PREFACE. 



In giving tliis little work to the public, I do it with 

 considerable delicacy, knowing my inability to write for 

 others to read, as I have never studied these things. 



I am a blacksmith by trade, but when I was a boy I be- 

 came fond of a gun and a trap, and my first success in 

 my shop was to make a steel trap. It was my aim to be- 

 come an expert traj^per, and I tried my hand at catching 

 foxes. 



Many a dollar have I paid to cunning old men to leara 

 the art, and I have succeeded pretty well, too; but why 

 has not some man of experience written a book explaining 

 the art of successfully trapping the different kinds of fur 

 animals ? 



I am old, but the thing is in me yet, and I love to catcli 

 the mink, and the otter, and tlie ring-tailed coon, and to 

 bring down a big horned buck and dress his hide to make 

 mittens and gloves ; and I propose to tell the boys how 

 to do it. Old men, too, may learn something from me, 

 for I have learned a little here and a little there ; and have 

 studied out some tilings for myself, and have bought piles 

 of recipes, — some of them worthies^;, sure enough. 



