SOME USEFUL TRAPS
Alongside of their pond on a level spot contrive another trap (Fig. 9) in the following manner:
Take a flat stick, about two inches wide, lay it on the ground, and close to one end drive an upright stake on each side. Let them stand some six inches high. Then, beginning close to the two stakes, lay a two-foot stick at right angles, its end resting on the first one. Alongside of this lay another stick a little shorter, continuing thus, and making each successive stick shorter, until the end of the sticks is reached, thus forming a three-cornered platform, which is then weighted with heavy stones. Construct a figure 4 (Fig. 9 A) out of sticks as thick as one’s finger, making the bait-stick eighteen or twenty inches long. Set the figure 4 under the platform at the very end of the stick, the bait-stick passing between the upright stakes. Bait with a carrot, a parsnip, apple, etc., and a rat should be there in the morning.
If the trap does not lie flat on the ground place sticks under it. This same trap, baited with a fowl’s head or a bird or meat, is also useful as a skunk-trap, being placed in the woods near their burrows.
The mink is another common animal, and it is found by almost every brook-side. It is a great traveller, following the stream, feeding upon fish, and picking up a bird or mouse whenever opportunity affords. For a trap I take two round poles six to eight feet long, and about three inches thick at the butt. On a level spot, never more than a few feet away from the water, I drive a stake firmly into the ground, and lay the two poles, butts together, one on top of the other, against the stake, and drive two more stakes on the other side about six inches apart. Sometimes when the ground is soft two stakes (Fig. 10) should be driven in front instead of one. A stick a foot long will serve equally well for the bed-piece. Then a pen or house is built of stakes, or long chips, or stones, or pieces of board in the form of a V or Π, about nine inches tall, eight inches deep, and six inches wide. Then two sticks are prepared—one three inches long and half an inch thick, called the “standard” (Fig. 12), the other eight inches long, and of the same thickness, called the bait-stick, one end being sharpened, the other flattened. The bait, the head of a fowl or fish, is tied to the sharp point of the bait-stick. The fall is raised, the standard set sideways on the flat end on the bait-stick, and the fall lowered, until it rests on top of the standard, the bait-stick being inside the house. As the sticks are arranged, the mink, entering over the bed and under the fall, will have to give quite a pull before dislodging the standard on which the fall rests. So take a peg, cut a notch into it near the top deep enough to secure the bait-stick, and drive it into the ground inside the pen and close to one side. Now the standard can be set much nearer the outer end of the bait-stick, and the moment the bait is tugged at, the bait-stick flies from under the notched peg, and down comes the fall. The bed may be hewn to an edge on top, and the parts of the trap should work without a hitch. A stone, or board, or sheet of bark, or a handful of evergreen boughs should be laid over the house, not only to keep the animal out, but also the rain and snow from the triggers which may freeze up and stick fast. Two pegs driven into the ground at the end of the fall will hold it in place, and, like every deadfall, it should be heavily weighted with logs as shown in Figs. 10 and 11.
There are many different ways of building traps with this simple bait-stick and standard—a combination in general use in the fur countries. Some are made large for fishers, and set on logs and high stumps for sable or marten. In Canada, where the snow is very deep, I have seen long lines of sable-traps on stumps seven feet from the ground, the other end of the fall resting on another stump of the same height. In such cases a tree is cut for the purpose, and by a skilful way of chopping, the stake in front of the trap is left standing as part of the stump, and the chips are sharpened and driven into the top of the stump for the house.
Again, a hollow is chopped into a tree, a stake driven in front, and the bait-stick thrust inside.
DEADFALLS