an opposite slope if only it can be made to move around slowly,
the latter being important, as shots in such cases have usually to
be fired at long distance, and the ability to hit running game at
three hundred or four hundred yards is not possessed by everybody.
An imitation of the lamenting cry of a jack-rabbit serves me best
in such cases, though it has often saved the game I was after,
because it has attracted a wolf, or a cat; and I would rather kill
one "varmint" than half a dozen bucks, which last can at best elude
a man who knows how to track for but a limited length of time.
[Illustration: HUNTING WITH THE WIND
The stand is at 2 if the hunter is alone, and uses only his scent
or pipe smoke to drive the deer out of the thicket. If a smudge
is used for this purpose, as is necessary in big thickets, the
stand is at 1, and if the hunter has a companion, one stands at
1, and the other at 2. A smudge should be made distant enough
from the thicket--about at 3--to give the hunter time to go
around, and take his stand at 1.]
The sketch of leaps of wounded animals apply to all of our hoofed
game except bighorn sheep. In any case, where one of them has been
fired at, the trail should be followed for at least two hundred
yards, as often an animal that goes away with the bounds of an
apparently sound creature, will announce its distress through the
placing of its feet, a sure indication to the tracker that he will
be able to get his victim at the trail's end.
PART ONE
_GROUP II_
THE JACK-RABBIT
The jack-rabbit is generally a resident of open country, though he
may be found also in woodlands; and, in some parts of the country,
when deep snow covers the lowlands, he retires to the fastnesses of
the mountains, where, up to altitudes of eight thousand feet, he
frequents the range of Bighorn.
He is unquestionably the delight of the hunter who desires to
acquire efficiency in hitting moving objects with a rifle bullet.
[Illustration: JACK-RABBIT]
His tracks, being the biggest of the rabbit tribe, cannot very
well be mistaken for those of any other animal. On sandy or muddy
places often only the imprint of the front part of the hind foot
is seen; and on hard roads, plow furrows, etc., usually the mark
of the toenails alone is visible. When the animal is feeding or
moving along slowly, the whole imprints of the hind feet are left,
while with increasing speed only the front parts of them touch the
ground. The forefeet rarely pair, and never if a jack-rabbit is
running. If the long-eared fellow decides in the morning that it
is time to retire for the day, he usually runs along a road,
cattle-runway, or the like, returns in his own trail, and by a long
side leap makes the trail seem to end. Where he lands, the four
footmarks are usually so close together that they can be almost
covered with the hand. He may leap directly into his "form," or
he may repeat the same maneuver several times; but one thing is
certain, a jack which acts in this manner is never far from home.
If pursued during the daytime, he employs the same tactics again
and again to throw the pursuer off the trail. At feeding places
slight forms are often observed, and to follow the trail leading
from them means, as a rule, a tiring walk, as those forms indicate
that the jack has spent the after-supper hours there.
[Illustration: JACK RABBIT
(1) Morning trail (easy lope). (2) Moving slowly. (3) Speeding.
(A) Side-jump. (B) Day form. (E) Night forms. (B to D)Morning
trail and night trail (feeding).]
I have hunted with men who blamed their dogs if they failed to
catch a rabbit with a broken foreleg. They evidently did not
consider that a broken foreleg is of very little consequence to the
running efficiency of that kind of animal. One with an injured hind
leg, however, can be run down easily.
[Illustration: JACK RABBIT. (TWO-THIRDS NATURAL SIZE)
(A) Front foot. (B) Hind foot.]
THE VARYING HARE
THE Varying Hare, though scarcely half the size of the jack-rabbit,
makes almost as large a track, and when he spreads his feet in
passing over frozen snow his tracks are fully as large. The
entire track picture, however, differs materially from that of
the jack--the individual tracks stand much closer together, and
the feet are usually paired. The hare makes many different track
pictures, but he cannot long refrain from making the jump--shown
slightly reduced in the illustration--and a following of the trail
for a short distance will always dispel any existing doubt, even if
the individual tracks are larger than those of a young jack-rabbit.
