FUR FACTS 281 



But a miss is as good as a mile and I suppose the animal was some- 

 where in the vicinity laughing at me and enjoying my disappointment. 

 He had played about on the log as usual and even had blundered 

 into the jaws of what should have been death eventually, but had 

 escaped. The fact that he had escaped was evident beyond doubt, 

 but I was now more anxious than ever to catch him. 



I will not detail the various methods I adopted in an effort to 

 catch him. Bait sets, water sets, land sets everything was tried 

 and found wanting in this case. The old pelt was still as safe from 

 my clutches as if it had never been. All the sage teachings of my 

 uncle in regard to trapping were brought to bear upon the situation 

 without avail. For a time I ceased operation near the fallen log and 

 devoted my attention to my line in general. All my traps were not 

 set, but there were at least a hundred in operation and the catches 

 from these gave me all the work I was able to attend to. 



In a few days I found where the old coon had entered a large 

 hollow log. I knew he was in there because I had chased him in. 

 He had seen me approaching and as this retreat appeared to be the 

 only available one, he had used it as any sensible coon would have 

 done. Realizing that he would have to come out sometime I decided 

 not to smoke or drive him out by other means, so I placed two traps 

 at each end of the log, one about where he would naturally step on 

 when making his exit and another a little farther away and straight 

 ahead. Then I left. 



This set was his nemesis. The next morning when I arrived at 

 the spot he was hopelessly caught by his hind foot in one of the traps 

 set farther away from the mouth of the log. He was a whale of a 

 fellow arid I am sure would have been fully a match for a good dog. 

 At my approach his strength seemed doubled. He tore at the chain 

 but it was only for an instant. In a brief time I returned to camp 

 with the biggest coon I had ever seen. His pelt was rather coarse 

 but I cared little for that. I had outwitted him after more futile 

 attempts at capture than I had ever previously made. Some of the 

 meat was cooked but I found it tough and unpalatable. To be good 

 a coon must be young else the gravy will be the only tender part of 

 the creature. 



At times mink can be very aggravating. Their almost uncanny 

 sense of smell will often detect the presence of a man if no evidence 

 of his handiwork is visible. For this reason it is vitally important 

 to use care when in mink territory and especially when making sets 

 for the animal. I always wore gloves dipped in blood if possible. 



