150 



THE GAME BREEDER 



mentally agreeing that, as his manner 

 suggested, truly he was "Monarch of all 

 he surveyed." 



I obtained a pair of deer from that 

 part of the country believing that the 

 natural conditions of our State of Ohio 

 were favorable for raising the animals. 

 Each year they have given me the 

 natural number of young, one fawn 

 from the two-year-old and two after- 

 wards. This year we were agreeably 

 surprised to find hidden in the long 

 grass two little spotted fawn from each 

 doe although not all due by age. Only 

 two of these lived for six weeks, at that 

 time dying within an hour of each other. 

 After this my three youngest and my 

 oldest buck died. I thought at the time 

 that my misfortune was perhaps due to 

 the lack of range for grazing purposes 

 and also lack of variety in food. I as- 

 certained later that a gentleman at Ur- 

 bana had a herd of fifty enclosed on a 

 few acres and had raised deer there for 

 several years without any trouble. 



I changed my deer recently to an en- 



closure having a larger variety of trees 

 and shrubbery. Previously to this time 

 I had never been able to get the deer to 

 approach a building but a few days after 

 they had been changed to their new 

 quarters, three of them entered a small 

 door, passed through several dark alleys 

 out into the barn and thence chose the 

 path of the prodigal. For a while great 

 excitement prevailed in the surrounding- 

 country over the strange appearance of 

 wild deer until it was generally known 

 that some of my deer were missing. Two 

 of these I was able to get back again. At 

 present I have Virginia does and a Fal- 

 low buck and would be glad to hear from 

 any reader who has crossed the two suc- 

 cessfully. I never heard of my escaped 

 deer being shot at, which proves to my 

 mind the theory that deer could be rais- 

 ed as profitably in Ohio as in Iowa. My 

 deer generally became poor in summer 

 and fattened after they had rubbed the 

 velvet off of their horns. This year the 

 buck instead of fattening- died. 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



Wild Duck Enemies. 



Editor Game Breeder : 



The party for whom you are seeking 

 instructions in catching snapping turtles 

 is, undoubtedly, raising ducklings. He 

 may know to a certainty that it is tur- 

 tles that are making havoc with his 

 brood. Large water snakes and eels are 

 both guilty of the same offense. I knew 

 of a party two years ago on the Mohawk 

 near Utica that missed many young- 

 ducklings or chickens. He laid it to 

 mink and sat up one night determined 

 to catch the marauder. The stillness was 

 broken soon by a rumpus in one of the 

 coops and to his surprise found a large 

 eel had one of the ducklings and was 

 making for the river in the damp grass. 

 He was finally rewarded by getting two 

 more eel- all on the same job. The coops 

 were several rods from the river. 



The steel trap for catching snapping 



turtles in my judgment would be our No. 

 12 Jump Trap, price 35 cents, plus post- 

 age on 19 ounces. The trap should be 

 set with the jaws running lengthwise of 

 the runway the turtle takes, and it is 

 well to put a twig or stake on either side 

 of the runway as seen in accompanying 

 sketch so as to avoid his passing over 

 the center of either jaw, as in such case 

 in springing the jaw has a tendency to 

 throw the animal out of the trap. The 

 trap should not be set in center of run- 

 way but at least three inches either side 

 of center as they travel wide. 



Turtles can also be caught with small 

 short stocky fish hooks with an eye in the 

 shank. Do not use copper wire, as a 

 large snapper will bite it off, but instead, 

 use fine steel wire. Bait with a small 

 fish. 



1 also enclose a sketch of a home- 

 made trap which speaks for itself. 



M. T. Newhouse. 



