4G6 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture , 1919. 



odors. Steel traps are cleaned by boiling them with twigs of 

 spruce, fir. hemlock, birch, or sassafras, whichever may be 

 at hand, or by burying them or leaving them in running 

 water for a day or two. After being cleaned they are han- 

 dled only with leather or waxed cotton gloves and are kept 

 in a clean bag or basket until set. 



Preparations for the trapping season go on continuously. 

 The breeding dens, hunting grounds, and peculiar habits 

 of the animals are studied at every opportunity. Tracks in 

 mud, dust, and snow, hair around burrows and on fences, 

 and droppings along unused trails and lumber roads show 

 where they range. 



In well-watered regions traps are frequently set in springs 

 which do not freeze over except in very cold weather. For 

 making a water set, a pool not less than -t feet wide is neces- 

 sary. Several weeks before the trapping season opens a 

 stone or turf is set in the pool, as a baiting place, about 2 

 feet, from the edge and slightly above the surface of the 

 water. Midway between it and the shore, mud from the 

 bottom of the pool, in which the trap is to be embedded, is 

 piled up nearly to the surface. By the time the trapping 

 season opens everything about the spring has assumed a 

 natural appearance. Then the trapper, walking in the bed 

 of the stream, proceeds to complete his set. He uses as a 

 bait part of a woodchuck, rabbit, muskrat, skunk, cat, or 

 fowl that has been kept out of the way of insects until it is 

 badly tainted. He sets a Xo. 2 or No. 3 trap in the place 

 prepared for it. and on the pan puts a piece of moss which 

 sets well above the water and covers most of the space within 

 the jaws of the trap. The trap chain is fastened to a stake 

 driven into the bottom of the pool or to a drag, consisting 

 of a stone or pole. The trapper must do all this without 

 leaving any telltale odors on the ground. 



In making a land set, the bed for the trap is made by 

 digging a hole in the ground barely large enough to con- 

 tain the trap, but deep enough for the stake and chain by 

 which it is fastened to be concealed beneath it. The earth 

 removed should be placed on a piece of cloth, and any of it 

 that is not used in covering the trap should be carried away. 

 In placing a trap in its bed care should be taken to have 

 it rest firmly all around so as not to give way under pres- 



