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buckskin are probabl.v the bi-st. Foxes are veiy wan- 

 about approaching the most tempting- bait when they 

 discover the scent of a human being, and many other 

 animals are likewise afraid of it; lience, when handling 

 traps for any animal, coA'er your hands with buckskin 

 gloves. In getting a steel trap ready to catch a Fox, 

 it shculd, as already stated, be perfectly clean and 

 every trace of rust removed; then washed in weak lye, 

 greased and dried. Then it should be well smoked by 

 holding O'ver burning hens' feathers. After this is 

 done some recommend that both the trap and chain 

 should be smeared all over with beeswax. To do this 

 melt the beeswax and smear it with a feather. At- 

 tach the free end of the chain to a log, about two or 

 two and one-half feet long and eight or ten inches in 

 circumference, to serve as a drag to impede the Fox 

 when he gets into the trap. But before you fix the 

 trap as described above it is necessary to make a "bed" 

 for it. This is done in the following manner: The 

 bed should be made on level ground and cover a space 

 of about nine or ten feet in circumference and about 

 an inch and a-lialf deep. The materials used to make 

 the bed are buckwheat chaff, which experienced trap- 

 pers claim is the best, wheat chaff, or oat chaff; wood 

 ashes and moss are also sometimes used with satisfac- 

 tory results. This should be baited for at least a 

 week, before a trap is set, with scraps of cheese, pieces 

 of fresh meat, heads of chickens, turkeys, or Pheasants 

 or Englisb Sparrows — heads and all — will answer. 

 This bed, of course, is made in some place where 

 Foxes are accustomed to wander on food-hunting ex- 

 peditions, and when they become acquainted with the 

 place, the trap should be set and covered up in the 

 chaff; a thin piece of paper should be placed over pan 



