I t Should also be fastened l ightly to thestakes on either Side

,SO i t wi l l not spring out

of Shape . The best way i s to make a l ittle Spl i tin the s ide of each stake

,and fasten the snare

with a very smal l twig stuck in the spl it stake .

I make the snares of rabbi t wi re,about four

or five pl ies thick,tw isted . Some trappers pre

fer to use a cord . The dark colored codfish l inei s best

,and it i s best to use a spring pole snare

,

and F i g. 3 Shows the method of tieing and fastening to the stakes . I t wi l l be seen that whenthe lynx passes his head through the snare heonly needs to give a sl ight pul l to open the Sl ipknot and rel ease the Spring pole .

To prevent the rabbits from biting a cordsnare

,rub it wel l with the dropping of the lynx

or fox and also,never use any green wood other

than spruce or balsam,as any fresh green wood

is sure to attrac t the rabbits . You may also puta smal l piece Of beaver . castor along the trail

on each side of the snare,and you wi l l be more

sure of the lynx,as beaver castor i s very attrae

t ive to these big cats .

96

136 DEADPALLS AND SNARES.

We wi l l now proceed to make another Springpole snare, al tho the one described before i smore practical

,says a Colorado trapper . I t is

made l ike the preceding one except the trigger,

etc . This one i s to be used on a runway wi thout any bai t whatever. The i l lustration Shows

PATH SNARE.

the trigger a s i t appears in the runway . NO. 1

i s the trip sti ck ; NO. 2,the stay crotch ; NO.

3,the trigger ; No . 4

,the loop ; NO. 5

,the path

way, and No . 6,the stay wi re .

The animal i n coming on down the path ( 5 )passes its body or neck thru the loop made of

stout so ft insulated wire (4) in passing i t steps


CHAPTER XVI I .

BAIT SET SNARE .

This snare I consider good for such animal s

as wi l l take bai t . ( See pageNO. 1 and 2

,headless w ire nai l s driven hori

z ontally into tree about ten inches from ground .

NO" 3,a NO. 1 0 or 12 wi re nai l w ith head

used to catch under No . 1 and 2 .

NO. 4,bait st ick or trigger . No . 3 passes

through No . 4.

NO. 5,bai t

,frog tied to bottom of NO. 4.

No . 6’s snare

,fastened to NO. 3 by two half

hitches, then fastened to No . 3 by two hal fhitches

,then fastened to seven or Spring pole .

NO. 7,spring pole .

NOS. 8,8, smal l stakes driven in ground to

form a pen .

Nos. 9,9,two smal l twigs spl i t at top to hold

snare loop in place .

NOS. 1 and 2 should be about 4 inches apart .

No . 3 goes through a gimlet hole in NO. 4.

About three inches from the top use any Smal lround st ick from 3

3to 1 inch in th ickness, not

necessary to flatten NO. 4 as in illustration. Useit natural bark on. From hol e in No . 4 to bot

tom end should be about 7 inches .

BAN K

RAT RUNW AY .

RAT RUNWAY SNARE.

UNDERGROUND RAT RUNWAY .

No . 3

No.4

Cuaav

RUNWAY AND CUBBY SET .

SET SNARE.

COW PATH SNARE.


Snare loop about 6 inches in front of bait,

held in place by 9, 9, sl ightly l eaning against

8,8 .

I t can be plainly seen that i f an animal takesNo. 5 in its j aws and tries to remove i t

,i t moves

out the bottom of No. 4,moving forward

LIFTI NG POLE SNARE .

3 until fl ip "up She goes . The top 0 NO. 4 must

be tight against the tree when set .

No. 3 Should j ust catch under'

No. 1 and 2,

then i t takes but 5 inch to pul l on bait to Springi t . Bai t wi th frogs

,fish

,tainted meat for Skunk

,

and pieces of rabbit,muskrat or bird

,for mink .

The lynx,l ike the wolverine

,is not afra id

of a snowshoe track,and w i l l fol low a l ine Of

rabbi t snare for long distances,and when he

sees a bunny hanging up,he

,w ithout the l east

compunction,appropriates i t to himsel f

,by

right of discovery .

When he does th is once he w i l l come again



feet long and lodged on a forked stick at eachSide of the door and about two and a hal f feethigh . To the middle of thi s crossbar the end of

the twine i s t ied ; No . 9 Holland i s general lyused

,or No . 6 thread codl ine . This i s gummed

by rubbing balsam branches up and down thetwine in the same way as the bear snare . Thenoose i s held in shape in one or two places ateach S ide by a l ight strand of wood or blade of

grass and a coupl e of smal l dry st i cks are placedupright under the snare to prevent the

‘

cat frompass ing beneath .

The l oop i s almost as large asfor a bear andas high from the ground

,i f not h igher . The

lynx has long legs and carries his head stra ightin front Of him and takes a snare by pushingthru it

,or by a rush

,never crouch ing and then

springing.

AS the resort of rabbi ts i s a young growth

of country,there are also lynx in the greatest

numbers . Rabbits and partridges are their prin

cipal food . When the Indian enters a new pieceof country to set rabbit Snares to support hi s

wi fe and fami ly and sees Signs of lynx, he combines the two k inds of hunt ing and as he goes

along,once in a wh i l e

,he bars his snowshoe

track by placing a lynx snare in the way. The

lynx are fond Of the smel l of castor, as i ndeedare most animals

,so the hunter rubs a l i ttle on

BAIT SET SNARE . 143

a tree at each Side Of hi s snare for the cat torub against when he comes that way.

The snare is never t ied to anything immovable

,as they are very powerful and would break

the twine. As soon as the noose tightens thecross piece comes readi ly away from the sup

ports and the cat Springs to one s ide . The stick .

however,either knocks him a blow or gets

tangled in hi s legs . This he tries several t imes,

but w ith the same resu lt,that bothersome sti ck

i s always hanging to his neck . About the lasteffort he makes to free h imsel f i s to ascend a

tree . This,however

,i s nearly always fatal, for

after he gets up a certain distance this troublesome stick is sure to get fast back of some l imb .

The lynx by th is time,having become a pretty

cross cat,makes matters worse and the hunter

finds him hanging dead,at times twenty or th irty

feet from the earth .

CHAPTER. XVI I I .

THE Box TRAP .

This trap i s put to various uses . The be

ginner usual ly has one or two w ith which hetraps for rabbi ts . In fact they are great for thatfor the animal i s not inj ured

,which is ' Often the

case when Shot or caught by dogs . Rabbitscaught in box traps are therefore the best foreating.

The trapper who wants to secure fur - bearersal ive to sel l to parks

,menageries or to start a

fur ranch” usual ly uses the box trap .

The Size for rabbits is about 30 inches longby 5 wide and 6 high . The boards can be of anykind but pine

,poplar

,etc .

,being l ight is much

used . The boards need only be a hal f inch thi ck .

TO make a trap you wi l l need four pieces 30

inches long ; two of these for th e Sides should beSix inches w ide ; the other two for top and bottom Should be 5 inches. .These pieces should benailed on the top and bottom of the Sides . Thisw i l l make the inside of the .trap six inches highby four wide . I t is best to have your trap narrow so that the animal you are trapping cannotturn in the trap .



ers the traps Should be vis ited dai ly for they maygnaw and escape.

- If impossibl e to visi t trapsdaily they Should be l ined wi th t in .

In many places these traps,wi th a door at

each end,are used for catch ing muskrat . T hey

are set in their dens under water and either t iedor weighted down . The rats are caught either

going in Or l eaving .

In making these traps the beginner i s apt tomake them too wide — SO the animal can turnwi th in . Th is i s a mistake for i t gives the gamemore freedom and room to gnaw to l iberty .

The animal simply goes in and is there unti lthe trapper comes along and removes the game .

Skunk can be drowned when caught in this trapwi thout scenting if the trapper knows how to go

about it .The trap should be handled careful ly . Take

to water su fficiently deep to cover the trap andSlowly sink and then either weight the trap or

hold down unti l the animal i s drowned .

The box trap i s a humane trap i f visiteddai ly . They are rather unhandy to carry aboutand few trappers want many, yet under certainconditions they are very useful . They can bemade during idl e t ime . For mink and other Shyanimals they should be handled as l i ttl e as poss ibl e They Should be made of old boards or at

least avoid all appearances of newness .

it

THE BOX TRAP . 147

Some sections sapl ings to make deadfal l scannot be had and for the benefit Of such

,a

wooden trap,three feet long and Six inches w ide

and deep,i s a good manner to take muskrat,

writes a Western trapper . The boards can becut out of any old lumber . In each end is a wi redoor

,hung on hinges a t the top . These doors

ri se at the sl ightest push on the outside, but wi l lnot Open from the inside . The trap i s sunk inthe water at the entrance to the den and is fastened there . A muskrat in entering or l eavingthe den i s sure to enter the trap .

The animal,Of course

,could gnaw out

,but

wi l l drown before it has t ime to accompl ish this .

Several rats are often taken,where they are nu

merous,in a night. Traps of this kind ' can be

used to best advantage in lakes and ponds orwhere the heighth of the stream does not varymuch . I f they are set along creeks and riversyou want to fasten them securely or take themup before heavy rains

,as they are a lmost sure to

be washed away.

