During my trapping experiences I remember of visiting an old trapper's deadfalls and at that time I had never seen or used any trigger other than the figure 4, but this trapper used the prop and spindle. I looked at several of his traps; in fact, went considerably out of my way to look at some eight or ten of them. Two of these contained game — a skunk and opossum. I had often heard of these triggers, but was skeptical about them being much good. I now saw that these triggers were all right and on visiting my traps again set a few of them with these triggers. Since that time I have never used the figure 4.
The prop and spindle I know will look to many too hard to "go off," but they can be set so that they will go off fairly easy. It is not necessary that the trap be set so that the least touch will make it go off. It is best to have the trap set so that mice nibbling at bait will not throw it.
Trappers who have never used the deadfall will, no doubt, find that after they use them a short time and become better acquainted with their construction and operation that they will catch more game than at first. This is only natural as all must learn from experience largely, whether at trapping or anything else.
The prop is a straight piece about seven inches long and about one-half inch in diameter. The spindle, or long trigger, is about the size of the prop, but should be sixteen or eighteen inches long with a prong cut off within two inches of the end to help hold the bait on more securely. See cut elsewhere showing these triggers and of the figure likewise. These illustrations will give a better idea of how the triggers are made to those who have never seen or used them.
I saw some time ago where a brother wanted to know how to make a deadfall, writes an Illinois trapper. I send a picture of one that I think is far ahead of any that I have seen in the H-T-T yet, that is, the triggers. I have seen deadfall triggers that would catch and not fall when the bait was pulled at, but there is no catch to these.
Trigger No. 1 is stub driven in the ground with a notch cut in the upper end for end of bait. Stick No. 5 to fit in No. 3 is another stub driven in ground for bait stick No. 5 to rest on top. No. 3 is a stick, one end laid on top of bait stick outside of stub No. 2, the other end on top of lower pole. No. 4 is the prop stick. One end is set on stick No. 3 about one inch inside the lower pole the other end underneath the upper pole. The X represents the bait. When the bait stick is pulled out of notch in stub No. 1, the upper pole comes down and has got your animal.
If you find your bait is caught between the poles you may know the bait is not back in the box far enough. If you find the trap down and bait and bait stick gone, you may know that the bait is too far back. The animal took his whole body in before he pulled the bait.
I have tried to describe this trap for the ones that don't know how to make a deadfall.
Somebody wants to know how to make a good deadfall. Well the plans published in back numbers of H-T-T are all right except the figure four sticks and bait. Make your sticks like this, and you will be pleased with the way they work, says an experienced trapper.
No. 2 flat view. The trigger sets in the slanting cut in side of No. 2. Don't put bait on trigger. Put it in back end of pen and pin it to the ground. Turn trigger across opening slanted slightly in, then you get them by neck or shoulders. The longer the slot in the trigger, the harder they will trip. Set as straight up as possible.
Make 1 and 2 of hard wood. Saw a block 3 1/2 inches long and split into 3/4 inch squares. Make cuts square with a saw and split out the part you don't want. Bevel ends with a hatchet. Make trigger of green hard wood stick with bark on.
I cut a tree from 8 to 10 inches in diameter and cut off 7 feet long. Split the piece open and bury one piece on a level with the earth — split side up — and place the other half on top. I hew off any bumps and make a perfect fit. Then I cut out bushes the size of my arm, and drive them down on each side of my fall and leave them an inch or two higher than I expect my top log to be when set. Be sure to begin far enough at the back to force the animals to go in at the front. I use the figure four triggers and tie the bait to the long trigger.
Another trigger is made as follows: Cut two forks and lay pole across just in front of the log on top of the forks. Take another piece of timber about four feet long, tie a string to each end and let one end have a trigger and the other be tied on your top log. I drive a nail in the top log and tie the string to it, and I call this my Fly trigger. It acts as a lever, for when the fly comes up over the piece on the forks and the trigger goes over half way back by the side of the log, and the trigger about a foot long — straight and thin, and sticks under the log — have a short trigger tied to the fly pole and a forked sapling the size of your finger and long enough to stick in the ground to hold the trigger. Put the bait on long trigger and catch the short trigger through the fork and let it catch the long trigger. This trigger leaves the fall open in front and is the one I prefer.
