EXPERIENCED TRAPPER'S TRICKS.
The fox is the most cunning animal we have, consequently he is the
most difficult one to trap, says C. E. Matheny, of Ohio. But like all
other animals he has a weak point, and if you attack him at this
point he will, without a doubt, fall into your snares. One of the
most important things when about to trap a fox is to have the trap
perfectly clean. The word clean, in this sense, does not allude to
freedom from rust, but means that the trap should be entirely free
from human scent. In order to avoid this, the trap must be thoroughly
washed in lye and when dry, well greased and smoked over burning
feathers. It has already been said that the fox has a very keen
scent, but it is particularly shy and scary at the least odor of the
human body. It is therefore necessary when handling the trap to use
clean buckskin, or still better, rubber gloves, and unless this
important precaution is observed success is very improbable. The next
step is to make the bed for the trap, and although there are various
ways of doing this, the following, I believe, is the best method.
The bed should be about three and a half feet in diameter, and made
of wheat, hay or buckwheat chaff. Some trappers use wood ashes, but
any of the above will be found better. The ground upon which the bed
is made should be hollowed out in the center so as to admit the trap,
and the bed should be made as hard as possible and deep enough to
cover the trap, and at the same time be perfectly level with the
ground.
When the bed is made as directed, take the trap (which should be a
No. 2 and have a chain and clog attached to it) and place it in the
hollow in the center of the bed. After setting the trap put some of
the chaff inside the jaws as high as the pan. Cover the pan with
paper so that the chaff will not prevent its working freely, and then
cover the whole with chaff and level it off so that the fox will not
suspect a trap to be there; finally bait it with fresh meat, cheese,
or better still, cracklings after lard is pressed out. Scatter them
liberally over the bed; do not tramp about the bed more than is
absolutely necessary, and cover up all foot-tracks as much as
possible.
It is a good plan to smear the trap with assafoetida or melted
beeswax, with a few drops of the oil of rhodium. These are all good
and may be employed for the purpose of deceiving a particularly
cunning fellow after all other stratagems fail. Another good plan is
to bait the bed several times before setting the trap, until the fox
begins to think that this is the best place it ever knew to find a
choice morsel ready at all hours. When a proper degree of confidence
appears to have been established then put the trap in its place and
catch him--if you can.
* * *
First take a No. 3 Blake & Lamb trap, and look around over the fields
or woods and find where the sand has washed down and is fine as wood
ashes, says F. A. Aurand, of Michigan. You will always find if you
keep close watch over the fields that a fox likes to get on the fine
sand and play or walk over and around on it for some reason, as you
will always find their tracks on the sand in the fall and spring. Now
take for bait any of the following: dead chicken, or turkey, or
beef's hind leg, but I think the best is beef's old head. Now take
the old head, dig down in the sand and set the head down in the sand
so that the jaws and nose are out of the sand about to the eyes. Now
take your traps, about three No. 3 B. & L. traps, take a stake and
fasten the rings to the stake, and drive the stake below the surface
of the sand and cover it over the top.
Now dig a small trench for the chains, lay the chains in the
trenches, a trench for each chain. Spread the traps each way from the
old head, and set the trap out away from the head as far as the
chains will let them go, by driving the stake right close to the
head. Then dig a small place in the sand so the trap will set just
level with the surface of the sand, for each trap to set in. Take a
small piece of cotton batton and put enough under each pan of the
traps to keep the sand from getting under pans so they won't spring.
Now take the sand that you took out of the places for the traps and
cover them all over, traps, chains and all. Then take a small bush
and brush out all your tracks and over the traps. If you have done
your work well you can hardly tell where the traps are. You can use
some good scent on the sand or on the old head, but I don't think it
needs it. Fix the old head in the sand quite a little while before
you want to trap. All I ever caught I caught in this way. If you do
everything right I am sure of your success.
* * *
I have visited hundreds of trappers in Maine and Canada, and have
learned many of the secrets of successful trapping from them and also
from my own personal experience and observation, writes N. C.
Burbank. I have come to the conclusion that the basis of all the most
successful secret decoys for catching fox is the substance taken from
the glands of the female fox during the running season, mixed with
grease of some sort, together with contents of the glands of the
skunk, preferably the female taken in the spring or latter part of
the winter. I do not pretend to say that every one will be successful
who uses that decoy. I am of the opinion, if directions are closely
followed in the following method of water trapping for fox, you are
reasonably sure to catch them if you use that decoy.
During the month of August or September select some spring or place
about a foot and a half from the edge, or in the center of a circular
spring that is not over 4 feet wide, a sod 8 or 10 inches across, and
arrange a place to set the trap a few inches from the outside. This
must be done early in the season, so all evidence of human work and
scent will be removed before trapping time.
[Illustration: THE SPRING AND SOD SET.]
When the season arrives you are ready to set your trap, and you do so
in the following manner: In selecting springs you must find one that
has an outlet so you can walk in the water for a distance of three
rods, six or eight is better. Set your trap and take it up to the
spring or place selected, walking in the water and using the greatest
care not to touch bushes or anything to leave the scent of yourself.
