74 BEAVER 



or ten yards' range, often much closer, unless the 

 animal was on land. In shooting beyond that dis- 

 tance, one is apt to only wound it, when it will 

 dive and seldom be recovered. If you do happen 

 to kill one there is danger of it sinking before you 

 can reach it, as about twenty per cent will do that 

 if killed stone dead. When shot in salt water, 

 as happens now and then in the spring, they never 

 sink. Chiselling or trenching beaver should 

 never be resorted to unless in a case of necessity, 

 or where one wishes to secure them alive. Wher- 

 ever this is practiced to any extent, it has proved 

 more injurious than any other mode of trapping. 

 Where a lake has been trenched it will take years 

 before it is again occupied. At least this is my 

 experience. Twenty-five years ago I wrote for 

 "Forest and Stream" an article on "Chiselling 

 beaver." Sensible trappers who resort to the 

 same tract of country year after year, never 

 trench beaver, or trap or shoot the young ones, 

 except if necessary for food. They trap the old 

 ones by placing the trap deep under water and 

 using larger trees for the bait. As soon as that 

 is accomplished the traps are removed and the 

 others left undisturbed. The next season the 

 probabilities are they will be found in the same 

 place. By doing this I have had beaver occupy 

 the same lake six or seven years in succession. 

 When we consider that a full grown beaver is 



