LAND TRAPPING.
Following animals are trapped on land and in what is known as land
sets: Wolf, marten, bear, weasel, mountain lion, badger, fisher,
lynx, wild cat, civet, skunk, ring-tail cat, and opossum. Fox are
largely trapped on land, but in some sections they are taken in water
at bait sets; mink and coon are trapped on land as well as in the
water.
Wolves, being one of the shrewdest, methods for catching them will be
described first.
WOLVES AND COYOTES.
Find an old trail that the coyotes use, plant your trap in as narrow
a part of the trail as possible, fasten trap to a good toggle, bury
the toggle to one side of the trail. Have a blanket while doing the
work. Place all dirt on the blanket. After trap, chain and toggle are
put in place and wool has been put under pan, cover all nicely with
dirt from the blanket. The dirt should not be over one-fourth of an
inch deep. Leave everything looking as it did before you began.
Now have an old stick (not a fresh cut one) the size of your wrist
and long enough to reach across the trail and lay it about eight
inches from the trap and crosswise of the trail. A coyote won't step
on the stick, but will step over it every time. Use caution and leave
no human signs and you will get your coyote. This method is used
successfully in Texas, says a wolf trapper of that state.
The wolf is a pretty hard animal to trap, writes a Minnesota trapper.
Whenever he gets near a bait he is always shy and that is because he
can smell iron, but if you put a trap in his track and he comes along
he will walk right in and get caught. That is because he thinks there
is no danger in his own tracks. There are many times that he falls a
victim to the trap that way. I will describe a set most trappers use
here in the winter when there is snow on the ground.
They take some horse manure and haul it out on some plowed field and
make two heaps not very high and in one of them they put the bait and
in the other the traps. Four traps are mostly used, secured to a log.
Care must be taken not to cover the traps too much. The best bait, I
think, is the entrails from a hog.
Trappers for wolves should not use smaller than No. 3 traps. The No.
4 is known as the wolf trap and will be found suitable for all
sections. If wolves have been feasting off the carcass of a sheep,
calf or other animal, set your trap there. If you have plenty of
traps a half dozen set within eighteen inches of the carcass and
carefully covered up, should make a catch.
The trap and fastening, a weight and clog, be it remembered, should
be covered. If you dig up the ground in order to conceal the clog,
have a basket or something along to put the earth in and carry away
some distance. Everything must be left as natural as possible.
Another method is to hang up a dead chicken and place a trap directly
under it. Hang the fowl about three feet high.
The secret, at least one of them, in trapping is to leave everything
as natural as possible after setting your trap. Most animals will
regard with suspicion if there is much change around their den. In
the case of skunk it perhaps is not so particular, yet the trapper
who carefully conceals his traps will be well repaid for so doing.
Even when trapping for skunk you never know what animal may come
along.
Then to be ready, adopt the rule of always carefully covering your
traps. We all admit that the fox and wolf are shy animals and are
rather difficult to catch, yet they are frequently caught by trappers
who are only trapping for opossum or skunk. These trappers, of
course, had their traps carefully hidden. While fox and wolf are
among the smartest animals, yet they can be caught, as the thousands
of pelts sold annually is evidence. See to it, trappers, that every
trap is set and covered properly and you will be rewarded some
morning on visiting your trap by a fox or wolf if they are many in
your section.
[Illustration: WOLF CAUGHT AT BANK SET.]
Now a word about trapping those cute little coyotes, writes a
California trapper. The best way to catch anything that walks on four
legs is to make a fool of them. Some people may think that is "hot
air," but I know better.
The best way to fool an old coyote is to take a fresh sheep skin and
drag it, you riding on a horse, for a mile or so in the hills near
where your man is in the habit of going, (now be sure you don't touch
it with your hands) until you find an open hill not too high. Have a
stake there before hand and your traps set. The traps should be left
lying in the sheep pen for a week before setting.
When you get to the stake, hang your pelt on it, so when the wind
blows the pelt will move. Mr. Coyote will be sure to find the trail
you have made and will follow it until it sees the pelt, and then he
will walk around it for a night or so, but he will not get too near
the first night or three or four nights, but he will try to pull the
skin down and he will forget about the traps and everything else and
will be taken in just like all the other suckers.
