HUNTING AND TRAPPING IN CAMERON COUNTY. 



147 



Well, to get back to the trap line. We took the Baley waters 

 first. This was about six miles from camp, and as it was still a 

 little earlier in the season than we cared to begin to take fur, we 

 would build the deadfalls and have them ready to set when we 

 thought that fur was ripe enough to begin to gather. Bill used a 

 good heavy axe, and would cut the dead pole and bed pieces and the 

 stakes and fit them all ready to put up. He would then go on and 

 select a place to build another trap and get the material all ready as 

 before and then move on to the next place. I would follow him 

 up and build the trap, make the bait pen and have the trap all 

 ready to set when the right time came. The triggers we would 

 make evenings in camp. We always used the three-stick trigger, 

 for then we could adjust the trigger so that we were sure that the 

 front legs of the animal were over the bed piece, when the trap 

 was sprung. In that condition there was not get-away for the 

 animal that tried to snip the bait. We would build traps on one 

 stream until we had a plenty for that stream. We would take up 

 another and put in a supply on that stream, and so on until we 

 had gone over as much ground as we could work to good advantage. 



All the time we were putting up these deadfalls we were keep- 

 ing a watch out for likely places to set our steel traps for fox and 

 other animals. After we had gone over the streams we built the 

 necessary deadfalls in the dark, heavy timbered sections where we 

 thought likely that there might be marten. As it was now well 

 along toward the last of October, we set our bear traps on the 

 different ridges in the sections where the chestnut timber was the 

 most plenty. The chestnut crop was good and we knew that the 

 first hard freeze would open the burs. Bill said we got to get a 

 move on us from early in the morning until after dark when we 

 would get into camp. We wished to get all the traps out now 

 that we could. Later we were going to put in some time gathering 

 chestnuts, as soon as they began to fall, as there was good money 

 in gathering them. At this business there was lively competition 

 with the squirrels, coons, bears and other animals to see which 

 could gather the most, so naturally there is but a few days good 

 picking after the chestnuts fall. 



Bill said that we would be in a deal while the nuts lasted and 



