NOTES OF A HUNTER. 115 



by wrapping them in fresh hemlock boughs ; in twenty-four 

 hours they will be cleansed. They should be left out at 

 night. I have known many who preferred the smell of the 

 skunk to that of the musquash. As to eating a skunk, if 

 other game is not to be had, I should not be fastidious. A 

 skunk properly dressed and cooked is good eating. 



Some think the flesh of the woodchuck or " ground- 

 hog " excellent, especially in the fall. He should be care- 

 fully skinned and cleaned immediately after death. Some 

 dark strips of granular, brown fat, which lie along the inside 

 of the animal's legs, should be carefully cut away, or the 

 flesh will be spoilt. I have at times found the woodchuck 

 up a tree, almost always in iron-wood trees. It is hard to 

 dislodge them ; they hold on like grim death, and cannot be 

 shaken loose. What induces them to climb I cannot tell ; 

 they never appear to have any thing to do there. They get 

 up amongst the small branches, and much resemble a knot or 

 " bunch " of the wood. Their color also corresponds well 

 with the bark of the iron-wood, and renders it difficult to 

 detect them. I have been informed that they will climb hol- 

 low trees at times to escape pursuit, and that it is almost im- 

 possible to dislodge them by manual force. The rabbit, also 

 an animal which from its peculiar conformation would not 

 be suspected of climbing has frequently been found in the 

 hollows of trees. It is supposed to climb like the old 

 chimney-sweeps, being found with its back braced against 

 the side of the hollow. By rabbit, I mean the small brown 

 hare peculiar to this country. Their habits are similar to 

 those of the great white or northern hare. They will 

 sometimes inhabit a deserted woodchuck hole. 



For deer and moose though I do not believe in trapping 

 these animals except for food I consider the brush fence, 

 noose and spring-pole the best method of catching them. A 

 rope is the most simple and portable trap, and it is always 

 useful. The Indians have a method of calling the moose 

 with a horn of birch bark, producing a sound resembling the 

 lowing of the cow, alluring the bull to destruction. 



As to " life in the woods " the old Cromwellian motto, 



