CAPTURING FOXES 



9 



The bush should be rescented every third day in wel weather and 

 every fourth or fifth day during dry periods. For carrying liquid 

 scent, a bottle of suitable size equipped with a medicine dropper will 

 be found convenient. Semisolid scent material may be carried in a 



wide-mouthed bottle. Places where foxes have been caught are often 

 good for resets because of the scent left by the animal trapped. 



A scent may be made by grinding trout, eel, carp, or other oily 

 fish and placing the material in a strong container provided with a 

 small vent to permit gases to escape but no flies to enter. There it 

 should remain for 1 to 4 weeks, or until the flesh has decayed. To 

 each pint of this material add l 1 /? ounces of glycerine, mixing thor- 

 oughly. This mixture can be used as it is, but is improved by the addi- 

 tion of one-third of a teaspoonf ul of pulverized beaver castor to each 

 pint. 



Another scent useful in alternating with the putrid scent is made 

 by collecting from fox carcasses or captive animals a pint of urine and 

 mixing with it 5 grains of zinc valerate and 1 grain of beaver castor. 

 This solution should stand for 12 hours or longer before it is used. 



Scent stations may be used to draw foxes off a travel way if for 

 some reason it is not advisable to set the trap in a trail. In such cases, 

 a larger quantity of scent should be applied. 



Instead of using scent, a trap may be baited by burying a small 

 piece of meat beneath the trap. The tainted body of a woodchuck, 

 rabbit, ground squirrel, prairie dog. or chicken may be used and the 



Figure 5. — The set trap at the edge of the fox trail has been covered with earth and the 

 area above it made to blend with the surroundings. The trapper is placing a few drops 

 of scent on the bush near the buried trap. 