Take two small logs about 10 or 12 feet long, large enough to break a coon's back, and make a pen about midway, or one-third from front end, to put the bait in, and the trigger. Two foot boards, or saplings will do, and make the pen so that the animal will have to step across the bottom log and take the bait, and be sure to set so that the top log will fall across the mink, coon, skunk, or opossum, as they are the animals I kill with the fall. Use fly pole triggers as above, for this deadfall.
I make these falls near the runways of the animals I wish to catch. When I am sure to stay at a place, I build my falls in the summer and by the trapping time they look old and natural.
The deadfall shown here can be used at dens or in paths where animals travel frequently. When set across the entrance of dens it will catch an animal going in without bait. That is, it will catch an animal going in, as the triggers are so constructed that they can only be pushed towards the bait as shown in illustration. If the trap is to be used at dens without bait the regular figure 4 triggers had best be used, but set extending along the log instead of back into the pen. An animal in entering will strike the trigger and down comes the fall.
The trap shown here and the triggers are made as follows: Cut two logs and lay one on the ground. This log should be at least four feet long. Place it firmly on the ground with flat side up. This log need not be as flat as shown in illustration, but should be flattened slightly. Drive two stakes three feet long within a foot or so of one end (8) and (9).
Now come to the other end and drive two more (10) and (11). Stake ten which is directly opposite from (11) you want to be careful not to split, as one of the triggers rests on it. The fall is now placed in position, that is the upper log. The end of this is split and a stake driven in the ground so that the fall will not turn between the stakes but is held firmly. See that the fall will work easily up and down; that the stakes are not so close together that the fall binds, yet it wants to fit snugly.
Cut trip stick (4) and trigger (3), lifting the fall up with one knee and place end of (3) onto (4) slightly, so that a small pressure on (4) will spring the trap. After you have the trap set spring it to see that it works all right. If the trap works all right and you are setting across the entrance of a den the pen of course is not wanted. If you are setting in paths or near dens, drive stakes in a semi-circle as shown in illustration, but the stakes should stick above the ground some eighteen inches or about as high as the "fall" pole when set. It is a good plan to throw leaves or grass on the stakes.
A small notch (5) should be cut in upright post (8) for trip stick to fit in to hold it up to that end. Be careful, however, that this notch is not cut too deep. The bait (6) is placed back in the pen and fastened with wire or a stake driven thru it into the ground. The open space over bait is now covered over and the entire trap can be made to not look so suspicious by cutting brush and throwing over it excepting in front of the bait. An animal in going in for bait steps on or pushes the long stick (marked 4 at one end and 5 at the other) off of (3) and is usually caught.
This is another good trip trigger deadfall. A short log should be laid on the ground and the two stakes driven opposite each other as in the trap just described. These stakes are not shown, as a better view of the triggers and workings of the trap can be had by omitting these.
In the illustration the "fall" pole is weighted, but it is best to have the pole heavy enough and not weighted. The stakes on which the upper or cross piece is nailed should be from twelve to eighteen inches apart. The cross piece need not be heavy, yet should be strong so that the weight of the fall will not bend it.
The pens or enclosures used cannot be covered, as this would interfere with the workings of the triggers. If the pen is sixteen inches or higher very few animals will climb over to get bait, but will go in where the trapper wants and if properly made and set are apt to catch the game.
Along in the late seventies or beginning of the eighties, when a good sized muskrat would bring about as much as a common prime mink, and a steel trap was quite a prize to be in possession of, I had perhaps two dozen traps, some old fashioned, that would be quite a curiosity at present, besides a few Newhouse No. 0 and 1.
That was in Ontario, Canada. Skunk, mink, coon, muskrat and fox were the furs in that part, Waterloo, Brant and Oxford Counties. Later I used this deadfall with success in Iowa and other sections, so that there is no doubt but that it will be found a good fur catcher in most localities.
I used to catch a great deal with deadfalls, — picture of which I here enclose. I have seen nearly all the different makes of deadfalls and have tried some of them, but the one I here send you the picture of, which can be easily understood, is the one I have had the most success with. I believe they are the best, and an animal can't get at the bait without striking it off, besides some animals will examine a bait without touching it. This deadfall, if they are curious enough just to enter inside and put their foot on the trigger stick, they are yours if the trap is set properly.
