138 FUR FACTS 



How to Trap Foxes 



The following methods have been used by trappers long ex- 

 perienced in the trapping of fox and are given here as they were 

 written by the trappers themselves. All of these men are prize 

 whining trappers and have had years of experience trapping foxes. 



Winner of First Prize for Best Method of Trapping Fox 



"The fox is the most wily, sly and cunning of all wild animals to 

 trap, except the wolverine. To be successful in trapping the fox 

 the first thing to be done is to kill the odor of the traps. This may 

 be done by boiling them in hemlock-bough water, or sprinkling 

 them with blood, or burying them in the earth for two weeks, so 

 that all the odor of the iron has been absorbed, and the trap smells 

 like the earth. Soil is a common odor with the fox, for he is smelling 

 it all the time, and he will not smell the trap when this is done. 

 When the traps are taken from the ground, woolen gloves should 

 be used, well-rubbed with fresh dirt. 



There are two methods of trapping the fox, the land method and 

 the water method. 



The Land Method The natural food of the fox is mice and 

 rabbits. In the spring procure a glass jar that will hold one quart 

 (after being cleaned). Put into it the musk bag of a skunk and the 

 musk bag of two muskrats, and two field mice. Fill the jar half full 

 of skunk grease. Cork and hang by the side of a building until 

 Fall or the trapping season. This is one of the best scents for trap- 

 ping the fox, except the Funsten Animal Bait. In setting traps for 

 the fox, go where they are apt to travel. Nail bait to a tree, about 

 five feet above the ground. When setting traps, wear woolen shoes, 

 well-sprinkled with blood, over your leather shoes. Handle traps 

 with woolen gloves well-soaked in blood. Touch nothing with your 

 bare hands. Set traps two feet from the tree, bait with mice or small 

 pieces of rabbit; put a little of the above scent on the bait, cover 

 bait lightly. The fox in walking around the tree, trying to get the 

 bait from the tree, when he finds he can not, will try to get the bait 

 under the traps, and is very likely to be caught. 



Another method is to go to a field near the woods, drive a stake 

 in the ground one foot, with the top five feet from the ground, sharp- 

 ened at the top. On the sharp end of the stake hang a large jack 

 rabbit. Procure a basket of leaves or chaff and put around the stakes. 

 Set trap three feet from the stake. Cover lightly with the leaves, 

 put a mouse at each trap, sprinkle a little pure fox matrix on the 



