THE TAKING OF THE BEAVER 195 



at the bait usually brings the front log crashing down across the 

 animal's back, killing it instantly. 



But neither the steel trap nor the deadfall is wholly satisfactory. 

 When the poor beaver comes sniffing along the castoreum trail 

 to the steel trap and on the first splash into the water feels a pair of 

 iron jaws close on his feet, he dives below to try to gain the shelter 

 of his house. The log plunges after him, holding him down and 

 back till he drowns ; and his whereabouts is revealed by the up- 

 end of the tree. 



But several chances are in the beaver's favor. With the casto- 

 reum licks, which tell them of some other beaver, perhaps looking 

 for a mate or lost cub, they may become so exhilarated as to jump 

 clear of the trap. Or, instead of diving down with the trap, they 

 may retreat back up the bank and amputate the imprisoned foot 

 with one nip, leaving only a mutilated paw for the hunter. With 

 the deadfall a small beaver may have gone entirely inside the snare 

 before the front log falls ; and an animal whose teeth saw through 

 logs eighteen inches in diameter in less than half an hour can easily 

 eat a way of escape from a wooden trap. Other things are against 

 the hunter. A wolverine may arrive on the scene before the trapper 

 and eat the finest beaver ever taken ; or the trapper may discover 

 that his victim is a poor little beaver with worthless, ragged fur, 

 which should have been left to forage for three or four years. 



All these risks can be avoided by waiting till the ice is thick 

 enough for the trapper to cut trenches. Then he returns with a 

 woodman's axe and his dog. By sounding the ice, he can usually 

 find where holes have been hollowed out of the banks. Here he 

 drives stakes to prevent the beaver taking refuge in the shore vaults. 

 The runways and channels, where the beaver have dragged trees, 

 may be hidden in snow and iced over; but the man and his dog 

 will presently find them. 



The beaver always chooses a stream deep enough not to be 

 frozen solid, and shallow enough for it to make a mud foundation 

 for the house without too much work. Besides, in a deep, swift 