This style of deadfall can be successfully, used over skunk holes, game runways and there you do away with the bait yard. This style of trap is much easier made, as it requires very little skill. Just a few straight sticks about the size round of a cane, a little twine. You can catch most any animal from a weasel to a raccoon. The illustration shows the "fall" or upper pole weighted. In our experience we have found it more satisfactory to have the "fall" heavy enough to kill the animal without the weight. It is often hard for the trapper to find a pole of the right size and weight for the "fall" and the next best way is to place additional weight as shown.
First make a pen in the form of a wigwam, driving stakes well into the ground to keep the animal away from the rear of the trap. It should be open on one side. Place a short log in front of the opening and at both ends of this drive stakes to hold it in place and for the long log to work up and down in. The top log should be six or eight feet long, according to size of animal you aim to use trap for, and about the same size as the bottom log. Cut a forked stick about 12 inches long for the bait stick, notching one end and tapering the other as shown in Fig. No. 2. A stick 24 inches long should then be cut and flattened at both ends.
To set the trap, raise one end of the upper log and stick one end of the flattened stick under it, resting it upon the top of the stake on the outside of the log. Place the bait stick, point downward, inside the pen upon a chip of wood or rock to keep it from sinking into the ground and set flat stick in the notch. When the animal pulls at the bait it turns the bait stake and throws the cross piece out of the notch of the bait stick and let the top log fall.
In explaining size pen some make them 2 feet long, writes a New York trapper, while one 12 inches long (as used on this trail), is sufficient; not only that, but it is superior for the following reasons: A 2 foot pen would let the animal pass inside and beyond the drop when sprung, unless the animal stepped on the treddle.
The Indians' trap is made by cutting a sapling 3 or 4 inches in diameter off the butt end cut a piece 2 foot and place on the ground for a bed piece; drive four stakes, two on either side of bed piece, leaving a space between of 12 inches, using the balance of pole for the drop to play between the stakes. For balance of pen a few stakes, bark or slabs cut from a tree.
For a spindle, cut from a hemlock, spruce or other dry limb a piece eight or ten inches long, sharpen one end to a point, the other end flatten a trifle for an inch or two on the underside, so that when placed on the bed piece it will lay steady. Now with a sharp knife, commence 1/2 inch back, and round off top side of spindle on which to place a standard four inches in length, cut from same material as spindle.
In setting, place the bait on the spindle so as to leave a space of only six inches from bait to the standard; now take spindle in left hand, standard in right hand, kneel down, raise the drop placing one knee under it to hold it up the right height. Lay spindle onto center of bed piece and place the standard on top of spindle, letting drop rest on top of standard so as to keep the pieces in position. Now by moving the standard out or in on the spindle, the spring of the trap can be so gauged that it will set safely for weeks or months, sprung easily, and hold anything from a weasel to a raccoon.
It is sure, as it kills immediately, giving them no chance to escape by twisting or gnawing off their legs. It is not so quickly made and set as a steel trap, and never gives "Sneakums" inducements to approach it for future use. After the trap is set, place bark or something suitable between the stakes above the drop and cover top of pen so as to compel the animal to enter in front, and at the same time ward off snow and sleet from interfering with its workings. Weight the drop pole on either side of pen by placing on chunks of wood or stone.
There are several ways to set deadfalls, as different triggers are used. The manner in constructing these traps is varied somewhat in the different sections. The illustration shown here is of a trap that is used to a considerable extent in all parts of America. The trapper for marten in the far North, the opossum trapper of West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, the skunk trapper of the New England States and the mink trapper of the west have all used this trap with success. It is for the hundreds of young and inexperienced trappers that the deadfall is shown here.
The trigger as shown, that is the one extending back into the pen, is all one piece. This trigger is usually cut from a bush and often requires some time to find one suited. If you intend to build a few traps of this kind it is well to be on the lookout in advance for suitable triggers. This trap is set with only two triggers, the one with the straight part extending back into the pen and the prong on which the "fall" is resting and the other trigger is driven into the ground so that it is only a little higher than the under log of the trap.
