The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 1 3 5 



moose lay, that is to say its skeleton, for the wolves 

 had been hard at work all night, and had stripped 

 every ounce of flesh off the huge carcase. AH 

 round were the marks of their feet, and Pierre 

 chuckled as he set his traps baited with a piece of 

 singed moose flesh, and concealed them carefully 

 in the snow. The instruments used to capture the 

 wolf are powerful steel gins exactly resembling 

 those set by poachers and rat-catchers in England, 

 with the exception that they are toothless, and have 

 two springs in place of one. Wolves are so cunning 

 that the hunter generally lays two traps side by 

 side, one baited, the other entirely concealed in the 

 snow, so that whihit the wary animal is trying to 

 dislodge the tempting morsel without injury to 

 himself, he frequently steps upon the hidden danger 

 and finds himself caught by the leg. These traps 

 are each provided with an iron chain, to which the 

 trapper fastens a stout stick, and when the captive 

 drags the trap the stick hitches in the undergrowth, 

 and so far impedes his progress that the hunter has 

 little difficulty in tracking and killing him. If the 

 traps were fastened down, some of the animals, in 

 their anxiety to escape, would gnaw off their own 

 legs, and many instances are recorded of three- 

 legged foxes being seen at large, who had un- 

 doubtedly sacrificed a limb to gain their liberty. 



