82 THE TRAPPER'S ART. 



THE BOW-STRETCHER. 



The most common way of treatins; the muskrat is to cut 

 off its feet wi-th a hatchet; and rip with a knife from between 

 the two teeth in the lower jaw, down the belly, about two 

 inches below where the fore-legs come out. Then the skin 

 is started by cutting around the lips, eyes, and ears, and is 

 stripped over the body, with the fur-sid6 inward. Finally a 

 stick of birch, water-beech, iron-wood, hickory, or elm, an 

 inch in diameter at the butt, and three feet and a half long, is 

 bent into the shape of an ox-bow and shoved into the skin, 

 which is drawn tight, and fastened by splitting down a sliver 

 in the bow, and drawing the skin of the lip into it. 



This method is too common to be easily abolished, and is 

 tolerable when circumstances make it necessary ; but the for- 

 mer method of stretching by a tapering board, in the case of 

 muskrats as well as other small animals, is much the best. 

 Skins treated in that way keep their proper shape, and pack 

 better than those stretched on bows, and in the long run 

 boards are more economical than bows, as a set of them can 

 be used many times, and will last several years ; whereas bows 

 are seldom used more than once, being generally broken in 

 taking out. 



THE HOOP-STRETCHER. 



The skins of large animals, such as the beaver and the bear, 

 are best dried by spreading them, at full size, in a hoop. For 

 this purpose, a stick of hickory or other flexible wood should 

 be cut, long enough to entirely surround the skin when bent. 

 (If a single stick long enough is not at hand, two smaller ones 

 can be spliced together.) The ends should be brought around, 

 lapped, and tied with a string or a withe of bark. The skin 

 should be taken from the animal by ripping from the lower 

 front teeth to the vent, and peeling around the lips, eyes, and 

 ears, but without ripping up the legs. It should then be 

 placed inside the hoop and fastened at opposite sides, with 

 twine or bark, till all loose parts are taken up, and the whole 

 stretched so that it is nearly round and as tight as a drum- 