I see in a recent number where George Wal

ker wanted some one to tel l through H-T - T how

to make box trap to catch muskrat . Here is a

good way"F irst take four boards 36 inches long, nai l

together leaving both ends open . Next a small


gate,consi sting of a square piec e of wood sup

pl ied w ith a few stiff w ires i s then pivoted inside Of each opening so as to work freely and fal leasi ly when raised . The bai t is fastened insidethe center of the box . The animal in quest ofthe bai t finds an easy entrance

,as the w ires l i ft

at Sl ight pressure,but the exi t after the gate has

c losed is so difficu l t that escape‘

i s a lmost beyondquest ion. To insure further strength i t i s ad

vi sable to connect the lower ends of the wires bya cross piece of fine w ire tw i sted about each . I fyou have good luck you can catch two and threein thi s trap each night . Set in two or three

inches Of water where muskrat frequents,or set

in skunk dens .


150 DEADEALLS AND SNARES.

The same trap wi l l catch quail,but of course

i s bu i l t much smal ler . About three feet squarebeing large enough and a foot high i s sufficient .

Some have bui l t quai l coops out of cornsta lksand report catches .

Thequai l coop should have the ditch l eadingto the inside the same as described for turkey.

THE COOP TRAP.

O f course the ditch should be much Smal leronly large enough for one bird to enter at a time.

On the ins ide of coop i t i s a good idea to lay aboard Six inches or wider over the d itch . Thebai t should be wheat or other smal l grain or

seeds that the bi rds l ike . Scatter thinly on theoutside and in the trench

,but on the inside

THE COOP TRAP . 151

place more l iberal ly. Cha ff or l eaves should beplaced on the inside so that the birds in scratching for the grain wil l partly fi l l up the holethru which they came .

" ua il, turkey and other feathered game onceon the inside and after eating the bai t neverthink of going down into the ditch and out

,but

walk round and round the coop looking thruthe chinks and trying to escape .

The largest catches are made by bait-ing

where the bi rds frequent for some days or even

weeks before trying to make a catch . I t i s wel lto make the coops long in advance so that thebirds wi l l be accustomed to them, espec ially wi ld

turkev

These traps are some times used .w i th thefigure 4 trigger

,but when thus set seldom more

than one or two b irds are caught at a time .

CHAPTER XX .

‘ THE PIT TRAP .

This method of catch ing game and fur bea ring animal s i s not much used

,as the labor in

connection w ith making a pit trap is considerable . The method

,however

,i s an excel l ent one

for taking some of th e larger animals,especial ly

when they are wanted for parks,menageries,

etc .

,un inj ured .

The pit should be several feet deep and baitplaced as shown . Another way is to cover thetop w ith rotten l imbs

,l eaves

,etc .

,and place the

bai t on thi s . The animal in trying to secure theba it breaks thru .

The dirt from the pit should be removed i nbaskets . Catches are made by digging a pitacross animal runways or tra i l s . When theground is not frozen or

~

during rainy weather i tis wel l to place a board severa l inches w ide attop. The animal in going over its usual trai lsteps upon the frail covering and fal l s thru .

Whil e the pi t trap i s mostly used for captur

ing large game,i t can be used to advantage for

taking many of the smal ler fur bearers .

YVhere muskrat are numerous,instead of



pit a few rods to one side . P i ts of th is kindshould be severa l feet deep .

The success the hunter or trapper has inusing th is method w i l l depend largely upon hi sknowledge of the game he i s after . Unless the

animal or animals are wanted al ive the work to

bmake a pi t i s too great and the chances of acatch never certain . This way i s not practicableunder ordinary ci rcumstances

, yet where thegame i s wanted al ive and sound, i s worth trying .

CHAPTER XXI .

NUMBER OF'

TRAPS.

In some local i t ies there are not many densand trappers make use of about al l when trapping that sect ion

,but in other parts o f the

country dens are so numerous that to place atrap at each is impossibl e . In states wheregroundhogs (woodchucks ) , are numerous thereare often a hundred or more dens along a singleblu ff or rocky bank . To have enough steel traps

to set one at each i s something few trappers do,yet two or three deadfal ls in connection w ith al ine of steel traps i s al l that i s necessary and

the trapper can move on to the next blu ff wheredens are numerous and set another trap or two.

As a rule i t is where there are manv dens, closetogether

,that deadfal l s make the best catches,

yet when you find a good den anywhere, set or

construct a deadfal l .Al l trappers have noticed when tracking ani

mal s in the snow that they visi t nearly every denalong their route

,not always going in but j ust

sticking thei r head in . When thus investigating

,the animal smel ls the bai t and i s hungry (as

nine times out of ten the animal is hunting some


th ing to eat ) , and i f your trap i s set. properly

you are reasonably sure to make a catch .

In the North,Canada

,A laska and some of

the states onthe Canadian border where trapping ismade a business

,i t i s no uncommon thing

for one man to have as many as one hundred andfifty traps and some have out tw i ce that many,or three hundred . M arten trappers in the trackless forests often blaze out a route fifty or moremiles i n length

,building shel ters along the l ine

where ni ghts are spent .

The trapper who only spends a few hourseach day a t trapping and l ives i n th ickly settl eddistri cts wi l l find that i t is hard for him to l ocate su ita ble places perhaps for more than thirtyto fifty traps

,yet if these wi l l be looked at prop

erly during the season the catch wi l l j ustify thetime and labor in bu i lding.

The number of deadfa l l s and snares that eachtrapper should construct in h is sect ion mustlargely be determined by h imsel f

,depending

upon how l a rge a territory he has to trap overwi thou t running into other trappers’ grounds .

I t wi l l be l ittle use to'

build traps where thereare other trappers as trouble w i l l occur

,traps

may be torn to pieces,etc . Yet there are many

good places to build traps in your immediate l ocality no doubt . I f there are any creeks nearand woods along the banks you wi l l find good



North can attend more deadfal l s and snares thanone in the South or

‘ even in the Centra l States .

No trapper should have more traps or longerl ines than he can properly attend to .

’

The furbearing animal s are none too numerous w i thouthaving them caught and thei r pel ts and furspoiled before the arrival of the trapper .

CHAPTER XXI I .

WHEN TO TRAP .

The proper season to begin trapping is whencold weather comes . The old saying that fur isgood any month that has an “r” i n does nothold good except in the North . Even there September is too early to begin

,yet muskrat and

skunk are worth something as wel l as other furs .

In the Spring”

Apri l i s the last month w ith an“r .

” In'

most sections muskrat,bear

,beaver

,

badger and otter are good al l thru Apri l,but

other animal s began shedding weeks before .

The rule for trappers to fol low i s to put Offtrapping in the fal l unti l nights are frostly andthe ground freezes .

General ly speaking in Canada and the moreNorthern States trappers can begin about November 1 and should cease M arch 1 , with the exception of water animals

,bear and badger

which may be trapped a month later . In theCentral and Southern States trappers shouldnot begin so early and should leave o ff in thespring from one to four weeks sooner depending upon how fa r South they are located .

At the interior Hudson Bay posts,where


their word i s law,October 25 i s appo inted to

begin and M ay 25th.

to qui t hunting and trapp ing w ith the exception of bear

,which are con

sidered prime up to June 1 0. R emember thatthe above dates are for the interior or NorthernH . B . Posts

,which are located hundreds of

mi les north of the boundary between the United

S tates and Canada.

The skunk i s the first animal to becomeprime

,then the coon

,marten

,fisher

,mink and

fox,but the latter does not become stri ctly prime

unti l after a few davs of snow,says an Old

M a ine trapper . Rats and beaver are late inpriming up as wel l as otter and mink, and thothe mink i s not strictly a land animal, i t be

comes prime about w ith the later land animal s .

The bear,which i s str ictly a land animal , i s not

in good fur unti l snow comes and not strictly

prime unti l February or M arch .

Wi th the first frosts and cool days manytrappers begin sett ing and bait ing their traps .

That i t i s easier to catch certa in kinds of furbearing animal s early in the season i s known tomost trappers and for th is reason trapping in

most local ities i s done too earlv i n the season .

Some years ago when trapping was done even

earl ierthan now, we examined mink skins that



priming of furs and pelts there is no question .

I f the fa l l i s colder - than usual the furs w i l l become prime sooner

,whi l e i f the freezing weather

i s later the pelts w i l l be later in “priming up .

”

In the sect ions where weasel turn wh ite

( then ca l led ermine by many ) , trappers have agood gu ide . fl

’

hen thev become white they areprime and so are most other l and animal s . Infact

,some are fai rly good a week or two before .

When a pel t is put on the stretcher and becomes blue in a few days i t i s far from primeand w i l l grade no better than No. 2 . I f the pel tturns black the chances are that the pel t w i l lgrade NO. 3 or 4. In the case Of m ink

,when

dark spots onlv appear on the pel t,i t i s not quite

prime .

Trappers and hunters should remember that

no pel t i s prime or No . 1 when it turns the l east

blue . Opossum skins seldom turn blue even i fcaught early most other sk ins do .

CHAPTER XXI II .

SEASON’s CATCH .

The reason that many trappers make smal lcatches each season, i s from the fact that theyspend only an hour or so each day at trapping

,

whi le at most other business the party devotesthe entire day . The trapper who looks out hisgrounds some weeks in advance of the trappingseason is not idl ing h is time away. He shouldalso have a l ine of traps constructed in advanceof the trapping season .

