Along some bluff there may be a score or perhaps a hundred dens, and to set a trap at each is out of the question, with the trapper who has an abundance of traps, as well as the one who has only a few. At such places it is best to set your traps where there are the most signs. Traps set here should be baited and the bait placed back in the den, beyond the trap.
FOX, WOLF OR COYOTE ON THE RUN.
It is not necessary to set traps in the dens to catch your game, altho that is considered one of the best places, for some animals have no certain dens, but hole up for the day, wherever daylight finds them. By this we mean they enter the first den they find. This being the case, trappers who know the locality, that is the feeding grounds of game, are most successful. Should you set your trap in the entrance to some den and no animal live there or pass that way there is no chance of being rewarded for the trouble.
As is well known, most fur-bearing animals are carnivorous, feeding on flesh, and the trapper who can locate the place, that is the hunting grounds of the game he is trapping, is usually successful. Along creeks in the mud and sand, look for mink and coon tracks. If they are found often, their dens are not far off. Both of these animals are much given to traveling along creeks and low swampy land and we have seen at such a place bait nailed to a tree, some two feet from the ground, and a trap nicely set just beneath it. The trap too, was set in the right place, for game was caught. It may be that in your trapping rounds you will come to a den where a rabbit or some bird has been devoured. Often you find that it has been eaten close to the entrance. Here is just the place to set your trap for if the animal is not now within it is apt to return.
The various sets made by trappers may be divided into three classes, known as land, water and snow sets, altho each can be varied to suit different cases. The land set is used for all land animals and includes sets made at dens in trails, paths, etc.