HOW TRAPS ARE SET 189 



the foxes taken was there caught. In those 

 cases the traps were not set at the carcass, but 

 some distance away, where the foxes would circle 

 suspiciously before daring to approach this quarry. 



Traps for Marten were set in the forest at the 

 foot of dark spruce and pine trees. Gullfoot's 

 method was to make there a tiny enclosure which 

 in plan was like a U lying on its side, the bottom 

 of the U being the tree trunk, and two little 

 palisades forming the sides made with closely 

 set upright stakes stuck into the snow. As 

 in the top of a U, there then remained an opening : 

 and there the trap — a single-spring No. — was 

 set just within the entrance, while beyond the 

 trap, inside, next the tree trunk, was placed a 

 fish head pegged down with a stick : to reach 

 this bait any animal desiring it must pass over 

 the trap. Over the top of the palisade ; to 

 shelter the trap from snow, and the bait from the 

 eyes of the thieving Canada Jay, a number of 

 spruce boughs were laid, and covered with snow 

 to resemble the surroundings. Footprints were 

 then carefully obliterated for some distance as we 

 retraced our steps, and the set was then complete. 



Mink-traps were often set in much the same 

 manner, but in very different surroundings ; 

 the chosen situations being about the overhang- 

 ing banks of narrows between lakes, or of frozen 

 streams, for those animals frequent the neighbour- 

 hood of water. In some cases Mink-traps were 

 set in naturally formed narrow runways at the 

 bottom of a bank, along which a small animal 

 was almost sure to pass if it came that way. 

 Such sets were unbaited. 

 14 