There is a much greater likelihood of mistaking the varying hare's
trail for that of the cottontail rabbit, with which it has many
points of resemblance. Only the slenderness of the rabbit's foot
serves as a distinguishing feature in the trail so long as they
are both unalarmed. If, however, they are put on the quick jump,
the similarity of the two trails disappears.
[Illustration: VARYING HARE]
[Illustration: VARYING HARE. (SLIGHTLY REDUCED)]
[Illustration:
(1) At leisure (one to three feet). (2) Steady lope (three to
five feet); the front tracks blend into one mark. (3) On the
quick jump (five to twelve feet).
Varying Hare track when the snow is deeper than a couple of
inches.
VARYING HARE TRACKS]
THE COTTONTAIL RABBIT
AS can be easily seen from a comparison of the life-size track
picture of the varying hare and cottontail--drawn from tracks made
under the same tracking conditions, _i. e._, on ground covered by
about two inches of snow, and while the animals were running at
approximately the same speed--the tracks of the cottontail, besides
being much more slender than those of the hare, are also more
pencil-shaped at the point of the toes. The toes are but faintly
indicated, and the toenails practically indiscernible, while in the
case of the hare both are plainly visible; in fact, the imprint of
the toenails is a prominent feature in the track of the hare. In
every case where any doubt exists in regard to the tracks of the
two small varieties, this alone is sufficient to settle it; as the
toe marks are more prominent in the front track, its appearance
alone is sufficient for the trailer to form a correct conclusion.
Except when jumping with the hind feet into the front tracks two
individual tracks of the cottontail never blend into one mark on
account of the slenderness of the feet. The jump picture of both
the small rabbits in dry snow sometimes appears very much like that
of the marten; but by following the trail for a short distance one
will always dispel any doubt.
[Illustration: Cottontail Rabbit Tracks--(1) At leisure. (2) In a
hurry.]
In illustrated articles the writer has seen drawings and
photographs of tracks and trails claimed to have been made by the
New England cottontail which looked exactly like those made by
the varying hare. If there was no mistake in identification, the
Western cottontail, which the illustrations represent, evidently
makes tracks entirely different from those of the Eastern variety.
There is every reason to believe, however, that the track of the
same type of rabbit is the same in every part of the country.
[Illustration: COTTON TAIL RABBIT]
While the pursuit of big game is exciting sport at times, hunting
rabbits is always attended with soul-satisfying fun. A famous
occupant of the White House found recreation and pleasure in it,
and I believe that few hunters who ever entered into the true
spirit of the sport have failed to obtain a great deal of pleasure
and healthful exercise.
[Illustration: COTTONTAIL RABBIT
The dotted line shows the real length of foot.]
THE SQUIRREL
THE squirrel practically always pairs its feet when on the ground.
Like the other members of Group II its hind feet are much larger
than the forefeet, and, as in the track-picture, are always planted
ahead of the latter. The hind feet point outward, so that even
by imperfect imprints, it may readily be seen in which direction
the trail leads. As there is no other track known to the writer
which could be confused with the squirrel's, it is not necessary
to describe it; the illustration serves every purpose. Where the
remains of the feast of a "varmint" are left in the woods--meat,
entrails, or bones--squirrel tracks are found in great numbers,
and the tyro is liable to take them for those of other animals.
Ordinarily a careful look is sufficient to disillusion him, both as
to the identity of the tracks and the diet of the squirrel.
[Illustration: SQUIRREL. (ABOUT TWO-THIRDS NATURAL SIZE)]
Besides tracks, the squirrel leaves other signs which betray its
presence in the woods--heaps of cone chips near stumps and other
elevations, or strewn under trees one may find twigs from which
buds have been eaten. Sometimes the cries of birds whose nests
the squirrel may be robbing of eggs or young, will betray his
presence. It is an entertaining pastime to hunt squirrels with a
small-caliber rifle.