My outfit consists of the following, writes a well known Western
trapper: Sixty No. 3 Newhouse single spring otter traps (I find they
will hold any wolf and are easier set than double spring traps), an
axe, 60 stakes 16 or 18 inches long, 12 or 15 pounds of wool or
cotton, wool preferred, 20 stakes 10 or 12 inches long, a piece of
oil cloth or canvas about 3 feet square, a light wagon and team, a
good rifle and four stag hounds. The hounds are trained so stay on
the wagon until told to go, and will nearly always get a coyote when
sent after him.
In setting traps I choose a high knoll or a bare spot on the
range--often the bed of a dry creek--where I see plenty of signs, and
then proceed as follows: Stick one of the small stakes where I want
the bait and from 20 to 24 inches from it lay a trap and stretch the
chain straight back, drive stake through chain ring and drive down
below the surface of the ground an inch or more. Then fix two more
traps the same way at the opposite points of a triangle. Set your
traps and place a good wad of wool under the pan so that rabbits and
other small game will not spring it, and then proceed to bed the
traps and chains, placing all the dirt on the canvas.
Now place your bait (I always use live bait if weather is not too
cold, but have had good success with dead bait). Lay an old dead hen
or other fowl in the center and drive small stakes through it into
the ground firmly; cover end of stake with wing or feathers of bait.
Now step back and take dirt from the canvas and cover traps 1/2 or
5/8 inch deep; also cover your own tracks, and brush over all with a
bush. If traps are well set it will be hard to tell where the traps
lay. All dirt that is left on canvas should be taken away some
distance and dropped. In using live bait proceed the same way with
traps, only bait should be tied by the feet with a good stout cord
and place a can of corn and one of water within reach of fowl, both
cans to be set into the ground level with surface. Do not go nearer
to traps than to see that they are not sprung and do not shoot or
club game in the traps, but choke to death with a copper wire on the
end of a pole; a good stout cord will answer the same purpose. Wipe
all blood off traps before setting again and brush out your tracks as
before, and above all, don't spit tobacco juice near your traps.
After catching one wolf or coyote, do not use more bait, as the scent
is strong enough to draw all that comes near. I do not use any patent
decoy or scents, as I consider them useless for any game. The only
scent I use is what I make myself, and then only use it from February
to April. In the summer I gather up four or five bitch dogs and as
fast as they come in heat I kill them and take the organs of
generation and pickle them in wide mouth bottles with alcohol enough
to cover. I sprinkle a few drops on a stone or bush, stick in center
between traps, but use no other bait. This is also good for fox.
The above method is the same as I learned it from an old Hudson Bay
trapper, Pierre Deverany, who was born in 1817 and had trapped all
through the British possessions and the Rocky Mountains, with whom I
trapped for several years.
LYNX, FISHER, WILD CAT.
Here is the method for the capture of a lynx. Where lynx follow up
trails, build a house around a tree, of brush, etc., leaving a small
door fronting the trail. Cut a rabbit or bird and tie it to the tree
in the house. Place a No. 4 or 14 Newhouse trap at the entrance,
covering with cotton or wool and boughs. Fasten your trap chain to a
clog; drag a rabbit up and down the trail past the house.
For a fisher build a small house and use No. 1 1/2 Newhouse trap and
bait with rabbit, bits of deer meat with the hair and skin left on is
also a good bait. Use a sliding pole or heavy drag, as the fisher
sometimes chews the drag to pieces.
Wild cat are trapped about the same as lynx. There are a great many
caught by making a cubby or enclosure where they cross or frequent in
search of birds, rabbits, etc. The bait is placed back in the cubby
and may be either bird, rabbit or fish.
The No. 1 1/2 and No. 2 Newhouse are used principally, altho the
Victor No. 3 and Oneida Jump No. 4 are both adapted to wild cat
trapping.
[Illustration: LYNX CAUGHT IN STEEL TRAP.]
The methods given for catching wild cat, lynx and fisher can and are
used by trappers for each of these animals. That is, the set
described for wild cat can be used for fisher and lynx, the lynx set
for fisher and wild cat and the fisher set for lynx and wild cat. In
other words, a set for any of these animals is good for all three.
MARTEN.
To begin with, when trapping for marten, says an Oregon trapper, use
only the best traps--No. 1 or 1 1/2 is plenty large enough--in fact,
larger traps cannot be used conveniently, for the reason that when
the ground is covered with deep snow and your traps are all fastened
high up on trees you must set them with your hands. With nothing to
rest your trap on except your knee and with fingers like icicles it
will require all the strength in your left hand to mash together the
spring of a good No. 1 1/2, while with the right you adjust the pan
and latch.