This trap can be set with the triggers known as figure 4 if preferred. Coon, mink, opossum, skunk and marten are usually not hard to catch in deadfalls, although now and then an animal for some reason is extremely hard to catch.
In building deadfalls it is best to split the end of the pole fartherest from the pen or bait and drive the stake there. This will hold the upper or "fall" pole solid, so that there will be no danger of its turning of its own weight and falling.
I enclose plan and description of a deadfall I have used with success on skunk and other fur animals, writes a trapper from New York State. Never having seen anything like it described I thought it might be a help to those using these traps. During November and December, 1897, I caught 11 skunk in one deadfall like this one.
Stakes are driven in the ground to form the pen same as on figure 4 or other deadfall, but no brush or sticks should be laid on top of pen as it would prevent the vertical stick from lifting up, A small log or board with stones on may be laid on pole for more weight. The pole may be from ten to fifteen feet long and about three inches in diameter. AA 18 inches or more out of the ground and one-half inch in diameter; B 20 inches, X one-half inch; C about 16 X 3/4 inches; D 20 X 3/4 inches; E same as AA only not crotch; F 1/4 inch. Rope long enough to go around pole and over B and tie around C. D should be from 1 to 3 inches above ground according to what is being trapped. Bait should be laid on ground or fastened to stake near middle of pen.
If you have determined upon your trapping ground it is best to build your traps in advance of the trapping season, so that they will become old and weather beaten. This, of course, is not necessary as traps are often built, baited and on the return of the trapper the following morning game securely caught. While the above is often true, deadfalls can and should be built in advance of the trapping season. There are at least two reasons for this: first, it allows the traps to become weather beaten and game is not so suspicious; second, all the trapper has to do when the trapping season arrives is to visit and set his traps.
Some object to deadfalls on the ground that they require lots of work to build and that a trapper's time is valuable at this season of the year. Such may be true of the amateur, but the professional trapper usually has much idle time in August, September and early October, when he is glad to look out for trapping grounds for the coming winter. It is a day's work for one man to build from eight to twelve deadfalls, depending of course upon how convenient he finds the pole to make the fall. The other material is usually not hard to find or make. That is stakes, chunks and rocks. If you only build six or eight traps and construct them right they are worth twice as many poorly built. When properly built they will last for years, requiring but little mending each fall at the opening of the trapping season. Taken all in all we do not know that a certain number of deadfalls take up any more time than an equal number of steel traps. In fact more deadfalls can be set in a day, after they are built, than steel traps.
When it is stated that you will perhaps do as well at home as elsewhere, this, of course, depends upon where you are located, how many trappers there are in your section, etc. If there is but little to be caught then you had best go elsewhere, but trappers have been known in thickly settled sections to catch from $50 to $300 worth of fur in a season, lasting from November 1 to March 15. Of course in the far north, where trapping can be carried on from October 15 to June 15, or eight months, the catch is much larger, and as the animals caught are more valuable, the catch of a single trapper is sometimes as high as $600 to $1,000.
The trapper who stays near home has the advantage of knowing the territory. If he was to visit a strange section, altho a good trapping locality, he would not do so well as if he were acquainted with the locality and knew the locations of the best dens. Then again his expenses are heavier if he goes into a strange section, yet If there is but little game near your home, and you are going to make a business of trapping, go and look up a good trapping section. Under these conditions it is best for two or three to go together. There is no necessity of carrying but little baggage other than your gun, for at the season of the year that prospecting is done there is but little difficulty in killing enough game to live on.
After you have once found a good trapping section, and built your cabin, deadfalls and snares, you can go there fall after fall with your line of steel traps, resetting your deadfalls with but little repairs for years. You will also become better acquainted with the territory each season and will make larger catches. Do not think that you have caught all the game the first season, for generally upon your return the next fall you will find signs of game as numerous as ever.
In locating new trapping grounds, if two or three are together and it is a busy time in September, let one of the party go in advance prospecting. This will save much valuable time when you make the start for the fall and winter trapping campaign. It will pay you to know where you are going before you make the final start.
In determining where to set deadfalls or locate snares if you will keep in mind the dens where each winter you have caught fur-bearing animals, or their tracks have often been seen in the snow or mud, and build your traps and construct snares at or near such places you are pretty sure to not go astray.