The writer considers the squirrel one of the most injurious
creatures of our woods, and believes that in hunting him it is
better to use some other weapon than the noisy shotgun.
PART ONE
_GROUP III_
THE MARTEN AND THE BLACK-FOOTED FERRET
THOUGH their habitat is entirely different, these two animals make
very similar tracks and trails, so they are properly treated of in
the same division.
While the marten is a resident of the woods, the black-footed
ferret never leaves the open prairie, where it lives in abandoned
prairie-dog holes, usually leaving its hole every second night,
unless it happens to kill a rabbit. It is the most relentless enemy
of the rabbit, and lives almost exclusively on its flesh.
The track of the black-footed ferret is about the size of a
small marten's, but in soft snow the soles of the toes show more
prominently than those of the latter, whose strongly haired feet
usually cause the sole marks to appear rather indistinct.
Sometimes the trail of the marten looks like that of the
cottontail, but if followed for a short distance it always assumes
again the form of a parallel trapeze, the evidence of the usual
marten motion to which the ferret adheres at all times except in
the pursuit of prey.
[Illustration:
Marten track (one-third natural size), showing the four foot
marks (not the usual jump, see trails). The black-footed ferret
makes a slightly smaller track and shows not quite so much hair.]
There is no reason for mistaking one for the other, because, as
aforesaid, they do not inhabit the same locality; but if one does
not know of the existence of the wild ferret, then, of course,
one might track a supposed marten on the prairie--as did the writer
when he first came West--where that animal never has been found.
[Illustration:(1) Marten tracks. The lower part of the left-hand
drawing shows the usual marten motion, namely, the jump. The
upper part of the same drawing shows the walk, which is always
only for a short distance. (2) The black-footed ferret always
pairs its feet and never walks. (3) Running.]
Tracking marten and shooting them is as successful a method as
trapping them.
If ferrets are tracked and their skin is wanted whole, a trap not
smaller than a No. 4 should be set at the entrance of the hole,
as the pretty "varmint" mutilates himself if trapped and not soon
killed. If a ferret runs a rabbit into a hole he may not leave it
for two or three weeks, otherwise, as stated, the ferret usually
travels forth every second night.
THE OTTER
IT can be seen from the accompanying illustration of front and hind
tracks that the footmarks of the otter are rather unusually round;
and on hard ground, which allows but a slight impression, the
almost circular standing imprints of toes and heel show plainly. If
the individual tracks are invisible in dry snow, the form of the
trail, together with the drag made at intervals by the long tail of
the otter, obviates any doubt as to what animal has made the trail.
The otter has a habit of leaving the streams along which he
lives, or which he visits, at regular places, and makes what are
called slides near which parts of fish are frequently scattered.
Excrements containing fish bones found on boulders and promontories
in the rivers are unmistakable otter signs that betray his
presence, even if no tracks or slides are seen along the banks of
the stream.
[Illustration: OTTER. (SLIGHTLY LESS THAN HALF NATURAL SIZE)
(A) Right forefoot track. (B) Right hind-foot track. (1) Jumping.
(2) Walking. (3) Running. The shaded line shows the drag of the
tail.]
The otter is perhaps the greatest wanderer among the mammals, and
may, therefore, frequently be found where he was supposed to be
extinct; though if he visits a trout-stream or pond he usually
makes his stay long enough to deplete it to a greater extent than
a host of fishermen would.
Where otter signs are seen along small streams or at favorable
places along rivers, waiting for them with a shotgun during
evenings and moonlight nights usually yields satisfactory results.
If one is shot, and there is no danger of the current taking it
away, it is well to keep quiet for a time, as they often fish in
pairs, and the second frequently gives as good a chance for a shot
as the first.