There is a fascination connected wi th trapping that fil l s one wi th a strange feel ing whenal l al one constructing deadfal l s and snares or

on the rounds to see what success has beenyours . I have often visited traps of old trappers

, where from two to five carcasses werehanging from a nearby sapl ing .

There are several instances on record wheretwo animals have been caught in one deadfall

a t the same time . A wel l - known trapper of Ohiocl aims to have caught three skunk in one deadfal l at one time a few years since . Whether suchi s an actual fact or not we are unable to say.


The cases on record where two animals havebeen caught are so wel l substantiated that thereis l ittle room left to doubt the truth of same .

The catching of two animals at the sametime i s not such an extraordinary occurrence asmany

,at first

,think . I f two animal s should

come along at the same t ime and,smel l ing the

bait,begin a meal

,the resul t i s easi ly seen .

Whi l e trapping w ith deadfal ls i s a humaneway of catching fur - bearing animals

,another

thing in thei r favor is that skunk are usuallykil l ed wi thout “perfuming” themselves

,trap and

trapper as wel l . Then,again

,i f once caught

there i s no getting away .

Trappers in\

the forest always have the necessary tools

,axe or heavy hatchet - and knife

,

with which to bui ld a deadfa l l,whi le thei r steel

traps may all be exhausted and none set wi th inmiles . A deadfal l is bu il t. and perhaps on the

trapper’s return an animal i s lying dead be

tween the poles .

During extreme cold weather there i s butl itt l e use to l ook at traps set for skunk

,raccoon

,

etc .

,as they do not travel . Before a thaw or

warm spel l the entire l ine should be gone overand a l l old ba it removed and repla ced wi th freshbai t .

L ike many another trapper you wi l l vi si t



expected the deadfa l l or snare st i l l securelv

holds the game .

As al l experienced trappers know,the first

nigh t of a cold spel l i s a splendid one for an i

mals to travel ( thev seem forewarned about theweather ) and a good catch i s the resul t . I f thetrapper i s a “weather prophet” his traps areal l freshly ba ited and in order

,for this i s the

t ime that game is on the move — Often lookingup new and warm dens and general ly hungry

Should the next days be cold‘

and stormy thetrapper should get over the l ine a s promptly aspossibl e. After once getting over the l ine afterthe “cold spel l

,

” i t i s not so important that trapsbe looked at for some davs again .

The successful trapper w i l l always be on the

watch Of the weather . Some animal s,i t is true

,

travel during the coldest weather,but there are

many that do not,so that the trapper who sees

that hi s deadfal l s are freshlv baited when the

signs point to warmer weather . After days andnights of severe weather most animal s are hungry and when the weather moderates they are

on the move .

I have more than one hundred deadfal l s andcatch large numbers of skunk

,

” writes a Connecticut trapper .

“A few years ago a trapperwi th in two miles of here caught more than 60

SEASON’s CATCH . 167

coon in deadfal ls . S ince then coon have beenrather scarce

,but I am going to try them this

coming fa l l . I prefer red squ irrel for skunkbait to anyth ing else

,and extract of valerian for

scent . Try it,trapper i t can’t be beat . I have

use-d i t for twenty years and can catch my shareevery time .

”

The trapper that makes the largest catchesusual ly is the one that has deadfal l s and snaresin addit ion to steel traps . Recently two trappers wrote of

'

their season’s catch and addedthat a good proportion was caught in deadfal lsand snares . These trappers were located inWestern Canada ; marten 54, lynx 12 , mink 19,ermine 71

,wi ld cat 1 1

,foxes 18 .

Wh i l e these trappers did not say,i t i s pre

sumed that the foxes were caught in snares orsteel traps

,for i t i s seldom that one i s caught

in a deadfal l . In Canada and the New EnglandS tates

,where foxes are plentiful , the snare is

used to a considerable extent .

Skunk,mink

,ermine

,weasel and opossum

are easi ly caught in deadfal l s . One trapper ina southern state is said to have caught 94 mink,besides 38 coon and 5 1 opossum

,i n 28 deadfall s,

from November 25th to February 25th, or three

months .

CHAPTER XXIV .

GENERAL INFORMATION .

Early in September,1906

,the editor spent a

couple of davs at hi s home in Southern Ohio,

where in the ’80’s along and near a smal l stream

known as Kyger Creek,considerable trapping

was done .

I f readers are curious and have a good,large

map of Ohio,and l ook at the southern border

,

some fifty mil es above the mouth of the Sc iotoriver on a direct l ine or about doubl e that byfol low ing the w inding of the river

,they wi l l find

Kyger Creek . The stream is about ten“

mil eslong and empt ies into the Oh io river below thevil lage of Chesh ire . The country i s rather roughand rocky

,but the timber has mainly disap

peared.

A q uarter of a century ago,Opossum

,musk

rat,skunk

,and fox were more numerous than

now . M ink at that t ime were few,but in the

early ’80

’

s they seemed to become fai rly plenti fula l l a t once . The high price has caused considerabl e trapping

,and their number has decreased

of recent years .

In trapping we found deadfal l s,properly



mink were caught in one deadfal l . The firstwinter one was caught ; second, two ; th ird,three ; fourth and fifth

,each one.

I f our memory serves us r ight,the trap was

first bui l t in the fa l l of 1 887, and was'

located onthe bank about ten feet to the left of a sycamore,which at that t ime was standing . There was aden under the tree entering near the water, w i than outlet on the bank only a few feet from thetrap

,and near where the pen and bait were lo

cated.

This deadfal l was bui l t much l ike the i l lustration shown here . Wh i l e the fal l was of h ickory

,not a vestige remained when looking at the

place in September,1906.

The pen should be bu il t strong and tight sothat the animal w i l l not tear i t to pieces and getat the bai t from the rear . The “fal l” or top polecan be of any kind of wood

,but hi ckory

,oak,

beech,maple

,and other heavy wood are al l good .

The pol e should be heavy enough to k il l the animal without placing any weights on i t . “’henbuilding i t i s a good idea to let the top pole extend about a coupl e of feet beyond the pen . Thls

wi l l give more weigh t on the animal when thetrap fal l s .

The two piece triggers may work hard, especiallv i f the l og used for the fal l has rough barkon. In th is case i t might be wel l to smoothe


with your axe or hatchet . In setting wi th thetwo piece trigger make them out of as hard wood

as can be found . The long piece can be sl i ghtly

flattened on the under side,or the side on which

the upper end of the upright or prop sets . The

prop should be cut square on the l ower end whi l e

the upper end might be a l ittl e rounding,as thi s

wi l l tend to make the top or bait trigger sl ip offeas ier .

In setting raise up the top pole and hold in

position with the knee . This gives both hands

free to adjust the triggers . IVhen vou think

you have them right,gradually l et the weight Off

your knee ‘and then try the trigger . You wil l'

soon l earn about how they are to be set .

The bai t should be t ied on or the ba it trig

ger may have a prong on to hold the bait . I f

you find the bait gone and the trap sti l l up the

chances are that it was set too hard and the ani

mal stol e the bai t .

O f l ate years in some sections,mice have been

very troublesome,eati ng the bait . I n other

places bi rds are bait stea lers,and for th is reason

i t i s best to set traps rather hard to throw .

The locat ion of a deadfal l has much to do

wi th the catch . O l d trappers know i f thev were

to set a steel trap in a place not frequented byfur bearers that thei r catch would be next to


174 DEADFALLs AND SNARES.

few feet of the one that appears best or j ust offthe path that the animal takes in going from one

to the other . Have the open part next to pathand say only three feet off .

M arten trappers,wh ile pla cing traps on high

ground,do not pay so much attention to dens

and paths,for these animal s spend much time in

trees l ook ing for squirrel s,b irds etc .

,but go

through the forest “spott ing a l ine” and l ocate adeadfal l in likely ground about every 200 yards,or about 8 to the mi le .

CHAPTER XXV

SKINNING AND STRETCH ING .

M uch importance should be attached to theskinn ing and stretch ing of al l k inds of skins so

as to command the highest commercia l value .

The fisher, otter, foxes, lynx, marten, mink, ermine, civet, cats and skunk should be cased, thatis

,taken off whole .

Commence w i th the knife in the center of onehind foot and sl it up the inside of the leg

,up to

and around the vent and down the other leg ina l ike manner . Cut around the vent

,tak ing

care not to cut the lumps or glands in whichthe musk of certa in animals is secreted

,then

strip the sk in from the bone of the tai l w iththe aid of a spl i t sti ck g ripped firmly in thehand whi le the thumb of the other hand pressesagainst the animal’s back j ust above. Make noother sl its in the skin except in the case of theskunk and otter

,whose tai ls requ ire to be spl i t,

spread,and tacked on a board .

