72 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



ing my course as much as possible so as to tend to my traps. I 

 killed a deer occasionally as did the other boys. I set the two 

 steel traps on the drift where I had seen the otter signs, and the 

 second time I looked at them I found an otter tangled up in one 

 of the traps. 



I was also getting mink, marten and coon now and then, and 

 occasionally I would get two mink or marten in one day. I would 

 cut a long slender withe to stretch the skins over, bending them 

 in the form of a stretching board the best I could and hang the 

 pelts in the old elm tree and kept mum. I remembered the old 

 adage, "he that laughs last, laughs best," and was bound to have 

 the last laugh. 



One night Will came in and said that a bear had eaten up 

 the offal where he had dressed a deer. I asked him if he was 

 going to set a trap for him, and he said that he had no trap to 

 set. I told him to build a deadfall. Will said that I could have 

 that job if I wanted it. I told him all right if he would tell me 

 .where to find the place. He said that he would go with me in the 

 morning and show me. In' the morning I took the best axe, some 

 bait and went with Will to the place where the bear had eaten 

 the offal. We saw that the bear had been back there during the 

 night and cleaned up the remains left the previous night. 



I selected a good sized beech tree, where I could fell it so 

 that I could cut a piece from the butt for the bottom piece and 

 have the remainder of the tree come so that I could use a small tree 

 for one of the stakes or posts. When I pulled off my- coat and 

 began chopping on the tree Will gave me the. laugh again, and said 

 that I had more days' work in me than brains, or something to 

 that effect. 



It was my intention to get the trap all ready and then get one 

 of the boys to help me set it. I got the trap done and saw that 

 by using a long lever or pry I could set the trap without the aid 

 of another. With the pry I raised the dead piece up as high as 

 I wanted it. Then tied the lever to a sapling to hold the dead 

 log in place, using the figure four trigger. I placed a bit of log 

 in the bait pen to rest the bait spindle on. I then placed the trig- 

 ger in place and pressed them between the logs to steady them 