Do not fool away your time with a few traps, but of course just how
many you can use depends on how thick game is. View out your
prospective line during summer time. Some important essentials are:
pick out a line in very heavy timber, preferably along some high
ridge; work gradually up or down hill and avoid very steep places; a
line free from underbrush is desirable unless snow gets deep enough
to cover it all up; run your line as near straight as possible; avoid
making sharp turns for your blazes will at times be very hard to see
owing to snow on the bark of the trees and once off the line it may
be hard to find.
[Illustration: MARTEN CAUGHT IN SHELF SET.]
Do not make camps too far apart, eight miles is far enough when the
snow is soft and deep. Get your traps all strung out before snow
comes and have everything ready so as to lighten your work when the
time comes, for, even then, it will be hard enough.
Now, in setting traps, you cannot pick out likely places--hollow
trees, etc.--do not leave the line even for a few feet to set one in
that hollow tree else the trap is apt to be forgotten and lost. Give
every tree where a trap is left some mark to indicate its presence.
Use wire staples to fasten traps to the trees and they should be
fastened three or four feet above the ground. Set the trap or bend
the spring around to fit the curve of the tree. Now drive a 12 penny
nail in the tree an inch or so, place the trap so that the cross
piece rests flat on the nail and drive two smaller ones between the
spring and your trap rests same as if set on the ground. Nail small
piece of bait (squirrel, rabbit, or bird is best) eight or ten inches
above the trap.
If you desire to shelter the trap, drive a couple of wooden pegs
above the bait and lay on a piece of bark or some boughs--this is not
necessary if traps are to be looked after regularly, for you can keep
the snow brushed off. A large piece of bait is not necessary, but in
rebaiting do not remove the old bait, just nail up another. Sometimes
I have a half dozen baits by each trap. It is well to try each trap
occasionally to see if it will spring with just the right pressure.
If the bait is scarce, set the traps any way and you will soon have
enough birds and squirrels.
[Illustration: SHELF SET AND FASTENING.]
In visiting the line, always make your pack as light as possible,
four or five pounds of bait, a hatchet, a few nails and staples and a
small Stevens 22 cal. pistol is all you will be apt to need for one
hundred traps. If you are a trapper by nature, you will know where to
put the traps, close together and where there is a probability of
making a catch. Some places I put a trap every fifty yards and some
places one-half mile apart. Keep your traps freshly baited and do
something with each trap every three or four days, if nothing more
than to rub a piece of bacon rind or rabbit entrails from the top of
the snow to the bait. A drag is good at times and in some places.
Scent is good if bait is frozen.
WHITE WEASEL.
When trapping weasel, writes a Northern trapper, I set my traps near
small streams or in swamps, old ditches, beneath old roots and under
shelving banks, near running water, and sometimes they may be caught
in woodchuck holes. The white weasel and all other weasel are regular
dummies, going headlong into a trap, even if they are in plain view.
You don't need to cover up your trap at all unless you want to, as
the weasel will walk right in to get the bait and click bang and you
have your weasel hard and fast.
The best bait for weasel is rabbit heads, chicken heads and
squirrels. The same sets will also catch mink, but the traps must be
covered in that case unless you are making blind sets. I have caught
a good many weasel in my mink sets and then again, I have caught them
in old muskrat holes or dens along the banks of small streams and
also near river banks in deserted rat dens.
[Illustration: SQUIRREL CAUGHT ON STUMP.]
White weasel or ermine are found in Canada and the New England States
as well as all other states bordering on Canada, but rarely farther
south.
These animals, like all of the weasel kind, are active in their
search for food and are easily attracted to bait. They are the
smallest of the animals now being sought after by American trappers
for their fur. The No. 0 is used in taking this animal, altho many
trappers prefer the No. 1 and 1 1/2 as they catch high and the
trapper usually finds the weasel dead on his arrival.
MINK.
My father was a successful mink trapper but only trapped when they
became bothersome says an experienced trapper. He made mostly dry
sets. He would look carefully at a hole in bank of stream or pond,
then cut out a place for the trap, drive a stake in bottom of the
trap bed, coil trap chain around it and set trap on top, then cover
with finely cut grass, a big leaf or writing paper and lastly with
the material he took off the top trap bed. Then he cleared all extra
dirt away and put the bait in the edge of the hole or under the edge
of a stick or stone, if there was one near the hole.