Turn the skin back over the body l eavingthe pel t side out and the fur side inward, andby cutting a few l igaments

,i t w i l l peel O ff very

readily. Care should be taken to cut closely

176 DEADFALLS AND SNAREs.

around the nose,ears and l ips

,so as not to tear

the skin . Have a, board made about the sizeand shape of the three - board stretcher

,only not

spl i t in halves . Thi s board is to put the skin

over in order to hold it better whi le removingpart ic les of fat and flesh wh ich adheres to i t

Sing le Board

ThreeBoard Slreicher

SI NGLE AND TH REE BOARD STRETCIIER.

whi le sk inning, which can be done w ith a bluntedged knife

,by scraping the sk in from the ta i l

down toward the nose — the direction in whichthe hair roots g row never scrape up the other

way oryou w i l l inj ure the fiber Of the skin, andcare should be taken not to scrape too hard, for

i f thesk in fiber is inj ured i ts va lue is decreased .



some trappers are incl ined to do,but treat them

as above described,and th ey wi l l command bet

ter values . Fur buyers are incl ined to c lasslong - nosed sk ins as “southern” and pay a smal lprice for them

,as Southern sk ins are much

l ighter in fur than those of the North .

The badger,beaver

,bear

,raccoon and wol f

must a lways be skinned that i s , rippedup the bel ly from vent to chin after the fo l lowing manner " Cut across the hind legs as i f to

be cased” and then rip up the bel ly. The skin

can then be removed by flaying as in sk inning abeef .

Another experi enced trapper says " The animals which should be skinned open are bear

,

beaver,raccoon

,badger

,t imber wol f and wolver

ines . The way to do this is to rip the sk in Openfrom the point of the lower jaw,

in a stra ightl ine

,to the vent . Then rip i t open on the back

of the hind legs,and the inside of the front

legs,and peel the sk in careful ly off the body .

“

Beaver,however

,should not have the front l egs

spl it Open and the tai l,having no fur

,i s of

course cut off . I f the skin is a fine one, and

espec ial ly in the case of bear, the feet shouldnot be cut off

,but should be skinned , l eaving

the claws on. I would also advise saving the

skul l,and the proper way to c lean i t i s to scrape

SKINNING AND STRETCHING . 179

the flesh off wi th a kni fe . IVhen the animal isskinned

,rol l the skin up with the fur side out

and put it in your pack .

See that there are no burrs or lumps of inudin thefur, before you do any fleshing . M yWayof fleshin

’

g furs — there may be better ways,

i s to draw the sk in over a smooth board,madefor the purpose and scraping

,or peel ing, w ith a.

blunt edged knife . Commence at the tai l,and

scrape towards the head, otherwise you mayinj urei the fibre of the hide. Over the ba

’

cki'

andshoulders of most anImals is a thin layer Of

flesh . This should be removed,and when done,

there should be nothing rema ining but the skinand fur . Raccoon and muskrat are easi ly fles

‘

hed

by pinching the flesh between the edge of theknife and the thumb .

Forstretching

‘

boards,I prefer a‘

three bOard

stretcher,but a plain/board

‘

will answer. Formuskrats, use a singl e board . Open skins are

best stretched in frames. or hoops, but it is all

right to stretch them on the wal l on the insideof a ; bui lding . The boardsshown in . the cut are,to my not ion, the

“proper shapes,and I would

advise making a good supply of ~ them before

the seasoncommences.

To use these three board stretchers , insertthe two halves of the board in the skin, draw

the skin down and fasten the hind legs, with

SOM E STRETCH I N G PATTERN S .



In stretching,says a North Dakota trapper,

we use a one board stretcher as fol lows " Puton the fur after vou have fleshed it

,the four

feet on one side and the tai l on the other . Tack

DAKOTA TRAPPERS’ M ETHOD .

down the hind feet and the tai l,then take a

piece ofb oard about 1 x 5 inches ( th is would beabout the correct s ize for a mink ) rounded off

except -

on one s ide . Put i t below the fur on the

SKINNING AND STRETCH ING .

side where the feet are, tie the front feet . When

you are going to take off the fur,pul l out the

smal l board and the fur wi l l come ofi . easy .

A contrivance which I have found usefu l inskinning is made of a piece of stiff wi re 1 8

HOLDER FOR SKINNING .

inches long. Bend this at the middl e unti l i t hasthe shape of .V with the ends about 8 inchesapart . Bend up an inch at each end to forma hook and when sk inning, after cutting aroundthe hind feet

,hook into the large tendons

,hang

on a nai l or over l imb, etc .

,and go ahead wi th


both hands . The wi re must be nearly as largeas a s late penci l and wi l l work al l right fromfoxes down to mink . Trappers wi l l find th is a.great help in skinn ing animal s after they havebecome cold . .

.Young trappers should use thi s

s impl e device a s they wi l l be less l iabl e to cuthol es in the skin . I t pays to be Careful in skin

ning animal s properly as wel l as to stretch themcorrect ly

,for both add to thei r market value.

How many trappers save the skul ls of thei rlarger game " Al l the skul l s of bear

,puma or

mountain l ion, wolves, foxes and sometimes

those of lynx and wi ld cat are of ready sal e i fthey contain good sets of teeth . Severa l partiesbuy these skul l s for cash .

To prepare them the bulk of the“

flesh shouldbe removed and the brain and eyes al so . Probably the easiest way to accompl ish this is to boi lthe skul l with flesh on i n an old pot unti l themeat begins to get tender . Then

,whi le hot, i t

may easi ly be cut away,and by enlarging the

hol e at the back of the skul l the brain may bescooped out. They shoul d be watched careful lyas i f bo i led too long the teeth drop out

,bones

separate and render the skul l worthl ess . I t i ssafe

, but more tedious to cl ean them w i th a sharpkni fe wi thout boil ing.

The dealers pay from 50C for a bear skul l to15C for a fox, tho taxidermists and furriers often



the edge as in sewing,taking st itches an inch or

so l ong unti l you get to the front foot, then pul lthe hide along the wi re j ust far enough so thetop and bottom wi l l stretch out to make i tsquare

,or a few inches l onger than the w idth is

better .

Put 3 or 4 nai ls i n each side,then commence

at the top and tack al l but the head, then pul lthe bottom down even with the sides

,not tacking

the head,wh ich lets it draw down into the hide

,

then tack the head . Th i s is an easy and goodway to handle coon skins making them nearlysquare “

when stretched .

M any inexperienced trappers stretch coonsk ins too long and draw out the head and neck .

Th is can be avoided by fol lowing instruct ionsgiven here .

‘ Coon can becased butmost deal ersprefer to have them stretched open .

Get a lot of steel w i re, says a M issouri trapper who uses old umbrel l a w i res

,the round sol id

ones . Sharpen one end,take your coon skin and

run one w ire up each side and one across eachend .

In putt ing these w i res in do i t l ike the old

woman kni ts,that i s

, wrap the hide around thewire and sti ck it - thru about every inch . Now

cut six smal l twi gs,make them the proper length

SKINNING AND STRETCH ING . 187

and notch the ends,and you w i l l soon have your

hide stretched expert trapper styl e .

.The advantage of th is i s you can carrystretchers enough for twenty- five skins in onehand and don’t have to hunt up a barn .door and

4 .STEELmam

TWIGJ'

M REJ ‘

WI'RE AND TWIG COON METHOD .

box of tacks and hammer every time youwant tostretch one. You can stretch in one- fourth thet ime it would take to tack up on a board

,and

you w i l l have i t in first class styl e the first timeand not have to pul l out a tack here and stretcha l i ttle more there .

188 DEADFALLS A'

ND SNARES.

I have always used the whole board (not spl i ti nto two pieces and a wedged shape piece as somedo ) , writes a M assachusetts trapper

,and made

as fol lowsFor mink I use a g inch board about 40 inches

in length,4 i nches w ide at the large end

,taper

ing to about 25 inches at the smal l end w i th theedges planed down from near the middle of theboard to the edge

,l eaving a thin edge and sand

papered down smooth . I make the board of th islength for the reason that it sometimes happensthat a mink may have la id in a trap for severa ldays before being taken out, and if under wateri t i s not always easy to determine the exactl ength of

'

time i t has been in the trap,and there

may be a possib i l ity that i f put on the board todry that having laid so l ong it w i l l taint beforei t wi l l get thoroughly dry . I have seen them ina case of th is kind where severa l and perhapsnearly al l the ha irs on the end of the ta i l wouldshed or pul l out thereby damaging the skin to a

greater or l ess extent .

Now when I get a mink in thi s condition af

ter pul l ing on the board and tack ing al l a round,I spl i t the ta i l open after whi ch I lav it Open andtack a ll around the same wayyou would w i th anotter skin . By empl oying th is means you wi l l

o ften save the loss of the ta i l bv‘

thus ta int ingand a corresponding loss on the value of the skin .



thrown on in a haphazard way on a sh ingle or

an inch board badly shaped,as a great many be

ginners do . I have seen some shameful workdone in this respect .

I t i s always necessary to remove al l surplusgrease and fat wh ich can readi ly be done imme

diately-after the skin i s stretched

,otherwi se they

wi l l heat,sweat and mold to a

"

certain extent af

ter they are removed from the boards,which in

j ures both the appearance and sal e of them . It

i s wel l to l ook after al l these l ittl e detai l s .

These descri ptions are given w ith the desire tohel p some of the beginners . I f they wi l l start inby using a l ittl e care i n stretching and havingpride in thei r work they w i l l find the businessboth more pleasant and profitable .

I f convenient when going into camp,writes

an old successful trapper who has pursued the

fur bearers in many states, you should take sev

eral stretching boards for your di fferent kindso f fur wi th you . I f not

,you can general ly find

a tree that wi l l spl i t good and you can spl i t someout . I t i s usual ly hard to find w idths that arelong and straight enough to bend so as to form agood shaped stretcher . You should always aimto stretch and cure furs you catch in the best

manner.

