260 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



avoid catching our neighbor's cats and dogs. If by mistake we 

 should catch a neighbor's cat, in freezing weather, and the cat's 

 foot is frozen, kill the poor thing at once and don't let it out to 

 remain a poor cripple the remainder of its life. And say, boys, 

 don't you think it would be a good idea to get the consent of the 

 farmers to allow you to set traps on their premises, wherever you 

 can do so? And don't you think it would be best to be very 

 careful to not break down the farmer's fences and leave their 

 bars and gates open when we pass through them tending our 

 traps? In fact, we should be very careful and do as little damage 

 as possible, for you know we trappers are not true sportsmen. 

 The true sportsman can buy or lease lands and have their private 

 game preserves, so let us try to keep on the right side of the 

 farmer or there will soon be a time when we will have no place 

 to set our traps. 



* * * 



Certain game club men who are headed by a certain M. D. are 

 circulating a petition to both branches of the Legislature and 

 the Governor, to have a law passed to abolish bear trapping in 

 Pennsylvania. This M. D.'s excuse is a plea of humanity, claim- 

 ing that many bear are caught and allowed to remain in the trap 

 until the bear gnaws or twists off his foot and often the bear 

 is caught the second time and another is taken off, when the 

 bear is destined to go through life on two feet. Now in all of 

 my more than fifty years of bear trapping, I have never known 

 a bear to gnaw his foot in the least degree. Neither have I had 

 a bear twist off his foot when caught in a trap that has a 

 spread of jaws no larger than 12 inches, which will catch a 

 bear through the thick of a foot. The Newhouse No. 5 bear 

 trap which is the most common trap used in bear trapping, has 

 a spread of jaws of 11^ inches. 



The law which is now (1910) in force in this state provided 

 that a bear trap must be looked to at least every forty-eight hours. 

 Under these conditions, there is no danger of a bear twisting off a 

 foot. It is true that if a trap is used with a grasp high enough 

 to catch above the foot and the bear is allowed to remain in the 

 trap for a long time, they will sometimes twist off a foot. 