The location, of course, depends largely upon what kind of game you are trying to catch. If mink or coon, there is no better place than along streams where there are dens. If there should be a small branch leading off from the main stream, at the mouth of this is often an excellent place to locate a trap. It should not be too near the water as a rise would damage or perhaps float off at least part of your trap. Sometimes farther up this small stream there are bluffs and rocks; at such places, if there are dens, is just the place to build deadfalls. If there are several dens, and the bluff extends along several hundred feet, it perhaps will pay to build two or three traps here.
In cleared fields, woods or thickets skunk are found anywhere that there are dens you can construct a trap. While, as a rule, the thinly settled districts are the best trapping sections, yet skunk, muskrat and red fox are found in greatest numbers in settled sections, while opossum, raccoon and mink are found in fairly well settled districts. It is therefore not necessary that you should go to the wilderness to make fairly good catches. While the trapper in the wilderness has the advantage of no one disturbing his deadfalls, yet he has disadvantages. The trapper who means business need not go hundreds of miles away, but if he will build a line of traps along some stream where there are mink, or in the thickets and along rocky buffs for skunk, raccoon, opossum, etc., he will be surprised at results.
In some sections land owners may not allow trapping, but usually they will, especially if you take the pains to ask before you commence building or setting your traps.
The fact that you have your traps scattered over a large territory gives you better chances of making good catches, for most animals travel quite a distance from night to night. You may have traps at some stream that is eight or ten miles from your home and a mink may come along that does most of its seeking for food miles farther up or down this stream, nearer, perhaps, where it was raised, and you get him. Thus you see by going only ten miles away you may catch animals that really live twenty. Just how far a mink may travel up or down a creek or river I do not know, but it is certain that they go many miles and traps may make a catch of a mink that lives many, many miles away. Of course along small streams they may not go so far. Often, however, they continue their travels from one stream to another.
If you are an expert trapper you can very easily detect, if you are in a good locality, especially if in the fall — September and October. These are the two months when the most prospecting is done. Going along streams at this season tracks are plainly seen and in the forests at dens signs, such as hair, bones and dung. Often you will come upon signs where some bird has been devoured and you know that some animal has been in the locality. Old trappers readily detect all these signs and new ones can learn by experience.
It is not absolutely necessary to build traps at or near dens. Some years ago, I remember when doing considerable trapping in Southern Ohio, I came upon a deadfall built near a small stream that ran thru a woods. I looked around for dens, but saw none. Why this trap had been built there was a puzzle to me. One day I happened upon the owner of the trap and asked him what he expected to catch in that trap.
In reply he pointed to a bush some rods distant in which hung the carcasses of two opossum and one coon — caught in the trap. While there were no dens near, it was a favorite place for animals to cross or else they came there for water. This same trap was the means of this old trapper taking two or three animals each winter, while other traps at dens near caught less. There is much in knowing where to set traps, but keep your eyes open for signs and you will learn where to build traps and set snares sooner or later.
Yes, boys, the deadfall is a splendid trap if made right, says an Arkansas trapper. I will tell you how to make one that will catch every mink and coon that runs the creek. Take a pole four feet long and four inches through, next get a log six inches through and eight feet long. Use eight stakes and two switches. Use the figure four trigger, but the notches are cut different. Both of the notches are cut on the top side of the long trigger and a notch cut in the upright trigger and down the long trigger. The paddle part is sixteen inches long. When the trap is set the paddle wants to be level and one-half inch higher than small logs, then your two switches comes in this to keep the paddle from hitting the bark on side logs.
Next is where to set. If along a creek, find a place where the water is within three feet of the bank, set your trap up and down the creek at edge of water, dam up from back end of paddle to bank with brush or briars, then from front end into water three or four feet. You will find the upright trigger has to be a good deal longer than the notch trigger. You can use round triggers if you want to by nailing a shingle five inches wide on the long trigger stick. Be sure and have your paddle muddy if setting along creeks. You want to put a little stone back beyond paddle, so when the trap falls it will not burst paddle. Now you have a trap easy made and sure to catch any animal that steps on paddle, which is five inches wide and sixteen long. You don't need any bait, but you can use bait by throwing it under paddle. This trap is hard to beat for small game.