SKINNING. AND STRETCH ING. 191

In skinning you should rip the animalstraight from one heel across to the other andclose to the roots Of the ta i l on the under side .

Work the skin loose around the bone at the baseunti l you can grasp the bone of the tai l w i th thefirst two fingers of the right hand whi le youplace the bone between the first two fingers ofthe l eft hand . Then

,by pul l ing you wi l l draw

the entire bone from the ta il which you shouldalways do .

Sometimes when the animal has been deadfor some time the bone w i l l not readily drawfrom the tai l . In this case cut a st ick the sizeof your finger about eight inches long. Cut i taway in the center unti l i t w i l l readi ly bend sothat the two ends w i l l come together . Then cuta notch in each part of st ick j ust large enoughto let the bone of the tai l in and squeeze it out.

It i s necessary to whittle one side of the sti ckat the notch so as to form a square shoulder .

You should have about three sizes of stretching boards for mink and fox" For mink theyshould be from 45 inches down to 3 inches and

for fox from 67} inches down to 5 inches wide,and in lengt h the fox boards may be four feetlong

,and the mink boards three feet l ong.

The boards should taper sl ightly down to

within 8 inches of the end for fox,and then

rounded up to a round point . The mink boards


should be rounded at 4 or 5 inches from thispoint . You wi l l vary the shape of the board inproportion to the width . Stretching boardsshould. not be more than inch thi ck . A bel lystrip the l ength or nearly the length of the

boards 14 inches at the w ide end, tapering toa point at the other end and about to {3 inchthick . Have the boards smoothand even on theedges . Other stretch ing boards should be madein proportion to the size and shape of the animalwhose skin is to be stretched .

You should not fai l to remove al l the fat andflesh from the sk in immediately after the sk in ison the board . I f a skin is wetuwhen taken fromthe animal i t shou ld be drawn l ightly on a boardunti l the fur is qu ite dry . Then turn the skinflesh side out and stretch .

Beginning a t the left,dimensions and sk ins

stretched on the various boards are given "

No . 1 . M ink board,l ength 28 inches and 4

wide .

No . 2 . M ink board,l ength 28 inches and 3%

nude.

No . 3 . Weasel board l ength 20 inches and2% wide .

No. 4. M uskrat board length 2 1 inches and6 inches wide .


194 D EADFALLS AND SNARES.

Trappers in Southern secti ons wi l l no doubtfind the boards as described here too large formost of their skunk . In the Northeast the minkboards wi l l al so be too large

,but for th is section

( Oh io ) , they are about correct . The general

shape of the boards can be seen from the i l lustration.

One of the best_

ways, wri tes a M innesotatrapper

,to take o ff the skin of an animal is by

cutting the skin around the h ind legs or feet,and

then sl i tting the skin down inside the hind legsto the body joining the two sl its between the h indl egs

,then remove the skin on the tai l by push

ing up the thumb nail,or a th in flat piece of

wood against the bone of the ta i l and draw off

the skin .

Now commence to draw the body of the animal through the sl it a lready made w i thout en

larging i t, drawing the skin over itsel f, the furside wi th in . IYhen the forefeet are reached

,cut

the skin away from them at the wri sts,and then

sk in over the head unt i l the mouth i s reached

when the skin should be final lyremoved at thel i ps .

One th ing to be borne in mind when stretching a sk in to dry

,i s that i t must be drawn tight ;

another,that i t must be stretched in a place

where neither the heat of a fire or that of the sun

SKINN ING AND .STRETCH ING. 195

wi l l reach i t too strongly, and i t should not bewashed . Large skins may be na iled on a wal lof a shed or barn .

The board stretcher should be made of some

th in material . Prepare a board of bass wood or

some other l ight material,two feet three inches

long,

‘ three inches and a half wide at one end,and two inches and an eighth at the other

,and

three - eighths of an inch thi ck . Chamfer it fromthe center to the s ides almost to an edge .

Round and chamfer the smal l end about an inchupon the s ides . Spl it the board through thecenter w ith a knife or saw,

final ly prepare awedge of the same length and thickness

,one inch

w ide at the large end,and taper to a blunt point .

This i s a stretcher suitable for a mink,or a

marten .

Two large sizes w i th similar proport ions arerequired for the large animals

,the largest size

su itabl e for the ful l grown otter and wol f,should be five feet and a hal f l ong

,seven inches

wide at the large end when ful ly spread by thewedge, and six inches at the smal l end . An intermediate size i s required for the

’

fisher,rac

coon, fox and some other animal s,the propor

t ions of which can be easily figured out.

These stretchers requ ire that the skin of theanimal should not be ripped through the bel ly

,

but should be stripped off whole. Peel the skin


from the body by drawing it over itsel f,l eaving

the fur inward . In t his condition the skinshould be drawn on to the spl it board (w ith theback on one s ide and the bel ly on the other ) , toits utmost length

,and fastened wi th tacks

,and

then the wedge shoul d be driven between the twohalves . F inal ly

,make al l fast by a tack at the

root of the. tai l,and another on the opposite s ide .

The sk in i s then stretched to i ts utmost capaci tyand it may be hung away to dry .

Not alone the skul l s of the larger an imalsbut the skul l s of any game

,the skeleton of any

bird,or fish

,has a ready market

,provided such

spec imens are properly cl eaned,and in perfect

condition . However,the hunter or trapper must

bear in mind the fact that i t i s the perfect spec imen that i s in demand

,and that a . brui se on the

bone l iteral lyspoi l s i t for the curator .

I f you wi l l l ook careful ly at,

any skul l,you

wi l l not ice that some of the bones are very thinand fra il

,almost l ike a spider web. These fine

bones must be preserved i f they are to be of anyvalue to the Comparative Anatom i st, and boi l ingor scraping simply ruins them . So much forthe explanation . Now the method of cleaning,is by “rotting” rather than scraping or boi l ing .

Take the skul l (or whole head ) and fix i t sol id in


STRETCHERS .

SKINNING AND STRETCH ING . 199

smal l wire nai l at each end . A handful of shingle or lath nai ls and a clump of osier sproutswi l l make a. ful l outfit of stretchers for a tem

porary camp .

I know i t is as much val ue in stretch ing yourfurs and preparing them for market as i t i s intrapping

, writes a trapper . I f you have noboards

,go to your grocer or dry goods store and

you can get al l the boxes you want for 5 or 10

cents apiece . T hey must not be over of aninch thick ; i f they are, plane them down smoothon both s ides .

I make what I ca l l the two piece stretcherwith a wedge for muskrats . Take a board 20inches long

, 3 inch thick, 6 inches wide largeend

,25 inches smal l end . Taper back 5 inches

from smal l end . Now take block plane and chatfer off each side an inch or more up and round i toff . Round and cha ffer smal l end the same

,

almost to an edge . Now draw a l ine thru the

center of the board and saw i t thru .

M ake a wedge the same length and th ickness

,of an inch wide and tapering down to

of an inch . I f a large skin,push i t in be

tween the halves . Bore a hole in large end andhang up in a cool venti l ated place to dry . Afterthree days pul l out wedge, and your fur wi l l

200 DEADEA’

LLs AND SNARES.

s l ip r ight off wi thout tearing. I f the boardsshould warp over

,tack a str ip across the large

end .

The mink stretchers are made on the sameplan . A board the same thickness

,30 inches

long,

75 inches w ide, taper down 25 smal l endround chaffer . For large mink insert wedgemade one inch w ide . Taper down to For

skunk and coon they are also good,only they

are made on a. larger scale .

Now a word about cas ing . Pul l your hide onso the back i s on one side and the bel ly on

the other. Pul l nose over smal l end 5 inch . Put

two tacks on each side,now pul l down t ight to

large end and put two tacks each side, lay boardon .bench and take an old case knife

,scrape off

al l meat and fat and be careful not to scrape

too th in,so as not to cu t the fibre of the skin .

After you have scraped the flesh Off,insert the

wedge and your skin w i l l be tight . Do notstretch your hide so it w i l l make your fur look

tli iii .

This i s my way of stretch ing coon hide ; usefour - penny nai l s and use either the inside or

outs ide of some old building,inside is the best .

Drive the first na il thru nose . Th is holds the

h ide for starting . Pul l each forward l eg up (notout ) on a level w ith nose and about seven or


CHAPTER XXVI .

HANDLING AND GRADING .

M INK should be cased fur side in and

stretched on boards for several days or unti ldry .

SKUNK should be cased fur s ide i n andstretched on boards for severa l days . The whitestr ipe cut out

,blackened

,etc .

,reduces the value .

RACCOON should be stretched open ( rippedup the bel ly ) and nai led on boards or the insideof a bui lding. Some dealers a l l ow as much for

coon cased,from any sect ion

, whi le others preferthat only Southern coon be cased .

FOXEs of the various k inds should be cased

and put on boards fur s ide in for a few days, or

unti l dry. As the pel t i s th in they soon dry,when they must be taken off and should beturned fur side out. In sh ipping see that theyare not packed against furs flesh side out.

LYNX should be cased and after drying prop ~

erly are turned fur side out,same as foxes .

OTTER are cased and stretched fur s ide in .