I went with him once and I said, "Some trappers stick the bait on a
stick." He looked at me and said, "You young goose, did you ever know
a mink to eat part of a muskrat and hang the rest on a stick?" He
used bird, muskrat and fish for bait. If bird, he tore some feathers
out and made it appear as if some mink had dragged the bait there and
hid it.
For a mink that is not hungry, I find an old muskrat den or a runway
through a drift pile is a good place. The great trouble with these
two last sets is, the rabbits are liable to get into the trap instead
of the mink. There are a good many ways to catch mink, and there are
mink that will evade a good many well laid plans for their capture.
My most successful plan for catching mink is this: I get a hollow
log--it needn't be a long one--and if it is open at both ends I close
up one end, then a little back of that I put my bait. Now at the
other end if the entrance is not slanting so that the mink would run
into it easily, I make it so. I then put the trap inside, about a
foot from the entrance. The mink will run into the log because he
smells the bait, or simply because it is the nature of the beast to
make the run of every hollow log he comes to. Finding the other end
closed he will have to come back and he is sure to be caught either
going or coming. Trailing bait along the ground and up to the back of
the log makes the results surer, as mink are great on the scent.
About mink. One man said mink would not take anything dead unless he
was very hungry. Now Brother Trappers, you all know a mink will take
anything he finds dead and drag it into a hole if he can and when you
find where a mink has dragged something into a hole that is a never
failing set for if he is not in the hole when you find it he will
sure come back to it.
RACCOON.
Hollow trees in swamps are the favorite denning places of the
raccoon, writes an Eastern trapper of years of experience, but in
some sections he is found nearly as often in holes among ledges. If
there is a rocky hill or mountain side on your line, inspect it
thoroughly. The occupied dens may easily be told by the trodden
appearance of the ground about the entrance and an occasional tuft of
hair on the projecting edges of the stone. Here are the places for
your traps.
Set your traps just outside the entrance, cover well with leaves and
rotten wood, and fasten to a clog. We say outside the entrance, for
if the trap be placed at a point where the animal is obliged to
assume a crouching posture, it will be sprung by the creature's
belly, and you will find your trap empty save for a fringe of hair.
Even if the dens show no signs of recent occupation, a few traps can
hardly be misplaced, for the raccoon, like every other animal,
frequently goes on foraging trips long distances from his actual
home, taking up temporary quarters in places like those above
described.
[Illustration: RACCOON CAUGHT IN ONEIDA JUMP.]
Whenever there is a brook or creek in the vicinity of good raccoon
ground, look along it carefully for signs. The raccoon follows the
streams almost as persistently as the mink in quest of frogs, fish or
clams, and his track may be easily found along the muddy borders, the
print of the hind foot strikingly resembling that of a baby's bare
foot. He is a far less skillful fisher than the mink, usually
confining himself to such unwary swimmers as venture up into the
shallow water near the bank. He seldom if ever I believe, goes into
deep water.
If you find evidence that a raccoon is patrolling a stream, place a
trap without bait at the end of every log affording a crossing place.
The raccoon seldom wades or swims when he can find dry footing.
If you wish to trap the raccoon by baiting, you will find nothing
that he likes better than an old salt fish skin that has been made
odorous by being well smoked. It is not a bad idea to do the smoking
near where you are to set the trap. Build up a little stick fire in
the woods, hold the fish skin impaled on a green stick, over it until
it is thoroughly heated and smoked through, and an odor will be
created that will pervade the woods for rods around. And of course if
this scent reaches the nostrils of any near-by ringtail that is
sleeping away the day, he will lose no time after nightfall in
tracing out the source of the appetizing smell, and endeavoring to
make a supper off his favorite food. Mice, squirrel, frogs and
chicken heads are all good baits, and they are equally good for mink.
Most trappers prefer the No. 1 1/2 Newhouse for raccoon although some
use the No. 2 double spring. The Oneida Jump No. 2 and 2 1/2 are also
good coon traps as is the H. & N. No. 2. The Stop Thief No. 3 1/2 is
also used for coon.
FOXES.
Now I will tell you how foxes can be caught on land when the ground
is frozen, writes a New England trapper. Take a large bait, entrails
or anything that a fox will eat, and put it in some field where the
foxes travel; put out with this bait three bags of buckwheat chaff.
