In some places where traps have not been set for them, they may be catched as easy as a dog; I have taken them in a cube, where a trap for a dog has been set, the cube is formed in the manner as represented in [pl. 1, fig. 2. F.] by the cut therein annexed, and may be made in the center where two paths cross, or in a warren, or park, or at any gate or stile where he comes in: if you do not find that he comes in at any of the above places over your shrapes, you must, as you go round the sides of the path, gates and stiles, mind whether you see his billots, that is, his dung, the term being to say after he has dunged that he has billoted; if you should not rightly know it, take up what you imagine to be the same, and break it, and you will find it to be full of large black beetles; sometimes you may smell him, then look about very nicely, and it is ten to one but he has billoted somewhere near the place.
Let your cube be made after this manner, draw a circle, [pl. 1. fig. 2. F.] but in the front leave just room for the trap to go in when set, then bank it up all round from one side of the jaw of the trap quite round to the other; set your traps in the same manner as you see in the plan of it, but be sure to moss them as before directed, for the moss preserves the fine mould from running under the bridge, and at the same time keeps it up hollow that it may strike freely and properly, but when the mould runs in, it sets the trap so hard that it is impossible for it to strike at all. If you are in a warren, put some rabbits guts in the back part of the cube; if these cannot be procured, place some pieces of strong rotten Cheshire cheese, which they are very greedy of; if at a farm get some bits of dead fowl, if possible, and if in a field, it is probable you may find some of the mangled carcases of lambs, which they have killed and hid pieces of them in the ground, which they often do: but remember, in all these particular cases to put the bait in the back part of the cube as before hinted; and whenever you set a trap for a Fox let it be placed early in the afternoon, in order that the soil you make may go off before he comes, and when you have set them, cover them with a bush cut on purpose, to keep any thing else from striking it, till you come round at night and uncover it again.
In many country places there are people, who make it their business to take Foxes out of their earths for gentlemen to hunt them at their pleasure; these are properly called bag-foxes. I have known in some stony countries that they set stone traps for them at their earths, so that it is impossible for them to get out without being taken, but of this method of catching them I cannot speak from my own experience, having been only a spectator of the traps, and of consequence cannot be so able to judge of it, as where I have been the principal actor myself. I mention this to testify that I would not, even in the most minute circumstances, impose on my readers.
I have practiced likewise the following method with good success, which may be imitated with great facility; let the party employed go round and carefully search for their earthing places, wherever they are, and make the mouths of them quite fine with mould; then come again the next morning, and observe whether the earth has been trampled on, and if you see the prints of his feet tending outward and inward, you may then be assured that he is safe within his hole or earth, on which take a good strong hay-net, such as are used in some warrens, pitched all around at a proper distance, put the sticks quite slight into the ground, that as soon as he strikes the net, it may fall upon and entangle him, but if you place it tight he will tumble over, and by that means escape. Another caution is necessary, when you have set your net, you must put some bells in three or four different places, that you may hear when he strikes the net; then run in upon him, and keep him entangled, otherwise he will get out again, and seizing him by the pole or back part of his neck, muzzle him, and tie his fore legs together, that he may not scratch his muzzle off again; I have known a Fox, earthed as above, watched for two or three nights together, till he has been starved out, before they could catch him.
Sometimes when a Fox is found in the earth, or is hunted in, the method is to dig him out immediately, after the following manner; take a good terrier, that is kept for that purpose, one that will lie at a Fox, then you must listen and sound him as the warreners do their line ferrets; dig a trench across the angle, and, when you have got to the angle, perhaps he will fly back, as they frequently do, then sink another trench near him, and when you have dug down to him, take care he does not bite you, as he is a fierce animal, when drove to desperation, and bites very hard; in the next place take your dog back, that you may get him out, this is what we call drawing him, as follows; take an old hat, or any thing of a similar nature, in your hand, and dodge it before him, when he will catch hold of it immediately, then with the other hand catch him by the back part of the poll, with all possible quickness, as the motion must be, as it were, instantaneous; and this same method must be observed when you have one in a trap, if you have a mind to take him alive, and always remember to have a muzzle ready to put on him directly, and put him into a sack, and then you may do what you please with him afterwards; what I mean by a muzzle is this, take a bit of strong tape, put it over his nose, bring both ends down under his jaw, and tie them tight together; then bring it along under his throat, an inch and half from the first knot, then tie them both together in one knot again, then bring the two ends up behind his ears and tie them tight, and this is what I call a muzzle, in the same manner as warreners muzzle their dogs to drive to the nets.
Having proceeded thus far in my description, &c. of this remarkable animal, I conclude what I have to say of him with the following recipe to take a shy dog Fox, which I have known to succeed when all other means have proved ineffectual, and like wise with another observation, neither of which are generally known.
The trail for him is, when you have taken a bitch Fox, that goes a clicketing, take and cut that vessel which contains her sperm, the same as the sow-gelders deprive bitches of, when they spay them, mixing with this some gum mastic, and put them as soon as possible, after being taken from the animal, into an earthen pot, keeping it quite close, and it will remain serviceable a whole year, and, when occasion offers, take a large piece of rind of bacon, broil it well on a gridiron, and then dip it in the pot, using it as a trail, in the same manner as the sheep’s paunch before described.
The last remark I shall make is, that there is one season of the year when a Fox will not run after a trail at all, at least very rarely, and that is in the spring, when he gets plenty of young rabbits and leverets; for then he is dainty; when this is the case, another method must be taken: at this time of the year the bitch Fox goes what is called a-clicketting, you must mind which way he comes, which may be done by sifting some fine mould in all the little bye paths, and when you have discovered the right one, place two steel traps, about twenty yards distance from each other, for fear he should miss one, but lay no bate for him, and if he comes, there is the greatest probability of his being caught; I have often been forced to act in this manner, and have succeeded.
THE
OTTER.
The Otter is an amphibious animal, which preys both by land and water, for when he is disturbed in the water he preys by land: as a proof of which, I once catched a dog Otter in a warren, where he came to prey on the rabbits, after the old bitch Otter and all the young cubs had been killed, down at the river, not far from the warren.