The pel t being th ick and heavy,takes several

days to dry properly . They are shipped fleshs ide out. Sea otter are handled the same as fox,lynx and marten, that is fur s ide out.

HANDLING AND GRADING . 203

BEAVER are spl i t but stretched round and

should be l eft in the hoop or stretcher for several days .

BEAR should be handled open and stretchedcareful ly . In skinning be careful and leavenose

,claws and ears on the hide .

IVOLVEs can be handled same as bear,also

wolverine .

F ISHER should be cased and stretched fleshside out

,but may be sent to market same as

foxes or fur out.

M ARTEN'

should be stretched and dried onboards

,fur s ide in

,but turned as soon as dried .

OPOSSU M are stretched on boards fur side in

and are left in tha t condition after removing theboards . Cut the tai l s off when skinning — theyhave no value .

M U SKRAT should be stretched fur side in anda few days on the boards is su fficient . They areleft as taken off

,that i s

,fur side in . Cut the

tai l s Off when skinning — they are worthless .

WEASEL should be cased,fur s ide in . The

pelts are thin and soon dry . Leave fur side inafter taking off boards .

BADGER are spl it and should be nai led to theinside of a building to dry.

C IVET CAT should be cased and stretched on

boards fur side in . When dry remove boardsand leave fur side in .


R ING TA IL CATS Should be cased and afterremoving boards are general ly left fur Side infor market .

WILD CAT are cased and stretched on boards.Theymay be turned fur out or l eft as taken fromthe stretchers

, fur Side in .

HO USE CAT are cased and stretched on

boards fur side in . They are sent to marketusual ly fur S ide in .

RABB ITS are cased fur in and,as the pel t i s

thin, soon dry. They are Shipped fur s ide in .

PANTHER are treated much the same as bear .

Care Should be taken in skinning to leave clawsears nose

,etc .

,on the skin for mounting pur

My experience has been that the house whi chmakes only four grades of prime goods is thehouse that you w i l l receive the largest checksfrom for your col lect ion

,writes a M i ch igan col

lector of 50 years’ experience . So many gradesquoted makes i t poss ibl e for a firm to successful ly squel ch you a l i tt l e every time you Shipand yet you can have no reasonable excuse tocomplain for when vou Ship

, you know that insome houses there is a grade for nearly every.sk in you send . So I

,for one

,would rather ri sk

the fewer grades .

A trapper from Wi sconsin says " For sample,



their price l ists quote the various states andsections

,whynot quote one pri ce only as fol lows

M INK,NORTHERN NEw YORK

,NO. 1 .

Large,M edium

,Small

,No . 2

,No . 3 No . 4

These figures,of course

,are only given for

i l l ustration and are not meant to Show value .

Furs from the various par ts of North America have their pecu l iar characterist ics and i t is

easy for the man of experience to tel l in whatpart of the country a pel t was caught . It maybe Sh ipped by a col lector hundreds of miles fromwhere caught

,but i f there are many in the col

l ect ion the expert wi l l soon detect i t . Thisknowledge

,however

,only comes w ith years of

experience .

Prime Sk ins are those caught during cold

weather and the pelt~

after drying a few daysis bright and heal thy appearing .

Unprime skins are those that turn blue or

black a fter being stretched for a time . Usual lythe darker the pel t the poorer the fur . I f onlv

Sl ightly blued the pel t may go back only one

grade,whi l e i f black i t i s apt to be no better

than No . 3 or NO. 4 and may be trash of noval ue .

Springy skins,as the name indicates

,are

HANDLING AND GRADING . 207

those taken toward the last of the season or inthe Spring and tho often prime pelted

,have be

gun to shed . The beginner is often deceived, for

he thinks i f the pel t i s prime,the fur is. Foxes

and other animal s are often “rubbed” towardSpring,which of course lessens their value .

A No. 1 skin must be not only average inSize but free from cuts

,etc . No unprime Skin

w i l l grade better than No . 2 .

Skunk,to be No . 1 or black

,must be prime

in pel t,fair size and stripe not extending be

yond the Shoulders . The day that only “starblack” were taken for No . 1 is passed, for mosttrappers and Sh ippers know better now.

A No. 2, or Short str iped skunk, i s prime and

the stripes,i f narrow

,mav extend nearly to the

tai l . A smal l No . 1 or a blued No . 1 i s gradedNo . 2 .

A No . 3 or long stripe has two stripes extending the entire length

,but there must be as much

black between the stripes as either of‘

the whitestripes .

In some of the states,such as M innesota

,

Iowa,the Dakotas

,etc .

,skunk are large and are

nearly al l striped the same— l ong narrow stripes-but owing to thei r s ize they are worth about

the same as the eastern Short stripe or No . 2 .

A No. 4,broad or white Skunk

,i s prime but

has two broad stripes extending down the back .


M ost dealers class Skunk as No . 4 i f ei therwhite stripe contains more whi te than there isblack between the two stripes .

A l l unprime skunk are graded down to NO. 2,

3 and 4 according to depth of fur and stripe . A

No. 1 Skunk in stripe,but b lue

,becomes a No .

2,or i f badly blued NO. 3 or “

4; a No . 2 skunkin stripe but blue becomes a No . 3 ; a No. 3 instripe but blue

,a No . 4; a No . 4 in stripe but

blue general ly goes into trash . In fact,i f badly

blued,any of the grades may be thrown to trash .

M uskrat are assorted into four gradesspring

,winter

,fal l and kitts . Spring rats are

known as No . 1 ; winter, No. 2 ; fal l, No . 3 ;

K itts,No. 4.

NO. 1 or spring rats are those taken in M archand Apri l . The pelt is then of a reddish colorand i s entirely free from dark Spots . A few

Spring rats may be caught earl ier than M arch,but so l ong as they Show dark Spots they arenot No . 1 .

No . 2,or winter rats, are pretty wel l furred,

but there are dark streaks and spots in the h ide

usual ly on the back .

No. 3 or fa l l are not ful l furred and the pel ti s far from prime . The dark streaks Show much

more than later in the season .

No . 4,or kitts

,are only partly grown or i f

larger are badly damaged .



Some Skins al tho prime are so smal l thatthey gr ade No . 3 . This

,however

,i s the excep

t ion rather than the rule . Usual ly i f prime,the

under S ize wi l l only put the Skin down one

grade .

I have bought some for a number of years,writes a col lector, and know that some trappers

are l ike some farmers,they want as much money

for a bushel of dirty wheat as thei r neighbor getsfor a

'

bushel of clean wheat . I have had Skunkand opossum hides o ffered me that had a. poundor two of tainted fat on them

,and Skins that

were taken out of season, for which they expect

to get No. 1 prices .

There are some who stretch their Skins inthe Shape of an oblong triangl e and leave fleshenough on to make their dinner . Stretch yourh ides as near the shape of the animal as poss ibl e ; don

’t try to make a muskrat hide as longas a mink

,or a mink as w ide as a muskrat.

Catch in Season,flesh careful ly

,stretch in good

shape, always take bone out of ta i l s, keep in .an

airy bu ilding unti l dry and then you wi l l nothave to grumble so much at the buver in regardto prices .

CHAPTER XXVI I .

FROM ANIMAL To MARKET .

Under this t itl e,says an experienced Western

trapper,I shal l endeavor to Show my brother

trappers how to handle pelts "

AS soon as I get in from my traps ( I use a

team and wagon ) , I feed team,dogs and sel f,

then I proceed to Sk in the game in the usualmanner ; when game i s al l skinned I put on myfleshing su it

,made of rubber cloth l ike that

buggy curtains are made of,get out my fleshing

boards,of which I have three Sizes large

,me

dium and smal l — for each kind of cased Skinsexcept rat

,which I flesh w ith thumb and knife .

The fleshing boards are l ike F i g 1 on encloseddiagram

,made of 1 inch pine free from knots

and dressed on both sides,3 feet 6 inches long,

and for Skunk in . and 10 in. w ide,tapered up

to a blunt point,edges rounded and sandpapered

smooth . These boards can be made of othersizes so as to fit larger or smaller pel ts of otherkinds .

For a flesher I have tried nearly everythingimaginabl e

,dul l knives

,hardwood scrapers

,etc .,

but have abandoned them al l for the hatchet" I


use an old l ath hatchet head and use it tol erably

Sharp ; I proceed as fol l ows " Put pel t on boardbut do not fasten, grip lower edge with l eft hand,

pull down hard,place po int of board against

breast and use hatchet w ith right,pushing down

and holding hatchet nearly flat ; use plenty of


2 14 DEADFALLS AND SNARES .

I f possible'

take a bitch skunk for the first asthev flesh easier

,and be sure there are no burrs

or chunks of mud in the fur,or you w i l l cu t a

hol e the Si ze of the burr . Now for the stretchers. In F i g . 2 i s what I use ; i t i s someth ing ofmy own invention

,and there is no patent on it .

I t i s made of any wood that wi l l Spl i t straight,

and the dimensions are as fol lows " P ieces are 4

ft . long~ by 1% in. dressed smooth ; pieces are

1 1} x g in. ; wi l l say for large skunks here theywould be 10 in . and 4% in . To frame you mustsoak or steam the long pieces ; mitre the endsand fasten wi th 3d finish ing nail s cl inched .