I make a deadfall that sets without bait, writes an Illinois trapper. It is made like any other only different triggers. Set it across path, over or in front of den or remove a rail and set it in the corner of a fence where game goes thru. Use thread in dry weather, fine wire for wet. Two logs for bottom is better than one, make triggers high enough to suit the animal you wish to catch; if he hits the string or wire he is yours.
Bait is sometimes difficult to get, but usually the trapper will get enough with his gun and steel traps to keep his line of deadfalls well baited, without difficulty. In trapping, all animals caught after the pelt is taken off should be hung up so that other animals cannot reach them, but will visit your traps.
There are two objects in hanging up bait: First, other animals coming along are apt to eat them and not visit your deadfall; second, should you run out of bait you can cut a piece from the animal hanging up, bait your trap and go to the next. While bait of this kind is not recommended, sometimes it comes to this or nothing. Fresh bait is what is wanted at all times, yet the trapper cannot always get what he knows is best and consequently must do the next best. Perhaps by his next visit he has bait in abundance.
The writer has known trappers to use a piece of skunk, opossum, muskrat, coon, etc., that had been caught some weeks before and hung up in a sapling where it froze and on the next visit the trap baited with skunk contained a skunk. This shows that when an animal is very hungry it is not very particular what it eats.
In the early fall while food of all kinds is easy to find, any animal is harder to entice to bait and at this season bait should be fresh if the trapper expects to make profitable catches. The trapper should always carry a gun, pistol or good revolver with which to help kill game to supply bait for his traps. Steel traps set along the line will also help to keep the supply of bait up at all times. If you are successful in securing a great deal of bait, more than will be used on that round, you will find it an excellent idea to leave some at certain places where it can be secured on the next round should it be needed.
Bait may consist of any tough bit of meat, but rabbit is an excellent bait. Quail or almost any bird is good. Chicken also makes good bait. Squirrel is all right. For mink, fish is excellent. Mice, frogs and muskrat can all be used. Remember that the fresher and bloodier the bait the better — animals will scent it much quicker. They are also fonder of fresh bait than that which has been killed for days or weeks as the case may be.
In baiting it is important to see that the bait is on secure. It is a good idea to tie it on with strong thread or small cord. The amount of bait to put on a single trap is not so important. Most trappers use a rabbit in baiting ten traps or less; the head makes bait for one trap, each foreleg another, the back about three and each hind leg one, altho each hind leg can be cut to make bait for two traps.
The spindle or trigger is run thru the bait and should be fastened on trigger near the end as shown in illustration elsewhere. The securing of bait on the trigger is an important thing. If it is not on securely and the trap is hard to get off, the animal may devour bait and the trap not fall. If the trigger is only sticking loosely in the bait, it is easy for an animal to steal the bait. Usually the observing trapper knows these things and are on their guard, but for those who are using deadfalls this season for the first time, more explicit explanation is necessary.
The bait should extend back into the pen about a foot and the pen should be so constructed that the bait touches nowhere only on the trigger. The animal in eating the bait usually stands with its fore feet upon the under pole, or just over it. In this condition it can readily be seen, that if its gnawing at the bait twists the trigger off the upright prop what the consequences will be — the animal will be caught across the back. An animal standing in the position just described will naturally pull down somewhat on the bait and in its eagerness to get the bait pulls and twists the spindle, or trigger, off the upright prop.
It is a good idea to try the trigger. That is, place the triggers under the fall just the same as you would if they were baited and you were going to set the trap. By doing this you will find out about how you want to set the triggers so that they will work properly. There is much in being acquainted with the working of traps. Study them carefully and you will soon learn to be a successful trapper.
If you find that your traps are "down" each time you visit them and the bait gone, the pen is perhaps too large and the animal, if a small one like a mink, is going inside to devour bait. Animals usually stand with fore feet upon lower log and reach into pen after bait, but at times they have been known to go inside. In this case the animal is not in danger as when the "fall" comes down the animal is not under it. If such is the case, that is, the animal entirely inside the pen, the trigger will be caught under the fall and the trapper knows that whatever is molesting his trap is doing so from the inside. All that the trapper has to do is lessen the size of the pen. This can be done by placing small stones or chunks on the inside of the pen or by driving stakes on the inside. By doing this the outside appearance is not changed.
