00-KOO-HOO'S EL DORADO 83 



still pursuing him. When the dog finally comes into view, the 

 fox changes his course, and the dog cuts the corner, and thus 

 the story ends in the usual way. 



OTHER WAYS OF TRAPPING 



As the methods of hunting the wolf, the marten, the lynx, 

 and the wolverine are founded on the various ways of trapping 

 the fox, a full description of how foxes are hunted may be of 

 interest. Then, too, the reader will be enabled to understand 

 more easily, without unnecessary repetition, the modes of 

 trapping other animals. My description, however, will apply 

 only to the hunting of the crafty coloured foxes of the forest, 

 and not to their stupid brethren of the Arctic coasts — the white 

 and the blue foxes. 



Of course, every Indian tribe believes its own manner of 

 hunting to be the master way, but it is conceded by experi- 

 enced fur- traders that the Ojibway method is the best. When 

 setting a fox trap in the winter time, the first thing an Ojibway 

 does is to jab into the snow, small end down, and in an upright 

 position, the clog or drag-pole. With his knife he then cuts 

 a hole in the snow exactly the size of the set trap, the plate 

 of which has already been daubed with mixed bait. In this 

 hole the trap is placed in such a position that it rests about 

 half an inch below the surface of the snow. A thin shield of 

 birch bark covers this, and then with a crane's wing the snow is 

 brushed over both trap and chain so that no sign remains. 

 Then in addition to the mixed bait, he plants about the spot 

 food bait, such as bits of rotten fish or duck. 



Most hunters have a regular system for setting their traps 

 so that they may know exactly where and how they are placed. 

 Usually he sets them east and west, then cutting a notch 

 on a branch — about a foot from the butt — he measures that 

 distance from the trap, and thrusts the branch into the snow 



