38 The Skunk 



for this reason the January moon is called the " skunk- 

 moon." 



Late in the fall and to some extent through the 

 winter, it is the habit of the younger skunks to con- 

 gregate in one den, sometimes to the number of six. 

 The trappers take advantage of this and often very 

 easily secure several at a time. The manner of 

 capture is something like this: It is mid- January and 

 for two days the weather has been mild. The morning 

 of the third day is still warmer and a trapper remarks, 

 "Skunks must have run last night." He now re- 

 members the bait left some time ago in a piece of 

 woods well designed to harbor skunks. He revisits 

 the place with traps and a small axe, and finds in the 

 soft snow numerous lines of tracks, leading, singly 

 in most cases, in every direction. One of these he 

 follows, and within a quarter of a mile it terminates 

 at the entrance of a burrow. But this is not the only 

 track which ends here; there are at least three others 

 of the same kind. Four deadfalls are set near by 

 and baited with fresh meat, while in the entrance of 

 the burrow a trap is fixed. At three other burrows 

 deadfalls and traps are set in a similar manner. If 

 the weather continues warm, each trap must be visited 

 early the next morning, for if caught, the skunk is 

 likely to make his escape by amputating its leg. 



