FOXES AND ODOR.
Last winter I could not trap much because the river along which I do
my trapping and the woods all around were full of lumbermen, and I
was afraid my traps would be stolen. I did a little experimenting on
foxes in their relations to the odor of man and iron, says Omer
Carmerk, of Quebec.
The results of my experiences confirmed my previous observation that
foxes are not afraid of the odor of iron, neither of the odor of man,
but mighty suspicious of a bait connected with both odors. I made a
trail about two miles long, scattered about it pieces of meat,
chicken, rabbit, cheese, etc. I dragged a dead chicken, but I set no
trap. Prior to my baiting the trail foxes were crossing it and
following it without hesitation, but after I had put out the bait not
a fox had ventured to cross that trail again.
One day I saw where a fox had come near the trail, stopped, wheeled
about and bounded off like a frightened deer. Another day, a fox
tried to cross it at three different places but could not summon up
enough courage, and at last, by making a long detour he crossed it at
a place where there was no bait, not 20 yards from my cabin. One time
a fox walked parallel to the trail several rods, then came nearer to
it, stopped and turned back at full speed. The same foxes which were
so afraid of my trail were going every night on the public road to
eat horses.
[Illustration: A GOOD RUNNER.]
I will now relate one instance showing that the foxes smell traps.
One day I chopped a chicken on a log. I threw the big pieces in the
middle of three traps I had set the week before and left many small
pieces on the log. The day after the snow around and on the log was
all tramped down by foxes. One fox walked towards the big piece of
meat, and when about two inches from a trap he stopped and turned
back. I have no doubt he smelled the trap. When the traps are in the
snow or wet ground the oxidation of iron produces a peculiar odor
noticeable even to the human nostrils.
One day I was going to look at a trap in a swamp road. My dog was
trotting ahead of me, and when about ten feet from the trap he
stopped and turned around. He detected the odor of the trap for he
had not seen me set it, and he had good reasons to avoid it because
when young he had often been pinched.
Perhaps my experience does not harmonize with that of other trappers,
but the ways of foxes as well as other animals are much influenced by
their surroundings. I have observed that foxes frequenting the
neighborhood of farms are less suspicious than those living in the
deep woods.
* * *
For years, says a Southern trapper, I have invariably caught my fox,
whether in a path, water or bait set; but can I swear my success is
attributable to my extreme precaution? I always smoke traps to kill
the smell of iron then handle them and everything around the setting
with gloves, to erase human scent.
I have found the summer and early fall months the best time to locate
the haunts of the fox, as they are sure to use the same territory in
the winter season. While on one of my recent investigating tours, a
few days after a rain, I observed some facts that will be
interesting.
I struck an old road running through a farm, and readily noticed some
fox tracks. Naturally I followed on and found they led under a wheat
harvester, which had been recently left in the road and on under an
iron gate, into the pasture beyond. All know that a harvester is
largely constructed of iron and steel. Now if the fox is so afraid of
this metal, as is supposed, does it seem reasonable that he would
walk under such a mass of iron, or under an iron gate?
In fox trapping the smoking and smearing process is advocated as well
as the handling with gloves and concealing under the ground. In the
light of my observations, are all these precautions absolutely
necessary? On this same trip, in question, I noticed a fox track, and
as usual followed it. To my surprise the animal went within a hair's
breadth of a plow, passing right on, seemingly not either to care for
red paint or iron construction.
How is it, fox trappers? Does the iron and steel used in farm
implements differ from that used in steel traps, so that the latter
must be handled with such care as is advocated by many of the
trapper's profession? Or is it the covering of the trap with earth
that arouses suspicion?
A red or grey fox will cross through or under a wire fence over the
public highway at night, although the roads are continually traversed
by the iron bound shoes of the horse. Even the tracks of man are
visible here yet we, when trapping, brush out our tracks with great
care.
I have known a fox to follow where a plow has been dragged and have
seen his tracks in the iron marked groove, just made by the locked
wheel of a wagon.
Considering these facts, does it seem possible that the fox has so
great an antipathy to iron and to the human scent as supposed? (We
believe that the conditions under which these are found have much to
do with the foxes shrewdness. A wagon wheel or binder never caught a
fox, but the scent coming from a trap--well that is different. Coming
down to this would appear that the fox has some reasoning power or
intellect.--Editor.)