276 Practical Game Preserving. 



more serviceable than any other kind. There are some 

 traps which are made with an iron stake attached to them, 

 but they are not at all reliable, and although they save a 

 good deal of trouble, they offer exceedingly little resistance, 

 and often give no hold at all. In every case the wooden 

 ones, as described, will prove more reliable in fact, the 

 best that can be obtained. It will be also necessary to 

 have a fairly heavy hammer, with the flat head drawn out 

 something like a small hoe. This will be found indispen- 

 sable when vermin trapping, for a good many places occur 

 where the gin could not be set without. The most exten- 

 sive experience in setting traps of all kinds never warrants 

 one in becoming slovenly. To get one's hand pinched 

 in a gin is by no means a pleasant circumstance, and 

 should a single ringer get fairly in between the jaws, it is 

 many chances to one that the finger will be broken, or, if 

 not broken, nipped in so unceremonious a manner that 

 the remembrance of it will not be among the "pleasant 

 reminiscences " we often indulge in. To obviate any risk 

 of such a disagreeable occurrence, one cannot set the trap 

 in an easier and safer manner than as follows : Grasp 

 the gin over the spring as near to the jaws as possible, 

 and place the trap on the left knee (which should be 

 slightly bent). This will give one complete power over the 

 spring. Press this down as low as it will go, thus permitting 

 the jaws to be laid open with the thumb and first finger 

 of the left hand, and these, of course, keep as near the 

 outside of the jaws as possible. Then, with the middle 

 finger of the left hand, press the flap over the jaws and 

 push the plate up from underneath with the third or fourth 



