
A trapped coyote 
HE main departure from the 
‘li plans outlined under the heading 
of mountain outfits arises from 
the transportation problem. Where the 
mountain trapper is compelled to walk 
almost entirely (save for a few in- 
stances where horses may be used), the 
plains trapper cranks up his flivver 
and rides like a king. 
In choosing a car for trapping pur- 
poses, a man should let his pocketbook 
be the chief guide, although a practical 
knowledge of automobiles will come in 
mighty handy when it comes to select- 
ing a used car. Most trappers will not 
care to put more than two or three 
hundred dollars into the transportation 
side of the game so we will assume that 
a light car is to be chosen. The par- 
ticular make of the auto selected is not 
so important as the peculiar condition 
of the machine. By that I mean a 
broken-down Packard isn’t as practical 
for our purpose as a carefully rebuilt 
Ford! If you don’t know an automo- 
bile from a washing-machine get a 
friend who does, to help pick one from 
the thousands on the used car market. 
You will want a good auto tent; one 
that can be left standing without the 
car to lean on. And you will need a 
good stove and some pipe for heating 
it, also a gas stove for use on the trail 
in places where it is not practical to 
build an open fire. Because you can 
move your complete outfit in the car, it 
is not necessary to carry more than one 
camp’s supply of blankets, cooking 
utensils and the like. 
HEREIN lies the practical demon- 
stration of the saving in auto trap- 
ping as compared to wilderness trap- 
ping. Often, through a previous sur- 
vey of the territory, the plains trapper 
will be able to locate abandoned shan- 
ties or cabins where he can put up in 
severe weather, thus avoiding the bleak 
tenting life. 
The auto trapper must know enough 
of the game (or he will mighty soon 
learn) to pack axe and cross-cut saw 
with him, shovel and tire chains, for it’s 
all in the day’s march to get stalled on 
an icy hill or stuck in snow and mud. 
One month’s experience in this most in- 
teresting of out-door 
sports will teach the 
tyro more than I could 
hope to with the limited 
space at hand. 
Modern Trapping 
Methods 
Outfitting, Continued 
Part 4 
By RAYMOND THOMPSON 
custom for trappers to have their outfit 
freighted to some water route and if 
the particular river be at all navigable, 
it is embarked upon and in the course of 
time the trapper lands fairly close to 
his chosen location for the winter. Of 
course these northern streams and 
lakes soon freeze over, 
but their usefulness as 
routes for traplines 
does not cease to exist 
by any means. Under 






favorable conditions a 


At first thought it 






may not seem justifia- 
ble to lay out a couple 
of hundreds in cold 
cash for a single item 
on the trapper’s outfit 
but the cost of a car is 
nothing in comparison 
to the opportunity it 
creates for money-mak- 
ing. The writer invest- 
ed considerably over a 
thousand dollars in a 
six-cylinder motor car 
to be used in our out-door work and 
we have never been sorry for this act. 
As I hinted previously, if YOU can 
trap coyotes in this western country, 
the expense of owning and maintaining 
a car is nothing. to be alarmed at. 
CONCERNING lake and stream trap- 
ping, a sixteen foot canoe will carry 
several hundred pounds of trapper and 
equipment IF loaded right, but for the 
amateur we recommend a flat-bottomed 
boat—it is safer. Experienced river- 
men can shoot mighty rough-looking 
waters in a canoe but such adventuring 
is not for the greenhorn. An outboard 
motor is inexpensive and where one 
does not have to do a great amount of 
back-packing (getting supplies to the 
stream or lake to be trapped) it is a 
good rig. 
Water travel is the cheapest in this 
world. In the north country it is a 

trapper can use _ ice 
skates for a time in 
late fall, but ordinarily 
the snow comes almost 
with the first heavy 
frosts, covering the ice 
as soon as it is formed. 
However, most  trap- 
pers are accustomed to 
the use of skiis, and 
the smooth surfaces of 
lakes and streams are 
ideal for such work. 
The woods which generally fringe the 
shores of lakes and rivers provide good 
trapping grounds. In a sense most 
streams might be called “road beds” to 
aid in carrying on the great fur traffic 
of the northland. Such rivers as the 
Athabasca, Peace, Findlay, Slave and 
Mackenzie, all belong to a system that 
has carried more men connected with 
the fur game than any other similar 
water route in the world. 
Outfitting for marsh trapping in- 
cludes such equipment as a boat (or 
canoe) wading boots, a hundred or 
more muskrat traps, stretchers (pref- 
erably steel), in addition to the general 
line of paraphenalia. 
REAL good location for marsh 
trapping calls for a great amount 
of hard work. The trapper makes the 
rounds usually twice a day, morning 
and evening, and if he gets a dozen or 
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