If, on the other hand, the trigger, that is the long one or spindle, not the short prop, is pulled out each time and often carried several feet, the trap is set too hard to "fall" and should be set easier. If the prop, or upright piece, is cut square across the top, take your knife and round off the edges so that the trigger will slip off easier. Again the pen may be torn down and the animal takes bait from the rear. Here is where it pays to build traps substantial. In such cases rebuild the pen, making it stronger. Should it be torn down on subsequent visits, the game is perhaps a fox. Of course if the pen has been torn down by some trapper or passing hunter, you can readily detect same by the manner in which it has been done. If the trapper is satisfied that it is an animal that is doing the mischief, he wants to plan carefully, and if he is an expert trapper, a steel trap or two will come into good play and the animal will be caught in the steel trap. The pen will not be torn down again.
When traps are down note carefully the condition that they are in; see that the "fall" fits on the lower pole closely, and by the way, when building this is an important thing to notice — that the fall fits snugly on the lower or under pole.
If a snare or spring pole is up but nothing caught, simply reset. Should many snares be up "thrown" and no catches, the trouble should be located at once. The noose is probably too large or small or made of limber or too stiff string or wire, or maybe it is too securely fastened. When resetting, note all these carefully and experience will sooner or later enable you to set just right to make a catch. If a certain snare is bothered continually, it will do no harm to set a steel trap where you think chances best of taking the animal. It matters but little to the trapper how the animal is caught, as it is his pelt that is wanted.
In using the trip triggers with or without bait, the trapper should fasten the bait by either driving a peg through it and into the ground or tieing.
In most instances the animal will throw the trap before getting to the bait, but it is well to take this precaution in case, for any reason, the animal should not step on the trip trigger at first.
Sometimes a small animal may jump over the trip trigger in order to get the bait and in its endeavor to get bait will strike the trigger. The animal does not know that the trigger is dangerous, but now and then either steps or jumps over. Generally they step on the trigger, for if the trapper is "onto his job" the bait and trigger are so placed that the animal thinks the trip trigger is the place to put his foot.
In using without bait the trigger is so arranged that the animal rubs or steps on the trigger when entering or leaving the pen or if at a trail or runway when passing along.
While the deadfall is good for most animals, there is no one trap that fills all requirements and in all places. Some animals may be shy of deadfalls that can be taken in spring poles, snares and steel traps. This trap is easily and cheaply constructed. It should be made near dens or where animals travel frequently.
If a small bush is not growing handy, cut one. Drive a stake deeply in the ground, pull it out, stick the larger end of the bush cut into it. The explanation of this trap is as follows: 1, bait stick; 2, trigger; 3, noose made of wire or stout cord; 4, stay wire made of wire or cord; 5, bait; 6, spring pole.
By noting carefully the illustration this trap can be built easily. The size of the bush or spring pole, of course, depends upon what sized animals you are trapping. This trap will take small game such as mink, opossum, skunk, etc., or can be made large and strong enough to catch mountain lion or black bear.
The snare is made by building a round fence in a place where there is plenty of small trees. Select two about four inches apart for noose and snare entrance, and another long springy one for spring pole 6 or 7 feet long, bend this down and trim it. Have a noose made of limber wire or strong string and a cross piece. Having cut notches in the sides of the trees for the same to fit, have it to spring easy. For snaring rabbits have the fence quite high.
Observe the above description and you can readily make. No. 1 is the noose, No. 2 is spring pole, No. 3 fence, No. 4 bait. This snare already explained can be made any time in the year while the dead fall can only be constructed when the ground isn't frozen.
The snares can be either made of twine or wire. Many fox and lynx snare trappers in the North use small brass wire.
Snares work well in cold weather and if properly constructed are pretty sure catchers.
A — Spring pole.
B — Staple.
C — Two small nails driven in tree. (Three inch nail head, end down, with snare looped at each end with a foot of slack between. As soon as the D — three inch nail is pulled down, it will slip past the nail at top end, when spring pole will instantly take up the slack, also the fox, to staple and does its work.)
