32 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER, 



catch a mink or coon with the entrails. He consented to do so 

 and after we had taken out the entrails Mr. Harris noticed a fine 

 place to catch a fox or some other animal and pointed to a large 

 tree that had fallen across the stream. 



The tree had broken in two at the bank, on the side of the 

 stream where we were. The water had swung the trunk of the 

 tree down the stream until there was a space of three or four 

 feet between the end of the tree and the bank. Mr. Harris took 

 a part of the offal from the deer and carried it across to the 

 opposite bank and placed the remainder on the side where we were. 

 He then placed an old limb for a drag to the trap at the place 

 where he wanted to set the trap. As we had no traps with us we 

 went to camp and early the next morning we took two traps and 

 went to this place and set them. 



We put in that day finishing the camp, putting in the door 

 and fixing the chimney to the fireplace and calking all the cracks 

 between the logs and mudded tight between the logs and all the 

 joints. Now the camp being completed we began setting the bear 

 traps. The old horse was taken onto a chestnut ridge and shot, 

 cut up into small pieces suitable for bear bait, and hung up in 

 small saplings such as we could bend down. After the bait was 

 fastened to the tree we let it spring up so as to keep it out of 

 the reach of any animal until we had a trap set. 



The way Mr. Harris set a bear trap was to build a V shaped 

 pen about three feet long and about the same in height, place the 

 bait in the back end of the pen and set the trap in the entrance. 

 We had eleven bear traps and after they were all set on different 

 ridges where bears were most likely to travel, we began the work 

 of setting the small traps which was not a long job, as we had 

 only about forty. 



The next morning Mr. Harris said .that I had better go down 

 and see if the traps we had set had been disturbed and he said 

 that he would rest while 1 was gone. 



When I came in sight of the traps I could see a fox bound- 

 ing around in one of the traps. I could see on looking at the trap 

 we had placed across the creek that the drag had been moved 

 closer to the log but I could see nothing moving. I cut a stick 



