Should traps be sprung morning after morning without catching the animal it is possible that if you move the trap, or better still leave the one as before and set another, you will be rewarded.

Sometimes an animal will manage to get bait without getting caught.

At other times it may get bait without knocking off the trap. At such times the bait is too near the trap most likely, the animal reaching it without stepping over the trap, or if the trap has not been properly set the animal may be going around the trap.

Just how long a trap should be left at one place if not bothered is hard to say as so many things bear upon the question; if the weather is cold and few animals moving they should be left much longer than if good trapping weather. If the den has been a good one other years, that is, if you have caught game there, then leave longer than if you never caught anything there. If other traps are making catches near, leave as long as you are trapping there unless you find a much better looking den near and have no trap with you, then take this one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NORTHERN TRAPPER WITH PACK BASKET.]

When traps are sprung and pulled back into the den as far as the chain will allow them to go, the chances are that the animals is still in the den. On the other hand, if the trap is dragged to the outside the game is liable to have gone away. In either case it will likely be around again in a few nights, as having once got a meal it will not be slow to make another visit. If the animal was caught and only escaped after prolonged struggles is may not return for some time and possibly not at all. Yet when a trap is set and fastened as directed, few animals when once caught escape. Here is where proper fastening comes into use; if the trap had a fairly good hold on the animal and the trap was staked solid the game might have escaped but would be so badly injured and frightened that it might never return.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOME NORTHERN FURS.]

When fastened properly to a bush or light drag, the game rarely escapes even though the trap has only a toe hold, unless the trapper is days in making the rounds. Should an animal escape when only slightly injured it is apt to soon return.

In many cases where game has escaped after once being caught it is not the fault of the trap but of the trapper. Should the bone in the animal's leg be broken and after days of endeavoring the animal frees itself there should be no blame attached to the trap, the fault is with the trapper--he should have visited the trap sooner.

Many trappers believe that animals become so sharp that they will turn traps over. This we hardly believe. At the same time trappers have set traps upside down and caught the animals. This, perhaps, is accounted for from the fact that the animal in reaching for bait would turn the trap. It is usually the case that animals will go about getting bait in a certain manner and the changing of location of trap may be the means of making a catch.

Some years ago when trapping mink, I visited a certain deadfall that was "down" each morning and the bait eaten. The trap was reset and rebaited each time for perhaps a week, even after making the pen smaller and the trap easier to go off, it continued to be down and bait gone. By this time I was anxious, and taking a No. 1 steel trap I carefully set it on the inside of the pen, covered it well and rebaited the deadfall. On my round the next morning neither the trap nor bait were disturbed.

The second morning the deadfall was down and in the steel trap was a small mink--the smallest I ever caught. This accounted for the animal being able to get inside the pen and eat the bait. It was so small that when the log fell its body was entirely inside the fall. I hardly think that small mink, which was less than a year old, knew that it would get caught unless it was inside the fall, but its size was such that it could easily get out of danger, and each time it ate the bait it was in the same position on the inside.

CHAPTER XX.

GOOD DENS.

Some trappers as soon as they have caught one animal remove their trap thinking that there is no longer any use to leave it at that den. While this may sometime hold good in case of large game, such as bear, panther, etc., it does not with most animals; in fact, there are certain dens where trappers each season take from two to five or even more animals. In the case of the larger game even they seem to scent your bait and two bears and occasionally more have been caught at the same place within a few days.

The fact, as a rule, that you have caught one animal in a den, should not cause you to remove your trap. The more animals caught at the same den the better. There is a reason why certain dens are the favorite homes of animals. It may be because they are dry and warm, that there is a nice bed of leaves, etc. At any rate, trappers know that certain dens are valuable--that each season there are animals living there--it making no difference how many have been caught the previous winter. At such dens it will pay to leave your traps all the season, that is, if you have other traps that are catching game in the vicinity. Of course it would not pay to leave one trap set if you did not have others within a short distance. As a rule where there is one good den of this kind there are others in the vicinity, so that you do not want to remove from that certain section.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEBRASKA TRAPPER'S ONE NIGHT CATCH.]

It often happens that two trappers trap during the season on the same ground, one in the fall and the other later in the season. The second one has often taken more game than the first in the same length of time. Both were considered good trappers and of equal experience.

This only goes to show that you never know when all the game is caught; in fact, it never is, for if such was the case there would be nothing left to catch another season, yet when another season arrives the game is apparently about as numerous as ever.

