OTHER MEANS OF CAPTURING GAME.
General Remarks.--A trapper will never succeed, unless he thoroughly enters into the habits of life and mind of wild animals. He must ever bear in mind how suspicious they are; how quickly their eye is caught by unusual traces; and, lastly, how strong and enduring a taint is left by the human touch. Our own senses do not make us aware of what it is disagreeable enough to acknowledge, that the whole species of man yields a powerful and wide-spreading emanation, that is utterly disgusting and repulsive to every animal in its wild state. It requires some experience to realise this fact: a man must frequently have watched the heads of a herd of far distant animals, tossed up in alarm the moment that they catch his wind; he must have observed the tracks of animals--how, when they crossed his path of the preceding day, the beast that made the tracks has stopped, scrutinised, and shunned it--before he can believe what a Yahoo he is among the brute creation. No cleanliness of the individual seems to diminish this remarkable odour: indeed, the more civilised the man, the more subtle does it appear to be; the touch of a game-keeper scares less than that of the master, and the touch of a negro or bushman less than that of a traveller from Europe.
If a novice thinks he will trap successfully by such artless endeavours as putting a bait on the plate of a trap that is covered over with moss, or by digging a pitfall in the middle of a wild beast's track, he is utterly mistaken. The bait Should be thrown on the ground, and the trap placed on the way to it; then the animal's mind, being fixed on the meat, takes less heed of the footpath. Or a pitfall should be made near the main path; this being subsequently stopped by boughs, causes the animal to walk in the bushes, and to tumble into the covered hole. The slightest thing diverts an animal's step: watch a wild beast's path across a forest --little twigs and tufts of grass will be seen to have changed its course, and caused it to curve. It is in trifles of this sort that the trapper should look for auxiliaries. After setting traps, Mr. St. John recommends the use of a small branch of a tree; first, to smooth the ground, and then, having dipped it in water, to sprinkle the place: this entirely obliterates all foot-marks.
Springes.--General Remarks.--Harden the wood of which the mechanism has to be made, by means of fire; either baking it in hot sand or ashes, or otherwise applying heat to a degree just short of charring its surface. The mechanism will then retain the sharpness of its edges under a continuance of pressure, and during many hours of wet weather. The slighter the strain on the springe, the more delicately can its mechanism be set.
Nooses.--Catgut (which see) makes better nooses than string, because it is stiff enough to keep in shape when set: brass wife that has been heated red-hot, is excellent; for it has no tendency whatever to twist, and yet is perfectly pliable. Fish-hooks are sometimes attached to springes; sometimes a tree is bent down and a strong cord is used for the noose, by which large animals are strangled up in the air, as leopards are in Abyssinia. A noose may be set in any place where there is a run; it can be kept spread out, by thin rushes or twigs set crosswise in it. If the animal it is set for can gnaw, a heavy stone should be loosely propped up, which the animal in its struggles may set free, and by the weight of which it may be hung up and strangled. It is a very convenient plan for a traveller who has not time to look for runs, to make little hedges across a creek, or at right angles to a clump of trees, and to set his snares in gaps left in these artificial hedges. On the same principle, artificial islands of piles and faggots Are commonly made in lakes that are destitute of any real ones, in order that they may become a resort of wild-fowl.
Javelins.--Heavy poisoned javelins, hung over elephant and hippopotamus paths, and dropped on a catch being touched, after the manner of a springe, are used generally in Africa. They sometimes consist of a "sharp little assegai, or spike, most thoroughly poisoned, and stuck firmly into the end of a heavy block of thornwood, about four feet long and five inches in diameter. This formidable affair is suspended over the centre of a sea-cow path, at about thirty feet from the ground, by a bark cord, which passes over a high branch of a tree, and thence, by a peg, on one side of a path beneath." (Gordon Cumming.)
Trigger.--Where a trigger has to release a strong spring, an arrangement on the principle of a figure of 4 trap is, I believe, the most delicate; the standard may be a branch or the stock of a tree; and the other pieces should be hardened by fire.
Pitfalls.--Very small pitfalls, with sharpened stakes, planted inside them, that have been baked hard by the fire and well poisoned, are easily to be set, but they are very dangerous to man and beast. In preparing a pitfall for animals of prey, it is usual to ascertain whether they are deep enough, by putting in a large dog; if he cannot get out, it is very unlikely that any wild beast can. (See "Trous de loup," p. 312.)