Then place in posi tion 1 in . from ends and fastenw ith two 6d finish ing nai l s ; pla ce in posi tion andpul l up to 8 in . from nose and fasten " now chamfer Off edges and sandpaper smooth .

I l ike th is stretcher,as

'

i t a i rs both S ides of

pel t and wi l l dry them in hal f the time . F i g 3shows manner of fasten ing pel t ; on bel ly side i tcan be drawn down and fastened to tai l p ieceswi th sack needl e and twine ; i t i s made of two or

more pol es fastened in the Shape of a hoop .

In Shipping furs,bal e tight ;do not Sh ip loose

in sack ; place mink and rat i nside of skunk andother fur

,and always place the toughest pel ts on

outside . By ba il ing tigh t you wi l l avo id crinkl ing and they wi l l not l ook mussy and w i l l bringfrom 5 to 10 per cent . more . Now,

brother trap

FROM ANIMAL TO M ARKET . 2 15

pers,fleshing pelts, as I understand it

,i s not

merely taking the fat off,but in going deeper

SKI N ON STRETCHER .

and taking the flesh clean from the pel t so that i fskunk, the stripe wi l l Show c lear the ful l l engthand reducing the weight by hal f . On February

2 16 DEADFALLS AND SNARES .

2nd I Shipped 15 skunk,al l large ; the lot only

weighed 9 pounds including sack .

VVhen stretch ing Skunk and otter Skins,i f

the weather is warm,Spl it the tai l s

,open and

tack flat . Spl it open hal f way al l others thathave fur tai l s . Open pelts can be stretched inhoops made of one or more pol es an inch or so ind iameter

,and sewed in w i th a sack needl e and

heavy twine .

In stretching do not get the pel t so w ide thatthe fur looks thin

,or so long and narrow that i t

looks as i f a horse had been hitched to each end .

Keep the natural Shape of the animal as much aspossib l e

,dry in a cool

,airy place inside

,or on

the north s ide of a bui ld ing and away from fire .

Bal ing — here i s where the expert trapperShows his craft

,and in bal ing you w i l l see him

w ipe off al l surplus fat and dirt and place theheavy pelts on the outside of his pack . The l ighter furs

,such as mink

,marten

,cat

,etc .

,w i l l be

placed inside of the Skins that are heavier . For

instance " From four to eight rats or mink,in

side of a fox or Skunk . H e wi l l place the headof one to the tai l of another

,the ta il s folded in .

He now ti es a cord tightly around each end,

placing them on a square of burlap,and wi th

sack needle and tw ine draw s up the Sides as t ightas he can ; then he folds in the ends and sews upsnug. Furs thus packed reach the market in



IVhile the heading of th is chapter i s “FromAnimal to M arket” i t is wel l when sh ipping torequest the dealer to grade and send value . I fsat isfactory

,wri te to send on check . I f not sat

isfactory, have dealer return furs .

IYhen shipping furs under these conditionssee tha t no green skins are sent only properly

cured ones .

Wh i l e some. dealers o ffer to pay expressageboth ways we hardly th ink th is fa ir and i f nodeal i s made the deal er Should pay the expressage one way and the shipper the

'

other.

The Hunter -Trader - Trapper,publ ished at

Columbus,Ohio

,i n the interests of hunters,

trappers and dealers in raw furs contains a greatdeal o f information that w i l l be of value alongthe l ine o f Sh ipping furs as wel l as trapping

methods, etc .

CHAPTER XXVI I I .

STEEL TRAPS.

This book would not be complete wi thout atleast a few pages devoted to steel traps . Whil ea few steel traps were in use prior to 1 850, yet i thas only been since "that date that they havecome into general use. During recent yearsthey have become cheaper and trappers in al lparts of America are using them in greaternumbers .

Professional trappers in the North Northwest and Southwest Often have out l ines manymil es long and use 200 to 350 steel traps of thevarious s izes .

Each of the three main sets — land,water

and snow are used in various ways and to describe all of these would requ ire a book .

Steel traps are made in various sizes fromNo. 0 to No. 6

,to meet the requ irements of trap

pers for the various animals . The best trapsmanufactured are the Newhouse made by thewel l - known trap manufacturers Oneida Community, Ltd .

,Oneida

,N . Y . A brief description

of these fol lows "

DEADFALLS AND S NARES.

Spread of Jaw s 35 inches . This,the small

est trap made, i s used mostly for catching thegopher

,a l itt le animal which is very troublesome

to western farmers,and al so rats and other ver

min . It has a Sharp gr ip and w i l l hold larger

game,but should not be overtaxed .

Spread of Jaws,4 i nches . This Trap i s used

for catch ing muskrats and other smal l animals,

and so ld in greater numbers than any other Si z e.

Its use is wel l understood by professionel trappers and it is the most serviceabl e Si ze for catchink skunks

,weasels

,rats and such other animal s

as visit poul try houses and barns .


DEADFALLS AND SNARES .

The No . 8 1 Trap corresponds in Size with theregular NO. 1 Newhouse .

Spread of Jaws 91,5% inches ; -91 671

inches . The doubl e j aws take an easy and firm

grip h igh up on the muskrat that hetwi st out. A skunk cannot gnaw out either .

These traps are especial ly good .f or muskrat,

mink,skunk and raccoon .

Al l parts of the No. 91 except the jaws arethe same size as the regular No . 1 Newhouse,while the corresponds to the regular No . I f} .

STEEL TRAPS. 223

Spread of Jaws 45 inches . This si ze i s cal ledthe M ink Trap . I t i s

,however

,su itable for

catching the woodchuck,Skunk

,etc . Profes

sional trappers often use i t for catching foxes.

I t is very convenient in form and is strong andrel iable .

Spread Of Jaws 45 inches . The No. 2 Trapis cal led the Fox Trap . I ts spread of j aws i sthe same as the NO. 15 but having two Springs iti s,of course

,much stronger .

224 DEADFALLS A N D S NARES .

of Jaws 55 inches . This the Ottera- J

Trap, is very powerful . I t w i l l hold almostO

'

aine smal ler than a bear .

Spread of Jaws 65 inches . This i s the regular form of Beaver Trap . I t i s longer than theNO. 3 Trap, and has one inch greater spread ofjaws . I t i s a favorite with those who trap andhunt for a l iving in the Northwest and Canada .

I t i s al so extensively used for trapping the

smaller wolves and coyotes in the western stockraising regions .



trap is set the pla te -w i l l be a trifle higher thanthe teeth on the j aws . The spring is very power

ful,being the same as used on the NO. 4 New

house Trap . The ra ised plate can be readi ly detached i f desi red, making the trap one of generaluti l ity .

S ingl e Spring .

‘

Same as No 25 wi thoutTeeth or Raised P late .

No . 315 NEWHOUSE TRAP .

S ingl e Spring . Same as NO. 35 but wi thoutteeth or Raised P late .

Spread of Jaws— No . 2 15, 55 inches ;No . 315,5 inches . These traps are the largest smooth

j aw,single Spring Si zes that are made . P rofes

sional trappers w i l l find these especiall y valuable when Ou a long trapping l ine

,as they are

more compact and easi er to secrete than the

STEEL TRAPS. 227

large double spring traps . The springs aremade extra heavy.

Note — The 2 15 i s practi cal ly a S ingl e springNo . 3 and the 315 a Single spring NO. 4.

Spread of Jaws,65 inches . This trap is the

same in Size as the NO. 4 Beaver,but has heavier

and stifier Springs and ofi set j aws,which al low

the springs to raise h igher when .the animal’s l egi s in the trap

,and is furnished w ith teeth suffi

clently close to prevent the animal from pul l ingi ts foot out.

Clutch Detachable— Trap can be used wi th or

Without it .


Spread of J aws, _No. 23

,55 inches ; No. 24,

65 inches . The inventor of th is attachmentc la ims to have had wonderful success w ith it intaking beaver . The trap should be set wi th thec lutch end farthest from Shore . The beaverswims w i th his fore legs folded back aga inst h isbody

,and when he feel s his breast touch the

bank he puts them down . The position of thetrap can be so cal cul ated that he wi l l put h is forelegs in the trap

, when the clutch wi l l sei ze h imacross the body and hold himSecurely .

In response to a demand for a new model of

the Newhouse Trap espec ial ly adapted to catching wolves

,the manufacturers have perfected a

trap which i s numbered 45 and is cal l ed the“NewhouseWol f Trap .

”



Spread of Jaws,1 15 inches . This trap weighs

nineteenpounds . I t is used for tak ing the common bla ck bear and i s furnished with a very

strong chain .

Spread of Jaws,1 15 inches . To meet the

views of certain hunters whose j udgment i s re

spected, the manufacturers designed a styl e Of

jaw for the No . 5 trap,making an O ffset of 5 of

an inch,so as to all ow the springs to come up

higher when the bear’s leg i s in the trap . Thisgives the spring a better grip . Those wi sh ingthis styl e should Spec ify “NO. 15 .

Spread of Jaws,16 inches . Weight

, com

plete, 42 pounds . This i s the strongest trapmade . I Ve have never heard of anything gett ingout of i t when once caught . I t i s used to catchl ions and tigers

,as wel l as the great Grizzly

Bears of the Rocky \Iount i ins

Thi s cut i l lustrates Bear Chain Clevis andBolt, intended as a substi tute for the ring on theend of the trap cha in

,when desired .