This shows that good dens should be looked up by trappers, if in new trapping grounds to them, before the season opens. The best time to look for signs is in the fall, yet many a good den has been discovered by tracking animals in the snow to their burrow. These extra good dens are usually located on high grounds, at least not in swamps or very low land. It is true, however, that on low land and along sinks and damp places there is good trapping early in the season, but as a rule animals hunt higher and drier sections before the extreme cold weather comes. This being true the best dens are most always found on high and dry ground. Another proof of this is the fact that when large numbers of skunk are dug out of a den it is nearly always on high and dry land.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NIGHT'S CATCH BY COLORADO TRAPPER.]

That there are many excellent dens along rocky bluffs, sandy hill sides, and other like places, the experienced trapper knows. He also knows that along the low land in early fall is good trapping. Mink and c.o.o.n are, of course, to be caught along streams at all times. It is not necessary to state even to the amateur if muskrat, beaver and otter are what the trapper is after, that along streams is the only place to make a success.

Days spent early in the season looking up dens where hairs, bones, feathers, dung, etc., are to be seen, are days well spent, for many times has a trapper set traps at dens where within a few hundred yards were many better ones, but not being acquainted with the locality, he overlooked these until a snow came. Then he tracked an animal which led him to the dens, otherwise he perhaps would not have discovered them at all. Keep your eye open at all times for good dens. That a large number of animals were caught at a certain den last winter is evidence that that certain den is just the kind of a burrow they want.

It may be that you caught all the animals that lived there the winter before, but others have been raised since. These on their wanders for food have found the den and have found, like their relatives of the winter before, that it was just what they wished, hence they, too, have returned for the winter.

At any rate, a den that is good one season is worth more to the professional trapper than one that has never before showed signs. Or in other words, if he has only one trap left and discovers a new den apparently as good as the one where the winter before he made such good catches, you may rest a.s.sured that he will set his trap at the old den. It is possible that not a single animal will be caught this season at the den where such good catches were made last season, but this is an exception rather than the rule.

Old trappers will tell you that they caught so many animals at this den in a certain season, so many the next, etc. Perhaps more skunk have been caught at one den in a single season than any other animal.

The catching of ten or twelve at a place is no uncommon occurrence in a season. There are a few cases on record where trappers have caught as high as fifteen, and one instance that we know of, where seventeen were caught at one den from November to March 10th. This was certainly a remarkable catch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOTH TRAPPERS--FATHER AND DAUGHTER.]

Old trappers will also tell you that signs are what you should look for at all times. These are not only found at dens, but by watching everywhere; signs found in the woods often cause the trapper to hunt for dens which are often close by. Good dens are not at all hard to tell by the experienced trapper, and if you are a young trapper and can induce some experienced trapper to let you make the rounds with him or pay him to spend a day or two with you, it will be to your advantage.

During the summer months when you are running around through the fields and woods fishing and hunting and having a good time, then is the time to start the foundation for the coming season's trapping.

Always be on the lookout for signs and learn to read Nature's writings. Then when the trapping season opens, you will know exactly where to set your traps and you will be far ahead of the other fellow that has waited till the season opens before looking over the grounds.

I am glad to see an awakening of the trapper for the protection of fur-bearing animals during the summer months when the fur is unprime; also, the protection of the animal dens. In the June number of H-T-T, writes an Iowa trapper, I called trappers' attention to Johnny Dig-em-out and his destructive method of trapping, and I think every trapper that has trapped in a thickly settled country will bear me out when I say he has lots to do with the disappearance of the fur-bearing animals. I will cite you to the buffalo for instance; years ago the plains were covered with them, but after the hide hunters had gotten in their work for a few years the buffalo was a thing of the past. So, brother, let us take heed before it is too late, or the time will soon come when trapping in the older settled parts of the country will be a very unprofitable business.

Ten years ago in this part of the country, skunk were very plentiful; it was a very poor farm indeed that did not contain at least one skunk den, but now they are about as scarce a fur-bearer as we have.

The Dig-em-outs will ask, "Does it pay to trap skunk when you find a den?" I say "Yes." Eight or ten years ago I tracked a skunk into a den. I trapped three skunks in as many nights from that den, and since then I have probably taken twenty-five from the same place, and the den is in good condition yet, and each winter I know where to go to get skunk. Brother, did it pay to leave that den? Some say it is too slow work to trap out a skunk den; I will tell you a quick way that I have tried with success. Build three or four pens near the den, put a bait in each pen and a trap at the entrance of each. I have caught as high as three in a night from one den, that way.

Now trappers, let us strive the coming season, to protect the homes of our fur-bearers, so we can enjoy the pleasures and profits of trapping in the years to come. Let us take the fellow that digs out the dens aside and give him a little good advice and show him where he is working against his own good. Many of them are nice fellows, but simply a little thoughtless about the future of these animals.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE PROPER BAIT.