The whistling call of the otter can easily be imitated, and at big
rivers on a clear night calling them is good sport. However, the
sportsman must be patient, as the otter will answer immediately,
but will take his own time in coming. On small streams it is well
to post oneself as near as possible to the water, as otherwise the
otter will pass unseen in the shadow of the bank.
Sometimes the otter travels for miles on land, and if daylight
surprises him there he will hunt shelter for the day in any
convenient hole. A trap set in it, and the entrance closed with a
boulder is usually the easiest way to get his skin.
As the animal is especially destructive in trout streams the
sportsman gunner will always do a great favor to the disciple of
the rod when he closes the career of one of these four-footed
poachers.
THE MINK
THE mink track presents some similarity to those of the marten and
the black-footed ferret, but it is much smaller than that of the
marten, and the toe-marks are even more prominent than those of
the ferret, for which it might be mistaken at times if it were not
that the form of the trails is different. The mink never travels
for long distances without showing at least three tracks plainly in
the jump-picture, while the ferret practically never does this. The
track of the ferret is found near ice-bound streams only when it
crosses them to reach other hunting-grounds, while the mink, being
almost as skilful at catching fish as the otter, generally travels
along a stream's course.
In destructiveness to small game the mink is perhaps only equaled
by the domestic cat, which, in remote districts, he resembles in
the habit of hunting at all hours of the day.
[Illustration: MINK. (LESS THAN ONE-HALF NATURAL SIZE)
(A) Left front-track. (B) Hind-tracks (a characteristic track
picture). (1) Ordinary jump. (2) Easy running. (3) Running.]
Trapping is practically the only paying method of hunting him. When
he goes upstream he leaves the water below rapids and travels along
its edge usually until he again reaches quiet water. If a trap is
placed in the intervening space--the trail of the animal will
show the trapper the best point--every mink in that vicinity may
be caught without the trouble of baiting traps, which is a rather
uncertain method where game and fish are plentiful.
[Illustration: MINK]
THE ERMINE
ALL lovers of our feathered song-birds kill the weasel at every
opportunity, believing it to be one of the deadliest enemies to
bird-life; and if sportsmen bear in mind that every time it gets
a chance the little marauder fastens its teeth in the neck of
a grouse or a rabbit, they will undoubtedly show it no mercy.
Considering, however, the number of injurious rodents it kills,
it is doubtful if this "little marten" is, on the whole, more
destructive than useful. Certainly it does no more harm than the
absolutely useless squirrel. I leave it to others to argue whether
it should be killed or spared. I do not spare it in ruffed grouse
cover and near home, where I wish to give the birds absolute
protection.
Its tracks and trail, with the exception of the walk, which the
weasel does not use where it could be tracked, are exact miniatures
of those of its large relative, the marten, and are, judging from
personal observations, frequently mistaken for those of other
animals even by sportsmen of long standing. One will mistake its
trail for that of the deer, another for that of a coyote, fox or
lynx, and still another, under favorable tracking conditions, will
confound its track with that of the mink or ferret. In loose snow,
when its trail is likely to be mistaken for that of any of those
mentioned, it should be considered that the jumps of the ermine
constantly vary in length, while the individual tracks made by the
other named animals usually stand a regular distance apart.
If the tracker follows an ermine's tracks which he takes to be
those of a mink, he should soon discover that the animal has
entered every hole and crevice along the trail, and that, judging
by the number of tracks around them, it found rock piles, logs,
brush heaps, etc., very interesting and attractive. Now, marten or
mink investigate these things simply by passing over or through
them--if they do not stop inside--but they never make regular paths
around them as the ermine does. Besides this, the ermine makes a
track hardly one-third as large as that of a small marten.
[Illustration: ERMINE TRACKS. (HIND FEET, LIFE SIZE)
(1) Ordinary jump. (2) Running.]
I have again and again pointed out the above features to men with
whom I have hunted, yet, presumably on account of not being thrown
on their own resources at the time, they seemingly paid little
attention to them, for I observed that they repeated their mistakes
just as soon as opportunity offered. The secret of successful
trailing can be acquired only by the careful and observant.