Wi th this clevis a loop can be made aroundany smal l l og or tree wi thout the trouble of cut


ting to fit the ring. The chain i s made five feetlong

,suitable for any cl og, and the prices of bear

traps fitted wi th it are the same as theregular short chain rin g

Every trapper knows how difficul t i t is to set

a large trap alone in the woods, espec ial ly incold weather

,when the fingers are st i ff, and the

difficul ty i s greatly increased when one has to

work in a boat . One of these clamps appl ied toeach spring w i l l by a few turns of the thumbscrews

,bend the Spr ings to their places, so that

the pan may be adjusted w i thout diffi cul ty . No.

4 Clamp can be used On any trap smal ler thanNo . 45. NO. 5 and 6 are strong clamps, careful ly made and especial ly adapted to sett ing thelarge traps Nos. 45 to 6. They dispense with theinconvenient and dangerous use of levers . IVith

them one can easi ly set these powerful traps .

These cl amps are al so useful about camp for

other purposes .


FERRET FACTS ANDFANCIESA Book of Practical Instruction on Breeding , Raising ;Handling and Selling ; Also Their Use and Fur V alue

LTHOUGH the ferret industry is stil l in its infancy there isa town in Northern O hio that has raised and sold more

than a mil l ion dol lars worth of ferrets during the ast fifteenyears. Th is vil lage is often cal led “

Ferretville”

an an entire

chapter is devoted to it,tel l ing of the

first raiser in America as wel l as thosewho are raising them there now . Theferret is a domesticated wild animal used .

to exterminate rats and for rabbit hunting . For rats they are much used in

houses, barns, outbuil dings,levees,

wal ls, sh ips, boats, grain elevators,

mil ls, stores or any place where there

are rats. I f rightl y used and hand ledthere is no better or q uicker way to rida place of the pests. Where rabbits are

domg an inj ury to fruit trees, etc. , ferrets can be used to advantage. T hey arealso used to some ex tent on the largewestern ground squirrel , gopher and

prairie dogs. Success has also been badwhen using on mink , skunk , coon and

ther fur- bearm animals.

Th is book tel s how to raise, train and use ferrets. Bookcontains 2 14 pages and 45 il lustrations. There are 21 chapters,

as fol lows"

I H istory and Description

Ferretville X I I IHutches and NestsBarns and ShedsFeeding and Management

BreedingHand ling and Train XV I IingRats— Common B rown

Ferrets and RatsFerrets and RabbitsFerrets and GroundSq uirrels, Gophers,Prairie Dogs

Th is book,FERRET FACTS AND FANCI ES , shows some

of the largest and most up— to— date ferret farms" in America as

wel l as hutches and pens of the smal l raisers from photographs.

postpaid to any addreu for

A. R. HARDING, Publisher,

106 Walnut Street, ST. LOUIS, MO.

This book bound in cloth w ill be sent

Ferrets and M i n k,Skunk

,Etc.

Ferret Contrivan’

ces,

(Muz z les, etc. )Letters From RaisersThe Ferret in BelgiumFerret Raising in a

Smal l WayFerret Raising as a

BusinessHow to Sel l FerretsFerrets as Fur B earersFerrets— A to "Diseases of Ferrets

OX

A Book of Instructions Telling Howto Trap, Snare, Poison and Shoot.

AValuable Book for Trappers.

Containsabout 200 pages and 50 illustrationsdivided into Twenty- two Chapters as follows"

1 General Information 10W ireand Tw ine Snare 16Experienced Trapper2 Ba i tsand S cents 1 1 Trap Snare, Shoo ting Tricks3 FoxesandOdor an Poison 17 ReynardOutwittedChaff Method

,Scent 12 My F irst Fox 18 Fox Shoot ing

5 Trapsand Hints 13 Tennessee Trapper’s 19 A Shrewd Fox6 All- round Land Set Method 20 Sti l l unting theFox7 Snow Set 14 Many Good Methods 21 Fox anches8 Trapp ing RedFox 15 Fred and the o ld Trap 22 Steel Traps9 Red and Grey per

If all themethods as given in thisbookhad been studied out by one manand he began trapping w henColumbus discoveredAmericamore than fourhundred yearsago, hewould not behalf through.

Cloth Bound $ 1. Postage Included

III.

ra III

ABook of Instructions Giving ManyMethods of Trapping. A Val

uable Book for Trappers

Contains nearl y 200 pages and over 50 il lustrationsdivided intoTwenty Chapters as fol lows"

1 General lnformation2 M ink and TheirHabits3 S i z e and Care of Sk ins4 Good and Last ing Baits5 Bai t and Scent6 P laces to Set7 Ind ianMethods8 M ink Trapp ing on the Prairies9 Southern Methods10 Northern MethodsThe methods as pub l ished are those of experienced trappers from all

partsof the country . T here ismoney made in catch ing mink if you knowhow . After reading th is instructive book , you w il l surely know . If youonly catchonemoreprimemink it wil l pay for the book several times.

Cloth Bound $ 1 . Postage Included

A.R. HARDING, Pub., 1 06Walnut St.,ST.LOUIS, MO.

1 1 Unusual Ways12 I l l ino isTrapper’

sMethods13 Experienced Trapper’s Ways14 Many Good Methods15 Salt Set16 Log and Other Sets1 7 Po ints for the Young Trapper18 Proper S i z e Traps19 Dead fal ls20 Stee l Traps


FUR B UYERS’ GU IDEContainsComplete Instructionsabout Buying, Handling andtrading furs, including Slz t. Color. llullty,

aswell asHow.whenandWinn toSi ll.,The chapter head ings give a very good idea of th is valuable book

yet to further explain take the chapter on M ink ( X I I I . ) which goesinto detail as fol lows" Si z es of Stretch ing Boards; Shape of Cured

Skins j Shades of Color and Degrees of Primeness ; Sel l ing at Home; Preparing and Sh ipping to Market. Each of the fur anima ls are

described much the same as mink; The variousshades of b lack, sil ver and cross fox are described and i l lustrated as wel l as the markings on skunk shown and each of the fourgrades i l lustrated and ful l y described . Wease l( ermine) are shown in the wh ite stage alsowhen turning . Raccoon, muskrat, opossum,

red and grey foxes, wol ves, otter,beaver, bear,

badger, mart en, lynx , fisher, wi ld cat, civetcat

, house test are all il lustrated and ful l y de

scribed as wel l as a chapter on Sheep Pelts,B eef H ides, and Deer Skins and another on

G inseng and Go lden Seal .Much attention is given to GRADE,

COLOR , " UALITY as wel l as siz es— LARGE,

MED IUM , SMALL. More than 160 il lustrations are used showing raw furs from all

parts of North America w ith measurementsand grade. It also tel ls to BUY and WHERE, WHEN andHOW to SELL. Th is information is of much value to all whether a

trapper who sel l-s a few skins onl y or buyer, collector, dealer.

Th is valuab le book contains Thirty - five chapters as fol lows"I . “Wild and

“Tame”Furs. XX I . Beaver and How to Grade .

I I . Siz e, Co lor, " ual ity , XX I I . Bears— B lack , Griz z l y , PoI I I . Methods of Grad ing

,lar and How to Grade.

IV . The Inspection Room. XX I I I . Marten and How to GradeV . Why Trappers Sel l at XX IV . Fisher and How to Grade.

Home. XXV . Lynx and How to Grade.

VI . Buyers and Col lectors. XXVI . Wi l d Cat or Bay LynxV I I . Buying and Sel ling. and How to Grade.

V I I I . Speculation. XXVI I . Cats— House and R ingIX . Prices of Long Ago,

Tail and How to Grade.

X . M iscel laneous I nformation. XXV I I I . Badger and How to Grade.

X I . Foxes— B lack,S il ver, XX IX . \Volverine - How to Grade.

Cross, and How to Grade. XXX . \Vhit>e Weasel ( ermine )X I I . Foxes— Red, Gray, Kitt or and How to Grade.

Swift and How to G rade. XXX I . Sea Otter— How to G rade.

X I I I . M ink and How to Grade. XXX I I . Mountain Lion and How

X IV. Muskrat— How to Grade. to Grade.

XV . Skunk and How to Grade. XXX I I I . Seals— Fur and Hair— andXVI . Civet Cat— How to Grade. How to Grade.

XV I I . Raccoon and H0w to Grade. XXX IV. Pelts, H ides, Skins andXVI I I . Opossum— How to Grade. How to Grade.

X IX . Wol ves and Coyotes and XXXV . Roots— G inseng and GoldHow to Grade. en Seal— How to Classify.

XX . O tter and How to Grade .

I f you hand le Raw Furs, H ides, Pelts or Roots it; w il l be to youradvantage (cash in your pocket ) to order at once for FUR BUYERS’GU I DE contains many valuab le suggestions learned from long ex

perience, that the“other fel low” may get onto before you so better

send today . Th is book we ighs nearl y 2 pounds, contains 370 pages,160 il lustrations and cost me thousands of dol lars to print.Price, postpaid , cloth bound, to any address,A.R. HARDING, Pub., 106Walnut St ST. LOUIS, MO.

Documents

Deadfalls and Snares - Forgotten Books€¦ · DEADFALLS AND SNAKES CHAPTER I BUILDING DEADFALLS During the centuries that trapping has been carried on, not only in America but thruout