Pitfalls are often dug in great numbers, near frequented watering-places, to which numerous intersecting paths lead: by stopping up particular paths, the pitfalls can be brought separately into use; therefore, those pitfalls need never be employed in which animals have been freshly killed, and where the smell of blood would scare the game. It is difficult to prevent the covers of pitfalls becoming hollow: the only way is to build the roofs in somewhat of an arch, so as to allow for subsidence. If a herd of animals be driven over pitfalls, some are sure to be pushed in, as the crush makes it impossible for the beasts, however wary, to pick their way.
Uganda Thorn-wreath.--Captain Grant found a very ingenious contrivance in use in Uganda, in Africa. Two small Stout hoops of equal diameter, made of wood fully an inch in thickness, were lashed one above the other; long acacia thorns were interposed, forming the spokes of a wheel of which the hoops formed the rim. The bases of the thorns were nipped between the hoops; and their points radiated towards the centre. A great many thorns were used, so that the appearance was that of a wheel without a nave, whose spokes were so close together that they touched each other, and, as thorns taper from base to point, the spokes touched one another along their whole length, from circumference to centre. This apparatus is always made with great neatness. It is laid over a hole 18 inches deep, dug in the beast's path, and the noose of a cord, of which the other end is secured to a log, is laid closely within the upper hoop. When the beast treads on the apparatus, he crashes through the thorns, but, on withdrawing his foot from the hole, the wreath clings to his fetlock like a ruff, and prevents the noose from slipping off. Thus there is time for the noose to become firmly jammed during the struggles of the beast. Of course, the trapper artfully bushes the path, so as to induce him to step full upon the trap. He sets a great many of them, and they require no looking after. The diameter of the hoops is made proportionate to the size of the beast for which they are intended. Six inches interior diameter was the size used for buffalo and hartebeest.
Traps.--Steel traps should never be tied fast, or the captured animal may struggle loose, or even gnaw off his leg. It is best to cut small bushes, and merely to secure the traps to their cut ends. Steel traps are of but little use to a traveller.
Hawks are trapped by selecting a bare tree, that stands in an open space: its top is sawn off level, and a trap is put upon it: the bait is laid somewhere near, on the ground: the bird is sure to visit the pole, either before or after he has fed.
Poison.--Savages frequently poison the water of drinking-places, and follow, capture, and eat the poisoned animals. Nux vomica or strychnine is a very dangerous poison to use, but it affords the best means of ridding a neighbourhood of noxious beasts and birds: if employed to kill beasts, put it in the belly; if, birds, in the eye, of the bait. Meat for killing Beasts should be set after nightfall; else the crows and other birds will be sure to find it out, and eat it up before the beasts have time to discover it. It would be unsafe to eat an animal killed with strychnine, on account of the deadliness of the poison.
The Swedes put fulminating-powder in a raw shankbone, and throw it down to the wolves; when one of these gnaws and crunches it, it blows his head to atoms.
Poisoned Bullets.--I take the following extract from 'Galignani's Messenger:'--"A new method of catching whales is now being tried with considerable success, science having contributed to its discovery. Our readers are well aware of the deadly effects of the Indian poison called wurare, or woorali, concerning which we have often had occasion to record the most interesting experiments, especially in mentioning the attempts made to use it as a specific for lockjaw, its peculiar action consisting in relaxing the muscular system. Strychnine is a poison producing the contrary effect, the excessive contraction of that system, or, in other words, tetanus, or lockjaw. It is a curious fact that by the conjunction of these two agents, so diametrically opposite in their effects, a poison is obtained that will kill almost instantly if only administered in the dose of half a milligramme per kilogramme of the animal to be subjected to its action, provided its weight do not exceed ten kilogrammes. If larger, the dose must be proportionally increased. M. Thiercelin, the inventor of this poison, composes it by mixing a salt of strychnine with one-twentieth of woorali. To apply it to whale fishing, he makes the compound up into cartridges of thirty grammes (an ounce) each, which is enough to kill an animal of 60,000 kilogrammes weight. Each cartridge is imbedded in the gunpowder contained in an explosive shell which is fired off on the whale. In a late whaling voyage ten whales received such missiles, and all died within from four to eighteen minutes after the infliction of the wound. Out of these ten whales, six were cut up for their blubber and whalebone. Their remains were handled by careless men, who frequently had scratches and sores on their skin, and yet not one of them suffered the slightest injury, a circumstance which Shows that the poison cannot be transmitted from the fish to the men. Its poisonous action on the whale is, however, so great that practically the dose will have to be diminished, so that the death of the creature may not be so sudden. We should not forget to state that two out of the ten whales above mentioned were lost by one of the many accidents incident to whaling, and that two others were of a kind that is not worth fishing for."
