Trap-ping on the Farm. 



455 



or Xo. 3 uncovered steel trap, as these animals are quite 

 unwary. They may also be caught in traps set at the 

 entrances of their dens, which are often located in cliffs. 



Cottontail rabbits are frequently destructive to young- 

 fruit trees and garden truck. They may be caught in box 

 traps similar to the one shown in figures 2 and 3, baited 

 with sweet apple, carrot, or pumpkin, or they may be taken 

 in shelter traps, such as illustrated in figure 4. Where 

 rabbits are abundant, shelter traps are occupied by them 

 more or less regularly during the day. A dog trained to 



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Fig. 3. — Details of Construction of Rabbit Trap Shown in Figure 2. 



hunt rabbits will give warning when one is inside a trap. 

 To prevent the quarry's escape a stick with a disk at the 

 end of it may be thrust into the entrance, after which the 

 top of the trap may be opened and the animal caught in 

 the hand. The skins and flesh of trapped rabbits are supe- 

 rior to those of rabbits which have been shot. 



In many of the "Western States the rodent most destruc- 

 tive and most difficult to capture is the pocket gopher, 

 which spends most of its life underground. Owing to its 

 subterranean habits it has been found expedient to devise 

 special kinds of gopher traps (fig. 5) . In making its burrows 

 the gopher throws up on the surface of the ground the dirt 

 it excavates. The trapper, opening a fresh mound, sets a 

 gopher trap well within it and covers the opening behind 

 the trap with a piece of sod, or whatever may be at hand. 



