20 THE TRAPPER'S ART. 



PROPER OUTFIT OF TRAPS. 



In preparing for a trapping excursion, the novice naturally 

 inquires how many traps he shall take along. If the question 

 were simply how many traps he could tend, I should probably 

 say from one to two hundred. But the main question really 

 is, how many traps can he carry? If he is going on a marsh, 

 lake, or river, where he can travel by boat, or into a region 

 where he can carry his baggage by horse and wagon, he may 

 take along all the traps he can tend, — the more the better. 

 But if he is going by overland routes into the rough, woody 

 regions where most game abounds, and consequently must 

 carry his baggage on his back, he will probably find that 

 seventy-five small traps, or an equivalent weight of large and 

 small ones, will be as much as he will like to carry. 



PROFITS OF TRAPPING. 



The provident candidate for wood-craft will want to know 

 what wages a man is likely to make at trapping. I will give 

 him a few instances of what has been done, and then he may 

 judge for himself. I have cleared seven dollars per day for a 

 five weeks' trip. A man that once trapped with me, caught 

 fifty-three muskrats in one night, which at present prices 

 would be worth fifteen dollars and ninety cents. I know 

 several men in Jefferson county (New York), who paid for 

 good farms with furs that they caught within eight miles of 

 home. It is not uncommon for two men to make five hun- 

 di*ed dollars in a trapping season. But too much reliance 

 must not be placed on these specimens. Good weather, good 

 trapping-grounds, good traps, good judgment, and good luck 

 must be combined, to secure good profits. 