Place the trap in the place prepared in the early season, being sure
it is covered over entirely, chain and all, by water. Then cover with
dead leaves or whatever is on the bottom of the spring. Place upon
the trap pan a small sod as light a one as possible, allowing it to
be out of the water at least one inch so that the fox in reaching for
the bait will step on the sod, which should be six or eight inches
from the shore. Fox, like the human being, do not like to wet their
feet.
Now you have the trap set and then comes the baiting. Take a small
piece of meat and place it on the larger sod, using great care not to
leave human scent, take a few drops of this decoy and place on the
bait. Also take a rotten stick and break off a piece 6 or 8 inches
long, being careful of handling, and place two or three drops on the
end and stick it into the sod so it will stick up two inches or such
a matter above it. Your trap is now ready for Reynard, and if you use
great care in setting and in visiting your traps I am certain of your
success.
There are many methods of catching foxes and I am acquainted with
them, not all, perhaps, as each man has a little different way, but I
am satisfied the above for a water set it correct.
* * *
Here in the East where I am trapping near the mountains, if we could
not catch fox on the snow path we would not get any prime fur, says
J. H. Shufelt, of Canada.
I will give one of my snow sets that I use here for fox. It may not
fit your case as every locality calls for its own method, and foxes
are slyer in some places than others. I use a No. 3 Blake & Lamb trap
with a three foot chain and grapple. How to fix the trap? I take a
large kettle and fill with water and put my traps in and get the
water boiling hot. For every dozen of traps I put in one-half pint of
lime not air slacked, and boil for ten minutes. Now take out your
traps, which will be odorless and white as snow, and use gloves in
handling and setting them.
[Illustration: ODORLESS AND WHITE AS SNOW.]
When you get ready to set your traps go out in a large field where
foxes are traveling, make a good path across the field by traveling
back and forth. Where you want to make a set leave a little partition
across the path to guide the fox in the trap, which is covered with
white paper and a little snow. Be careful in setting and not leave
tracks outside of the path nor lay any sticks across. When going to
your traps walk in the path, which makes it better, and don't let too
much snow get over them. Be careful and you will get your fox.
Do foxes eat skunk? I might say in answer to this question they do,
and they will kill skunk if found outside of their dens. And if a fox
is run in a den where there is a skunk, their odor is most always
sure to prove fatal to a fox in a very short time. Several instances
of this kind have happened in this locality where I am hunting and
trapping.
Foxes are very fond of skunk for food, and the musk makes a good
scent for trapping foxes. A good scent for cold weather, for it never
freezes. No doubt a good trapper will say, give me fresh bait. I
might say give me a strong smelling bait, for when the fox is
smelling a strong bait or scent he cannot smell anything else at the
same time.
Now for instance, if you were going out for a fox hunt, and your
hound got scented by skunk, it would spoil his scenting anything, and
he could not follow the trail. Several experiences have led me to
think this is one reason why we make a better catch on a damp or
rainy night. The bait smells so much stronger that it takes up more
of the game's sense of smell and makes our chance of a catch better.
The old trapper will oftimes make this remark, "Boys, I am going to
make a big catch tonight--why, because it is going to be a damp and
rainy night." Who knows why?
I trap foxes by land and water set. I sometimes use a set called the
all around land set. Every locality calls for its own method. I use
two kinds of traps, Blake & Lamb and Newhouse. They are both all
right. My trapping grounds are near the mountains where the foxes
defy fox hounds, for they have dens in the rocks.
The Hunter-Trader-Trapper, Columbus, Ohio, is in touch with fox
trappers, hunters and owners of hounds from all parts of America, so
that interesting articles are constantly being received and
published.
[Illustration: CANADIAN TRAPPER AND FIFTEEN REDS.]
The following, by W. J. Taylor, of New York, is his method for
trapping the red fox: Choose a rotten stump near their runways, cut
out a cavity in the top of the stump deep enough to set trap and
allow one-half inch of finely pulverized rotten wood to cover trap,
spring and chain. Do not handle pulverized wood with your hands. Have
your traps thoroughly greased, chain and all, then smoke with
hemlock, spruce, cedar or pine boughs. Smoke until trap and chain are
black. This is to stop the smell of steel. Sometimes I use a moss
covered stump, that is a stump with moss growing all or partly around
its sides. Cut the cavity the same in stump, cover lightly with
pulverized rotten wood.
Now go to another moss covered stump, cut moss enough to cover top of
stump, cut a circular piece out a little smaller than jaws of trap,
place this right on top of trap, then place the rest on top of stump,
trim outsides to match outside of stump. Handle moss with sharpened
stick and knife, never with bare hands unless set is made one week
before baiting and scenting. I generally make my sets two weeks
before placing bait and scent.
Place bait about six or eight feet from stump, always on lower
hillside. Daub your fox scent on top of stump, side towards your
bait. For bait I use muskrat carcasses, skunk, dead hens, rabbits,
fish or partly decomposed meat. My receipt for fox scent is fish oil
one-half pint (made by placing fish in glass can in summer and
hanging in sun until decomposed) the musk sacks of ten or more
muskrats, one or more fox matrix which are obtained from the female
fox, also fat from the inside of either sex is good. Mix all
together. It will surely draw the fox.
[Illustration: ADIRONDACK TRAPPER.]