Don't set any traps until foxes begin to eat bait and walk on chaff.
Then take a No. 2 Newhouse trap, smoke it over burning green fir
boughs, and smear it with equal parts of oil of amber and beeswax;
also, smear the chain and use leather mitts to set trap with, for it
is no use setting unless you do. Bury the trap about a foot from the
bait, and cover it with chaff. Make everything level and natural.
When you catch a fox, take him out with mitts on and set again if you
haven't a clean trap to put in its place. Always set a clean trap if
possible.
[Illustration: RED FOX CAUGHT AT DRY LAND SET.]
My way of catching foxes, writes a Georgia trapper is as follows: I
get a lot of dry dust, put it in the hen house and let it stay until
I get ready to make my sets; then I take what I can carry handily in
a sack to where the foxes "use", dig a hole deep enough for my trap,
place a piece of burnt bacon in a hole, cover it up with the dust,
burn more bacon, letting the grease drop on and around the dust.
I fix a good many of these places but I do not set my traps the first
trip. The next trip I carry my traps with me. If the foxes have found
my bait they will dig it out. I then set my trap in the bottom of the
hole, driving a stake down in the hole to fasten the trap to. Cover
the trap chain and all with dust. I do not put new bait in the hole,
but burn more bacon on top.
Try this, brother trappers, and watch results. Do not set traps where
the bait has not been disturbed. Carry away all fresh dirt and handle
your traps with gloves. In water trapping, form a natural surface
over your traps and you will get furs.
I see different ways to catch the fox. They are all right but no
person can tell another and guarantee success. The man or boy who
sets right will get the fur but careless ones will not. I am going to
tell amateurs and boys the secret of an old time trapper. He is alive
yet and I guess had a few traps set (altho over eighty years old.) He
told me the secret and said at that time he had never told any one
but me.
First put out offal of butchering such as beef head; pick out a good
place where foxes travel; at the same time, singe the fur on a rabbit
or two and put near where you want to set trap; commence baiting
early and go there often. Go past close to where you want to set a
trap; don't tramp around much but go on thru, not leaving the end of
your trail there; renewing bait and singed rabbit fur as needed.
When ready to set traps, boil them in ashes. Then after drying,
fasten traps to bottom of a barrel and burn slowly a lot of rabbit
fur under them; handle as little as possible. Set carefully and catch
your fox if you can and you can if you are careful enough. He said he
caught fifteen in one place that way in one winter. Fasten trap to
drag so he can go away and not spoil set.
My best method is to set my trap in an old log road or path where
there is no traveling done. We should set the trap level with the
ground. The trap should be a No. 2 Newhouse which is the best fox
trap made.
OPOSSUM.
The opossum is not a cunning animal and takes bait readily. It is
found in the Southern and Central States principally. This animal
cannot live in the extreme north as they die from the severe weather.
They are caught principally in No. 1 Newhouse traps, at dens or
places they frequent in search of food. Almost any fresh meat is good
bait: rabbit, squirrel, bird, chicken, etc.
[Illustration: OPOSSUM CAUGHT IN NO. 1 NEWHOUSE.]
The trap can be baited when used at den but this is not necessary.
Along their trails and in thickets they visit a piece of bait
suspended a foot or so above the ground and trap under, carefully
covered, will catch the opossum. They are also caught by building a
pen of stakes, or chunks and stones placing bait in the back part and
setting trap in front also at hollow logs where they frequently live.
No. 1 Newhouse trap is used a great deal for this animal, although
the No. 1 Victor will hold them; No. 2 Oneida Jump, or No. 2 Tree
Trap, are proper sizes to catch this animal.
The Tree Trap can be used to advantage in catching opossum as this
trap is so made that it can be nailed to a tree or stump and baited.
BADGER.
The badger is a strong animal for its size, and also slow in its
movements. The No. 2 is as small a trap as trappers generally use.
The traps are set at the entrance to their dens, carefully covered
and should be fastened to a moveable clog.
In setting for badger the trapper should carefully remove enough
earth to bed the trap level. A piece of paper or long grass is then
carefully placed on trap, and this covered lightly with the same
material removed in making the excavation. This set is apt to reward
the trapper. If care is taken in making this set a fox may be caught,
as they sometimes frequent dens used by badger.
SKUNK.