E — Slack line or wire.
F — Loop should be 7 inches in diameter and bottom of loop ten inches from the ground.
Remarks — The nails should be driven above staple so it will pull straight down to release the snare fastening.
A great many foxes have been caught in this country by the plan of the drawing outlined, writes J. C. Hunter, of Canada. A — the snare, should be made of rabbit wire, four or five strand twisted together. Should be long enough to make a loop about seven inches in diameter when set. Bottom side of snare should be about six inches from the ground. E — is a little stick, sharp at one end and split at the other, to stick in the ground and slip bottom of snare in split end, to hold snare steady.
B — is catch to hold down spring pole. C — is stake. D — is spring pole. Some bend down a sapling for a spring pole, but we think the best way is to cut and trim up a small pole about ten feet long; fasten the big end under a root and bend it down over a crotch, stake or small tree. Snare should be set on a summer sheep path, where it goes through the bushes.
Stake might be driven down a foot or more back from the path, where a branch of an evergreen bush would hang over it so as to hide it and a string long enough from stake or trigger to snare to rest over path.
The setting of a snare is done thus: A good sound tamarac or other pole fifteen or twenty feet long is used for the tossing. The butt end of this must be five or six inches in diameter and the small end about three inches. A tree with a crotch in it is then selected to balance the pole upon. Failing to find such a tree in the proper place, an artificial fork is made by crossing two stout young birch or tamarac, firmly planted in the ground, and the two upper points tied together six or ten inches from the top. The balancing or tossing pole is lodged in this fork so that the part towards the butt would out-weigh a bear of two or three hundred pounds suspended from the small end.
Next a stout little birch or spruce is selected and a section of three or four cut off. From this all the branches are removed, except one, the small end is pointed and driven deep into the ground a few inches at one side of the bear road. The snare is made of three twisted strands of eighteen thread cod line and is firmly tied to the tossing pole. A few dried branches are stuck in the ground each side of the path, the pole is depressed so the very end is caught under the twig on the stick driven in the ground for that purpose and the noose is stiffened by rubbing balsam branches which leave enough gum to make it hold its shape.
The noose is kept in the proper position (the bottom being about sixteen inches above the road and the diameter being about eleven inches) by blades of dry grass looped to it and the ends let into a gash on sticks at each side, put there for that purpose. No green branches are used in the hedge about the road because this would make the bear suspicious. The snare is now complete and the hunter stands back and examines it critically. His last act is to rub some beaver castor on the trunk of some tree standing near the road, ten or twelve feet from the snare. This is done on another tree at the same distance on the opposite side of the snare.
Bears are attracted by the smell of the castor and rub themselves against the tree in the same way as a dog rubs on carrion. When finished rubbing on one tree he scents the other and in going to get at the fresh one tries to pass thru the snare. He feels the noose tighten about his neck and struggles; this pulls the end of the tossing pole from under the branch trigger, up goes the pole and old Bruin with it.
My way, according to a Massachusetts trapper, to trap skunk without scenting, and it is successful, is to snare them. Use a spring pole and if one does not grow handy, cut one and set it up as firmly as possible about four or five feet from the burrow and to one side. Probably the ground is frozen and you will have to brace it up with logs or stones or perhaps lash it to a stump or root. When the top of the pole is bent down it should be caught under the end of a log or rock on the opposite side of the hole so that it can easily be dislodged by an animal, either going in or out of the burrow.
The snare or noose is attached to the spring pole directly over the center of the burrows and the bottom of the noose should be an inch and a half or two inches from the ground to allow the animal's feet to pass under it and his little pointed nose to go thru the center. Set the noose as closely over the entrance of the hole as possible and one or two carefully arranged twigs will keep it in place.
Strong twine is better for the noose than large cord as the skunk is less liable to notice it. When a skunk passes in or out of the hole the noose becomes tightened about his neck and a slight pull releases the spring pole which soon strangles him. While this may seem an elaborate description of so simple a trap, still, like any other trap, if set in a careless, half-hearted manner, it will meet with indifferent success and, tho simple the snare, with a little thought and ingenuity can be applied in almost any situation for the capture of small game.