Poisoned Arrows.--Arrows are most readily poisoned by steeping a thread in the juice, and wrapping it round the barbs. Serpents' venom may always be used with effect.
Bird-lime can be made from the middle bark of most parasitic plants, that is to say, those that grow like mistletoe, out of the boughs of other trees. Holly and young elder shoots also afford it. The bark is boiled for seven or eight hours, till quite soft, and is then drained of its water and laid in heaps, in pits dug in the ground, where it is covered with stones and left for two or three weeks to ferment; but less time is required, if the weather be hot. It is watered from time to time, if necessary. In this way, it passes into a mucilaginous state; and is then pounded into a paste, washed in running water, and kneaded till it is free from dirt and chips. Lastly, it is left for four or five days in earthen vessels, to ferment and purify itself, when it becomes fit for use. It ought to be greenish, sour, gluey, stringy, and sticky. It becomes brittle when dry, and may be powdered; but, on being wetted, it becomes sticky again. (Ure's Dictionary.)
Vast flocks of birds frequent the scattered watering-places of dry countries at nightfall and at daybreak: by liming the sedges and bushes that grow about them, numbers of birds could be caught.
Crows may be killed by twisting up a piece of paper like an extinguisher, dropping a piece of meat in it, and smearing its sides with bird-lime. When the bird pokes his head in, his eyes are gummed up and blinded; and he towers upwards in the air, whence he soon falls down exhausted, and, it may be, dead with fright. (Lloyd.) Fish-hooks, baited with meat, are good to catch these sorts of birds.
Catching with the Hand.--Ducks.--We hear of Hindoos who, taking advantage of the many gourds floating on their waters, put one of them on their heads, and wade in among wild ducks; they pull them down, one after another, by their legs, under water; wring their necks, and tie them to their girdle. But in Australia, a swimmer binds grass and rushes, or weeds, round his head; and takes a long fishing-rod, with a slip noose working over the pliant twig that forms the last joint of the rod. When he comes near, he gently raises the end, and, putting the noose over the head of the bird, draws it under water to him. He thus catches one after another, and tucks the caught ones in his belt. A windy day is generally chosen, because the water is ruffled. (Eyre.)
Condors and Vultures are caught by spreading a raw ox-hide, under which a man creeps, with a piece of string in his hand, while one or two other men are posted in ambush close by, to give assistance at the proper moment. When the bird flies down upon the bait, his legs are seized by the man underneath the skin, and are tied within it, as in a bag. All his flapping is then useless; he cannot do mischief with his claws, and he is easily overpowered.
Bolas.--The bolas consists of three balls, composed either of lead or stone; two of them are heavy, but the third is rather lighter: they are fastened to long elastic strings, made of twisted sinews, and the ends of the strings are all tied together. The Indian holds the lightest of the three balls in his hand, and swings the two others in a wide circle above his head; then taking his aim, at the distance of about fifteen or twenty paces, he lets go the hand-ball; all the three balls whirl in a circle, and twine round the object aimed at. The aim is usually taken at the hind-legs of the animals, and, the cords twisted round them, they become firmly bound. It requires great skill and long practice to throw the boas dexterously, especially when on horseback. A novice in the art incurs the risk of dangerously hurting either himself or his horse, by not giving the balls the proper swing, or by letting go the hand-ball too soon. (Tschudi's 'Peru.')
Lasso.--It is useless that I should enter into details about making and wielding the lasso, for it is impossible to become Moderately adept in its use, without months of instruction and practice.
Hamstringing.--Animals are hamstrung by riding at them, armed with a sort of spear; the blade of which is fixed at right angles to the shaft, and has a cutting edge.
Hawking is a disappointing pursuit, owing to the frequent loss of hawks; and can hardly be carried on except in a hawking country, where the sportsman has a better chance than elsewhere, both of recovering and replacing them; it is impracticable except where the land is open and bare; and it is quite a science. There are some amateurs who will not hear a word of disparagement about their hawks, but the decided impression that I bear away with me from all I have learnt, is, that the birds are rarely affectionate or intelligent.