60 
FOREST AND 
STREAM 
February, 1921 
MEMORIES OF OLD TRAPPING DAYS 
THE SUCCESSFUL TRAPPER CAREFULLY STUDIES THE HABITS AND 
MODES OF LIVING OF THE FUR-BEARERS HE CONTEMPLATES CATCHING 
V ERY 7 timorous indeed, is the man 
who has not, sometime in his life, 
gone out into the open, along the 
streams, mountains and valleys in 
search of game. The enticing voice of 
nature in all her alluring wiles calls, 
and he has but to respond. This primi- 
tive instinct is born in man from the 
inception of time and is ever predomi- 
nant. 
We easily recall the times when we 
“sneaked” Dad’s old blunderbuss and 
hiked away from the house with a dog 
as our only companion — a hunter. Or 
with a can of worms, a willow pole, pin 
and piece of string as our tackle outfit, 
made down the long dusty road for the 
old sucker hole in Skin-o-hollow creek. 
And when we came home, in trepida- 
tion, bare footed, stone bruised, dirty, 
with clothes torn and tried to sneak in 
the back way from Dad, how he met us 
at the woodshed. We expected a thrash- 
ing and we were perfectly willing to 
take one; the fun had been well worth 
it. We whimpered, but Dad did not 
wallop us. We perceived a far-away 
look in his eyes — a strange softening, 
like bright sunlight on a cloudy day 
overspread his face, and with a hasty 
reprimand, he sent us blubbering and 
without supper to bed. Dear old Dad, 
his load was heavy those days — we 
know now. Then there were the many 
expeditions to the woods and fields car- 
rying a bundle of traps over our backs, 
painstakingly distributing them in like- 
ly looking spots, sprinkling the bait 
with anise oil, perhaps, for a lure. 
Oh, yes! Tfye trapping days, how 
vividly they confront us! We recall 
with keen satisfaction our luck, more 
forcibly perhaps, because of the 
clothes, new gun or some long-cher- 
ished present we had purchased for 
ourselves with the money obtained 
from selling the fur. And the Lord 
knows we needed the money to use in 
so many different ways. 
We read in a vague way of the rich- 
ness of the Hudson’s Bay Company of 
Canada and suppose that most of our 
furs come from the wilds of that coun- 
try, trapped by the Indians and French 
Canadians who make trapping their 
vocation. However, this is not the case, 
for in the United States are men and 
boys who trap at certain seasons of the 
year, but on account of restrictions or 
scarcity of the game in their respective 
localities the business as applied to 
them would more properly be termed 
their avocation; nevertheless their 
catch of furs is enormous each year. 
The person who purchases his first 
dozen steel traps to try out the sport, 
and does not have much success, usual- 
ly gives it up, but the person who starts 
out determined to succeed, and does not 
let failure the first year discourage him, 
but continues the next year, getting 
By RAY W. WOOD 
more traps, generally is rewarded by 
more or less success. For the trapping 
game is similar to any other, in that it 
takes perseverance to win. 
T HE young trapper must not expect 
to catch all the game the first 
year. It takes experience, so he 
must not be discouraged. The next sea- 
son he ought to do better, if he studies 
the game that inhabits his locality. It is 
essential to learn the habits and modes 
of living of the fur-bearing animals he 
contemplates catching. 
It is a mistake at first to place too 
The author on his trapping ground 
many traps out; put out just enough 
so you can look after them handily. 
Should you dwell on a farm maybe you 
will confine your trapping to your own 
land at first, extending the lines as the 
catch warrants. It is much better to 
set twenty-five traps judiciously, keep- 
ing them well baited and looking after 
them right than to have seventy-five 
placed indifferently over larger terri- 
tory and not visiting the line often. 
During the writer’s experience in 
trapping he has found the fox to be the 
hardest animal to catch. For down- 
right cunningness and meanness, Rey- 
nard is unquestionably in a class of his 
own. This animal at present is probably 
hunted with hounds more than it is 
trapped, furnishing sport for hunters 
in many parts of the country. On days 
when the fox is inclined to circle on its 
runways the hunter stations himself at 
some advantageous location for a shot. 
In England and some localities in this 
country, annual fox hunts are held; the 
hunters following the hounds on horse- 
back. There are no set rules to adhere 
to in going after a fox. He may be 
caught sometimes as easily as a rabbit. 
Then, again, he’s very elusive; but, 
above all, try not to be surpised at any- 
thing this animal may do. 
One time in the summer I happened 
to run across a nest of two 'young foxes, 
about half grown, in an old hollow tree. 
I took the whelps home and made a 
strong cage to keep them in, using 
planks for the floor, and I put a strip 
of galvanized iron two feet up the sides, 
then inch wire mesh to the top. I 
placed metal collars around their necks 
with heavy dog chains attached, fasten- 
ing the chains securely to rings in the 
floor. I guess I kept them in captivity 
for a month and thought I had them 
permanently. 
Every night, on the wooded hills back 
of the farm, I heard the old fox call to 
its young, and one morning, going out 
to care for them as usual, I was sur- 
prised to find the cage empty. In some 
manner they had neatly slipped their 
collars and gotten out. Examining the 
cage and traces I found the collars in- 
tact hanging to the chains and I dis- 
covered a small furrow-like hole in one 
corner of the cage; but I looked with 
skepticism on the theory that they had 
gained their freedom via this small 
opening, and I credited the old fox with 
having a hand in the break-away. 
A BOUT the most unique method I 
ever knew of trying to trap a fox 
was once when a man placed a 
rooster and hen in a dry-goods box, 
nailing board slats on one side of the 
box and taking it to some woods which 
he knew foxes inhabited. He covered 
the ground all around with traps, con- 
cealing them with leaves. He figured 
that the rooster would crow early in the 
morning and draw the foxes. The ruse 
evidently worked, for when he went to 
the spot the next day the box and traps 
were there but no fowl or foxes. 
A practical method used successfully 
to trap foxes is to set the traps in moss 
on the runways, embedding them in the 
moss and covering them with wet 
leaves. Wear gloves on hands, and be 
careful not to leave any foot-prints 
nearby. In fact, the trapper should use 
precaution to leave as little human 
scent behind him as possible, especially 
when making sets for the fox, as it is 
the human scent they fear and are 
wary of. 
A piece of roasted cheese is good bait 
for a fox. One trapper used to make a 
bed of wood ashes, surrounded by sev- 
eral smaller beds. He placed scraps of 
meat in the beds, gradually enticing 
them to eat the meat in the smaller 
beds until they ventured to the bait in 
