356 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



^gibbshuSake « 



The Gibbs Humane traD is on the left and on the right is the poison 

 capsule which is attached to' the jaws of the trap. When the jaws of the trap 

 close on an animal's leg the captive bites at the trap, breaks the capsule and 

 is instantly killed. 



noticed that we do not take the animal by the use of poison; we take 

 it with the trap and kill it quickly to relieve its sufferings, with the 

 poison. 



"While it will be necessary for the trapper to renew the poison 

 charge after each animal is caught, his saving in the animals that 

 would otherwise escape will make the use of this trap a profitable one 

 for him, instead of an additional expense." 



Trapping Muskrats Alive 



The importance of being able to catch muskrats alive 

 for study of habits and eventually for restocking marshes 

 and for selecting fur and breeding animals has been given 

 much thought, but not much has been accomplished. 



Vernon Bailey devised a trap, which is shown in the 

 illustrations on the opposite page, but it did not work out 

 as successfully as we hoped it would, having drawbacks 

 noticed in the Gibbs live trap. Metal, it appears, is very 

 objectionable to muskrats, especially in cold weather, and 

 they will not walk on it. Both the Bailey and the Gibbs 

 traps had metal floors. In many of the marshes the water 

 levels are affected by the tide and in both these traps many 

 drowned 'rats are recovered after they have been success- 

 fully taken by the action of the trap. 



Experiments have been made with a number of manu- 

 factured "live traps" but with little or no success. The 

 Crown galvanized box trap will undoubtedly catch and 

 hold a muskrat— if one will go in the trap!— none have 

 been enticed into the contraption yet. Ordinary wooden 

 box traps, barrel traps, and all the old stand-bys of musk- 

 rat literature, especially those found in government bul- 

 letins, have been tried and found wanting. 



