134 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



rear. It was built in conjunction with two standing trees that 

 formed the two corner posts retaining the huge drop-log. The 

 front of the big trap was left quite open, save for the drop-log 

 that crossed it obliquely. While the thin end of the log was 

 staked to the ground, the thick end, loaded with a platform 

 weighted with stones, projected beyond the far side of the trap 

 at a height of about five feet from the ground. It was ready 

 to fall and crush any unlucky creature that might venture 

 in and touch the bait-trigger. Whatever the drop-log might 

 fall upon, it would hold as though in a vise, and if the bear 

 were not already dead when the hunter should arrive, he would 

 take care to shoot the animal in the head before removing the 

 drop-log. 



Snares are also set for bears, and the best of them are made 

 of twenty strands of babiche twisted into the form of a 

 rope. The loop is set about eighteen inches in diameter, and is 

 attached to either a spring-pole or a tossing-pole — or, more 

 correctly speaking, a tree sufficiently large to raise and support 

 the weight of the bear. Sometimes a guiding-pole is used in 

 connection with a snare. One end is planted in the ground in 

 the centre of the path and the other, slanting up toward the 

 snare, is used as a guide toward the loop, since a bear walking 

 forward would straddle the pole. In a further effort to getting 

 the animal's head in the right place, the hunter smears the 

 upper end of the pole with syrup. 



Another wooden trap is that of the stump and wedge. It 

 is made by chopping down a tree of not less than half a foot in 

 diameter, so that a stump is left about six feet high. The 

 stump is then split, and a long, tapering wedge, well greased, is 

 driven in, and upon it is smeared a coating of syrup or honey 

 as a bait. The bear will not only try to lick off the bait, but in 

 his eagerness to pull out the wedge and lick it, too, will spring 

 the trap and find a paw caught between the closing stump. 

 Also, the Indians sometimes use a stage from the top of which 



