196 CANADIAN WILDS. 



approach in a trap, still the Indian trapper 

 never thinks of shooting, or hitting him with a 

 pole. On the contrary they fix a noosed cord 

 to a young sapling cut for the purpose, and 

 snare him from the length of the pole ; once over 

 his head they stand on the pole and let him 

 struggle till dead. This prevents blood from 

 being on the skin. A live bear in a steel trap 

 must be shot to make "a good bear of him." 



But the Indian trapper again uses his judg- 

 ment and waits till the first violent struggles 

 are over, and the bear somewhat quiet, then the 

 hunter takes careful aim and puts a bullet into 

 his ear, being always at pretty close range. The 

 ball passes clear thru the head, killing the bear 

 instantly and making a wound that bleeds pro- 

 fusely, so that when the skinning process takes 

 place, there is no blood in the body. The skin 

 is cut around the throat, skinned towards the 

 body and the head left as it is. However, this 

 is digressing from the subject at issue. 



The small animals I have mentioned when 

 caught with snow on the ground, are simply 

 walked on top of by the hunter's snowshoes; 

 once he is pinned down so that he cannot move, 

 the trapper slips his left hand under snowshoes 

 and secures the fox or whatever it is by the neck 

 with a tight grip of the thumb and fingers. 

 Then the snowshoe is withdrawn until it holds 



