A small box about the size of a cracker-or soap-box should be procured for the making of this trap. Remove one end, and, after nailing it to the cover boards, hinge the latter to the end of the box, as shown in the illustrations ([Figs. 217 and 218]). With no hinges at hand, the writer has found several nails driven through the ends of the cover boards sufficient to hold the cover while opening and closing it. Bore two holes, one over the other, in the back of the box, and cut out the space between. This makes a rectangular slot (see D in [Fig. 218]). When this has been done, take a stick about eighteen inches long, and, after tapering one end, nail it to the box cover, allowing the tapered end to project about nine inches. Then prepare a trigger twelve inches long, similar to [Fig. 219].
Figs. 217-219.—A Box Trap.
The trap is now ready to set, which is done by slipping the trigger into the slot at D and, after baiting it at C, catching the notch B on to the box at the top of the slot, at the same time fitting stick E into the notch at A (see cross section, [Fig. 218]). The weight of the cover will now hold the trigger in place until "bunny," or some one of his neighbors, attacks the inviting bait. Then the trigger will loosen its hold at B, and cause the cover to fall over the intruder. A few holes may be bored in the side of the box for ventilation, but these, as well as the slot in the back, should be protected with tin, to prevent your captive from gnawing the openings large enough to escape.
The Dead Fall is a trap commonly used for skunks, minks, muskrats, and coons, and probably cannot be excelled as a means of killing off destructive and annoying animals. [Figure 220] shows a form of this trap which has been successfully employed.
First make a pen out of stakes driven well into the ground in the form of a wigwam. This is a guard for the bait, and should be open on one side only, as shown in the [illustration].
Place a short log in front of the opening, and at both ends of this drive a stake against the outer face of the log, as shown in the drawing. Then procure a log of the same diameter, and about six feet long, and slip it between these stakes and the wigwam, so it falls upon the first log. Cut a forked stick about twelve inches long for the bait-stick, notching one end and tapering the other, as shown in [Fig. 221], and cut another stick twenty-four inches long and flatten it at both ends.