While baiting traps is not necessary when trapping at dens, yet the trapper who baits his traps will catch more game than if the traps were not baited. To show where a baited trap has the advantage, we will suppose that an animal pa.s.ses a den where a trap is set but not baited. It is just as a notion takes the animal--it may pay a visit to the den and go in, and again it may not. If a trap is baited the chances are that if the animal pa.s.ses within a few feet, it will reach the bait.

Bait, whether bird, fish, chicken, beef offals or rabbit, should be fresh for most animals. When trapping at dens the bait should be stuck on a short stick, so as to keep it off the ground, and placed back in the den, beyond the trap some eighteen inches or two feet.

Should the bait be gone morning after morning and the trap unsprung, your game is pretty sure to be still in the den and living off your bait. In this case it will be a good idea to change and place the bait on the outside. If the animal is getting the bait from within, you are pretty sure to make a catch within a few nights.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PART OF CONNECTICUT TRAPPER'S CATCH.]

If trapping in the woods for c.o.o.n or along streams, where they travel, a piece of bait nailed to a tree, some two feet from the ground, and a trap set directly under it is not a bad set. For mink, bait can be suspended from a branch, tied by a string, to within say two feet of the ground. To set a trap directly beneath the bait if properly done and near where these animals travel, is a good way to take them.

The methods used by some trappers of placing bait on the pan of the trap should never be employed. An animal in reaching for the bait will spring the trap with its nose, and unless the trap is a very large one, not get caught. The correct place to put bait is where an animal in reaching for it, will be apt to get one of its fore feet in the trap. The way to do this can be told by a little study before setting the trap. If the animal you are trapping is a small one the bait should not be placed so far beyond the trap as for a larger one.

Should you find the bait gone when visiting your traps, replace it at once and see that your trap is all right. In nine cases out of ten, the animal will be around again in a night or two for another meal.

Persevere and you will get your game sooner or later. Seeing that your traps are kept properly baited is an important item; also, keeping bait as fresh as possible. After the bait has been at a trap for a week if it has not been molested, it is best to replace with something fresh. Do not throw the old bait away, either hang it up, out of reach of animals or carry it away from the den. If you have plenty of fresh bait, it will pay to replace oftener than once a week.

If you have a large quant.i.ty of fresh bait and have more than you can use to advantage, on your traps, it can be made use of, by cutting into small pieces and testing a number of dens. By this we mean putting a small piece of bait at dens you think are good or show some sign of game, but at which you have no traps. In a few days, visit these dens again and at all where the bait is gone, rebait and set a trap. This is a very good method and has helped many a trapper to increase his catch.

Most trappers do not take into consideration the keen scent of the animal they hope to victimize. To know how to set a trap properly is far from all in the line of success. To know your "critter" at every turn he may make and to entice him from his wonted way by means that challenges his cunning through his appet.i.te and yet overcome that suspicion of place and the circ.u.mstances of immediate surroundings is the real acme of trappers' art.

To place a bait anywhere above the trap is well enough for an animal of less cunning than a fox. But to challenge that cunning in a fox, better way is to bury the bait. The proper way to go about it is to make a trail by dragging through the brush or thicket a hare, squirrel or bird, and at the proper distances along this blind trail, strew the feathers of some bird, or make a bed for your bait, no trap being set, until you "take the sign" of one of your varmints.

Notice well the approaches to your intended "set." To be sure of your game, you must notice the "run" of more than one animal at a given place but the buried bait must be adhered to thruout your whole line.

A bait, to my experience is more attractive when it is out of sight but so placed that your critter must work to reach it, in common phrase "root hog, or die." By this means the cunning of your victim is cast aside in its endeavor. Much depends on the patience of the trapper and his real handiwork. Where a set of this kind is made or contemplated, the presence of a few feathers are the prime requisites. Make it appear that a carnival of flesh has taken place and that the spared remnants lie buried just beneath. Drawing on your game in this belief for some time before making a set, is the proper caper.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EASTERN TRAPPER'S CATCH.]

If you can procure an ancient egg you have the tidbit for any varmint that may hit your track. You perhaps have heard much about the so-called "scents" or oils. They in a way are good to disguise the dreaded human odor, but may well be dispensed with and some are entirely out of place. Time will obliterate any and all human odor, providing you use your implements with tact and good judgment, your bait will keep and it will draw better a day or two after the first set. I never could teach any one much unless he went along the line with me. Trapping is a profession and not every one is by nature adapted for it, but some take to it as natural as a duck to water.