SOME DEEP WATER SETS.
When the rivers and lakes are fast bound with the grip of winter, it
is not always convenient to find a suitable place to set a beaver or
otter trap under the ice, says Martin Hunter in the H-T-T. The shore
line may drop away into too deep water to set at the bank, or, it may
be uneven rocks which preclude the possibility of making a safe and
sure set.
When such conditions confront the trapper, it is good to know how to
set a trap in deep water. It was a Mic-Mac Indian who showed me how
and on several occasions I have found the knowledge very useful and
profitable. In fact, more than once had I not known this, the
conditions were such that it would have been utterly impossible for
me to have set in the usual way. In after years, during my sojourn
amongst Montagnais, Algonquins and Ojbway Indians, I never came
across any trapper of these tribes who knew how to set a trap in deep
water.
For beaver especially, what better place than in the proximity of
their lodge? And what more successful time than in January or
February, when their winter supply of wood has become sodden and
slimy from months of submersion.
Then cut an opening in the ice, off from the lodge entrance, and
introduce a birch or popple sapling into the hole, cover the opening
up with snow and come back in a couple of days, chisel about the
protruding sticks and pull them out. Oh! where are they? You will
find only the stumps in your hand. The beaver has come and cut the
succulent young trees off close to the under surface of the ice and
towed them away to his lodge. Now, if you could only set a trap there
and place more flesh food you would most likely get that beaver, but
the water is deep. Your baiting hole is away from the shore thirty or
forty feet and you measure the depth and find six or seven feet of
water. Again you scratch your head and are sore perplexed.
But, my fellow trappers, it is right here where I step in and show
you the way to overcome the difficulty. Had I not caught beaver under
such conditions I would not presume to teach others, but I have
trapped them this way and always with success. And as for otter,
setting in deep water is much surer than at an opening in a dam or
other place which is likely to freeze up and put the trap out of
order.
Now if you will follow me I will describe a "deep water set" in as
clear a way as possible, so that any ordinary trapper ought to be
able to use it successfully. Cut a trench in the ice thru to clear
water, fourteen to eighteen inches broad by four feet long; clear
this hole free from any floating particles of ice, cut (dry if
possible) a young spruce or tamarac, twelve to fifteen feet long.
Have it three or four inches in diameter at the butt end, branch it
off from end to end and rub off with axe blade all loose bark.
Introduce the small end into the water obliquely, shoving it down in
the mud or sand of the bottom, with the butt end resting on the ice
at one end of the opening. If the pole is too long to get the proper
angle, take it out and cut off the surplus. This dry pole is to set
the trap on and has to be at the proper incline so that when the
beaver is swimming while cutting the bait sticks, he sets off the
trap. When the pole is in the proper position, mark with your axe or
chisel about twelve or fifteen inches under the level of the water.
Now take out the pole and hew a flat surface, at the spot previously
marked, about a foot long. Slant your pole sideways and drive in the
corner of your axe half an inch under the hewed flat surface, drive
the axe until the pole is almost split in twain. If the opening wants
to close back too tight, introduce a small sliver of wood. Now set
your No. 4 trap; run the ring up the pole above where the trap is to
rest and secure it there with a piece of wire or a small staple.
Force the spear part of the bottom of the trap into the split, chuck
up to the main bottom part that engages the ends of the jaw. The trap
is now in place.
[Illustration: DEEP WATER SET TRAP FASTENING.]
When there is a muddy or sandy bottom, the better way is to allow
enough length of pole to bury a foot or so into the bottom. This will
hold the pole secure and prevent rolling. Now take two nice, young,
juicy popple or young birch, branch them off clear to the small end
and have them six to nine feet long; put them in small end first and
place one on each side of trap, five inches from it and about the
same above. These pieces of food wood can be kept in proper place by
packing the butt ends down on the solid ice and putting snow and
water on top.
If it is at all cold it will get solid in a few moments. Next process
is to cut fifteen or twenty young spruce trees a couple of inches in
diameter and about five feet long; place these straight up and down
outside the popple wood. This will form a fence at each side with
spaces four inches apart. Right up at the end where all your work
centers, a few dry branches can be forced in and down to prevent the
animal from cutting away the food from the back. With a little
practice you can have all this fixed to a nicety.
The beaver entering from the lower slope of the wood and swimming up
to gnaw the sticks close to the ice, sets off the trap and in his
struggles he pulls it clear from the cleft and in a few moments is
drowned. After all is in shape the opening in the ice is dusted over
with snow and left to freeze.
In visiting the trap at the end of two or three days, it is only
necessary to chisel a very small hole to see if the trap or bait are
displaced. This can be readily ascertained by lying flat on the ice,
partly cover your head with your coat or blanket and with your face
close to the hole all objects in a few moments will become clear.
For otter set, the trap pole is made in the same way, but instead of
popple or birch, a small fish is used for bait. Skewer it from the
dorsal fin thru to the stomach and suspend it above and back of the
trap at the proper distance. As it appears in its natural position in
the water and the skewer is hardly visible, an otter swimming past
takes it for a live fish and in dashing for his meal gets caught.
I have found this set very successful in creeks and small rivers,
even in setting out from the shore.
Otters, like mink, have their feeding grounds on lakes and connecting
rivers and are sure to skirt the shores in swimming down or up
stream. If the stream is very broad it will be as well to have a trap
on each shore and thus enhance the certainty of getting his fur.
The best fish for an otter set is white fish or trout a pound and a
half to two pounds. By changing the bait once a week your trap can be
kept set all winter without getting out of order.
[Illustration: SKINNING A BOB CAT.]
Back of this article I mentioned "chisel." A chisel is almost a
necessity to a trapper, especially if the ice is thick. With only an
axe the trapper gets splashed all over and when this freezes he is in
a most uncomfortable state. A good strong ice chisel can be had in
the ordinary one and a half-inch carpenter's mortising chisel. Have a
hole drilled thru both sides of the socket about three-quarters of an
inch from the rim, carry a stout screw in your pocket and the chisel
in your bag or bundle.
When necessary to use the chisel for ice trenching, cut a dry sound
young sapling, six feet long, take off most of the bark and point the
end the required length and shape off the socket by knocking the end
of the handle against a nearby tree or rock. The chisel becomes
firmly fixed. Now introduce the screw into one of the holes and with
your axe bang it clear thru and out on the other side. The screw used
for this purpose should be one and three-quarters inches long.
When finished with your chisel, if not likely to be required again at
that place, it may be chopped off the handle and at your first fire
the socket part can be placed in hot ashes or close to the blaze
until the wood stump is so charred that it will readily scrape out,
securing the screw for another time. Ice chisels are indispensable to
any one trapping beaver, otter or mink, and no Indian would consider
his outfit complete without one. I have seen them made out of the
prong of a deer antler. This was before the imported article was
introduced into the far back country. The horn was sharpened to a
cutting edge at the business end and the shank lashed to the handle
with deer skin thongs.