A Skunk is one of the easiest animals, whose fur is valuable that
there is to trap. This animal is one of the first to become prime in
the fall. Likewise it sheds early in the spring. When the weather
becomes severe they den up, coming out only on the warmer nights. In
the North they are seldom out after real winter begins, while in the
South, they seek food more or less throughout the winter.
The greatest number are trapped at their dens which can be easily
told by the long tail hairs found in and near the mouth of den. These
hairs may be either white or black, but are usually both--one end
white and the other black. These hairs are from three to five inches
in length.
[Illustration: BLACK SKUNK IN NO. 1 1/2 VICTOR.]
The dens can also be told by their droppings or manure which is
usually found a few feet to one side of the den. Skunk "droppings"
can be told by observing closely as it contains parts of bugs,
grass-hoppers, etc., the skunk being very fond of these.
At such dens place your trap which should be a No. 1 Newhouse, No. 1
1/2 Victor, or No. 2 Jump. While catches may be made without any
covering it is best to secret the trap carefully for a fox might
happen along, or if near water, a mink.
The best place to put the trap is just at the entrance of den so that
an animal in coming out will get caught also one going near to the
den, but not entering as they often do.
Remove the earth sufficient to bed the trap so that after it is
covered the covering will be on a level with the surroundings. Make a
covering with whatever you removed. If there is grass in mouth of
den, cover with grass, if leaves, cover with leaves, etc.
Another good set is to find where skunk are feeding, digging for
insects, or their trails leading from one den to another, and make a
cubby, placing bait in it, and setting trap. Bait should be rabbit,
squirrel, chicken, bird, or in fact, almost any kind of meat.
[Illustration: BAITED AND CAUGHT AT CUBBY SET.]
CIVET.
Civet or civet cats are caught much the same way as skunk. This is
the little spotted animal often called pole cat, and smaller than the
skunk. Skunks have a spot on the head and two stripes while the civet
has several stripes and these sometimes run across the body instead
of along the back from head to tail as on the skunk.
This animal is caught much the same as the skunk, but being much
smaller does not require as strong a trap and the No. 1 of most any
make will usually hold this animal. Bait the same as for skunk.
RING TAIL CAT.
The Ring Tail cat or Basarisk is found principally in Texas, although
there are some in California, Oregon and Washington. They can be
trapped by baiting with insects, frogs or mice. The No. 1 Newhouse,
or No. 1 1/2 Victor, or No. 2 Oneida Jump are correct sizes for this
animal.
The traps can be set about as for skunk or may be placed on logs and
baited or the bait can be nailed to a tree that they frequent, the
trap placed beneath and carefully covered.
BEAR.
Bear are caught after finding a place that they visit in search of
food, by building a "cubby", made by driving old dry stakes in the
ground so as to form a V-shaped pen. Then cover all except the
entrance with green brush. This should be three feet high, about two
wide, and about three or four feet long.
If a rock or old log is laying where the cubby is to be built it can
be used for one side. The "cubby" must be built strong or the bear is
apt to tear it down and secure the bait without getting caught.
The bait can be a piece of dead horse, hog, sheep, or most any
animal, and the more it stinks, the better. Fish is also good bait.
Stake the bait back in the cubby, and set the trap at the entrance.
Cover carefully. The trap should be fastened to a clog weighing
thirty pounds or more. This clog should be several feet long and if a
few knots are left on so much the better.
The Nos. 5, 15, and 150, are all adapted for black bear, while the
No. 6 is especially designed for grizzly bear. It is the largest trap
made.
[Illustration: THERE TO STAY--IN A NEWHOUSE.]
In setting bear traps the Newhouse champ, described elsewhere, is
much used. It is not very safe for a lone trapper in the forest to
undertake the setting of a powerful steel trap without clamps.
MOUNTAIN LION.
Mountain lion are powerful animals yet they are successfully caught
in No. 4 1/2 Newhouse traps.
[Illustration: MOUNTAIN LION SECURELY CAUGHT.]
If you find where mountain lions have killed an animal and left part
of it there is the place to set a trap for they are almost sure to
return in a night or two.
This animal is also frequently caught by setting a trap where deer or
other game has been killed. The chances are good if there is a lion
near it will smell the blood and be attracted to the spot as many
hunters know that have killed game, dressed and left it until the
next day, to find on returning that a lion had been there and helped
itself.
In setting for this animal the trap should be fastened to a
clog--never solid--as they are quite strong.