352 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



in catching the muskrat, heatedly deny that this is so and 

 claim that the "two-trigger trap" catches and holds the 

 animal; therefore, "wring-offs" (when the animal ampu- 

 tates its foot and thus frees itself from the trap) are pre- 

 vented and the trapper collects the pelt and not the toes 

 of the animal. 



The Victor champion counters with the declaration that 

 when the two-trigger bar strikes the muskrat it kills the 

 animal and when it is dead the owls, hawks, grackles and 

 other birds and mammals feed on it, cutting its pelt, and 

 that the trapper collects, and skins out, a "damaged" in- 

 stead of a top 'rat. There seems to be no end or settlement 

 to the argument, for the trappers continue to buy and use 

 both brands to the exclusion of all other makes. 



The Victor line of traps, made by the Animal Trap Co., 

 of Lititz, Penn., have been the veterans in the field, and 

 probably the larger No. 2 trap is more generally used, so 

 that the animal's leg is caught high up where the muscles 

 are heavier and there is less danger of the leg being 

 twisted, the bone broken, or the bruised flesh severed by 

 the strong incisor teeth of the captive. 



The larger sized, double spring Victors 

 are used to take the larger fur animals, 

 lynx, otter, wolf, etc. 



We have found that even in these large traps the feet 

 and leg bones are frequently broken and that the muskrats 

 twist free, either to die of their injuries or to recover as 

 cripples. In attempting to keep for study animals so taken 

 in two-jawed steel traps, we found it difficult, even with 

 care and antiseptics, to keep them alive, and about 50% 

 of those thus secured died and the remaining cripples would 

 not breed. 



