WILD ANIMALS AND MEN 209 



aU the while carrying the trap with him. Then, descending to 

 the ground, he may travel for a considerable distance before 

 eventually burying the trap. I have known him even leave a 

 trap in a tree, but in that case it was not done from design, for 

 signs proved that the chain had been caught upon a branch." 



"How many wolverines," I asked, "do you suppose are caus- 

 ing all the trouble on your and Amik's trapping paths .'^" 



"Only one, my son, for even one wolverine can destroy traps 

 and game for twenty or thirty miles around; and the reason 

 the brute is so persistent in following a hunter's fur path is 

 that it usually affords the wolverine an abundance of food. 

 Then, when the hunter finds the brute is bent on steady mis- 

 chief, it is time for him to turn from aU other work and hunt 

 the thief. If at first steel traps fail, he may build special dead- 

 falls, often only as decoys round which to set, unseen, more steel 

 traps in wait for the marauder. 



"If a hunter stiU fails, he may sit up all night in wait for 

 the robber, knowing that the more stormy the night, the 

 better his chance of shooting the brute. Sometimes, too, I 

 have found a wolverine so hard to catch that I have resorted 

 to setting traps in the ashes of my dead fires, or beneath the 

 brush I have used for my bed, while camping upon my trap- 

 ping path." Then he added with a twinkle about his eye and a 

 shake of his finger : "But, my son, I have another way and I am 

 going to try it before the moon grows much older." 



I asked him to explain, but he only laughed knowingly, so I 

 turned the subject by asking: 



"Does an animal ever eat the bait after it is caught .»^" 



"No, my son, no animal ever does that, not even if it be 

 starving, but it may eat snow to quench its thirst. Animals, 

 however, do not often starve to death when caught in traps, 

 but if the weather be very severe, they may freeze in a single 

 night. If, however, the beast is still ahve when the hunter 

 arrives, the prisoner will in most cases feign death in the hope 