The features of a track or trail, once they are thoroughly
impressed on the mind, will always be remembered; and he who is
too careless to take note of them, even when they are pointed out,
has only himself to blame if he spends time--hours perhaps--in the
pursuit of the trail of an animal he does not want.
PART ONE
_GROUP IV_
THE BEAVER
[Illustration: BEAVER]
THE beaver was once distributed to a vast extent all over the
globe, but is now found in comparatively few sections of the
Old and New Worlds, and nowhere in great abundance. The state
of Montana, which until recently had the largest number of them
within its boundaries, joined, during 1907, those States where
this interesting animal is practically extinct, and the blackening
"beaver stumps" along its streams bear witness to the shame of
the legislative assembly of 1907, which left the beaver without
protection. For the extermination of the beaver in this State the
wealthy classes, and not the trappers, must bear the blame, for
without the consent of the former the trapper could not even have
decreased the number of them without endangering his own liberty.
[Illustration: BEAVER. (ABOUT ONE-HALF NATURAL SIZE)
(A) Track of right hind foot. (B) Track of right forefoot.]
Where the beaver _is_ protected, he increases rapidly, and if
hunted with a rifle, he affords as much excitement as any game
that roams the woods.
[Illustration: BEAVER STUMP]
[Illustration: THE BEAVER'S HOME]
Business instinct, as well as sportsmanship, should urge sportsmen
to concerted action in order to preserve and increase the
comparatively few beaver colonies now left on our continent.
[Illustration: BEAVER TRAILS OR SLIDES]
[Illustration: BEAVER TRAIL
The third toe touches the center line.]
The beaver's tracks most strikingly represent the fourth group of
mammals in this treatise. In the effort to support and steady the
body adequately, the animal endeavors to plant its feet as near as
possible under the center of its body, but its corpulency prevents,
and the result is a track so ridiculous that it is laughable. The
front tracks are covered with the hind feet, the third toenails of
which reach the center line, and the heel of which stand, according
to the size of the specimen which made the trail, from four to
eight inches from it. The nails of the two inside toes of the hind
feet are but to a limited extent visible as the web between the
toes protrudes them. Where the beaver is scarce and much pursued,
the imprint of a forefoot near the water's edge may be discovered
occasionally here and there; in this case the prominence of the
toenails is unmistakable. I may state here, that a front track at
the water's edge is often the only sign which may be found along
a stream where beavers have become very wary; they seem to be
able to live on almost nothing--leaves, roots, etc.--for not a
single cutting can be discovered in such cases. Where not sought
extensively, the hunter seldom notes the tracks of this aquatic
fur-bearer; cut willows or tree stumps are, if not a surer, at
least a more easily distinguished indication of their presence,
while on much-used slides the tracks could not be seen anywhere.
It has been the writer's experience that in every case in which he
observed the building of a new house by one of these animals, the
builder was invariably a female providing for a happy family event.
THE BADGER
ON our continent there is no other animal which is responsible for
so many broken necks and limbs as the badger. While in pursuit of
his prey, he digs holes in the ground, which when grown over with
weeds or grass, are almost certain death-traps for the unwary rider.
The man who enjoys riding after wolves or the fox considers the
badger as a menace, and is never likely to look upon it with any
degree of favor, notwithstanding its decided usefulness as a
destroyer of undesirable rodents. I myself bit the dust of the
prairie four times within a couple of months on account of this
animal, though there was no further damage than a broken gunstock
and sore limbs. I have since killed everyone of the tribe when a
chance offered, though with some feeling of regret on account of
their desirable features.
The track of the badger is striking from the prominence of the
five-nail marks of the forefeet and the twisted inward appearance
of the hind track which usually stands squarely in the front track.
Considering the size of the tracks, the step-marks stand close
together--about seven inches--and, as in all animals of this group,
to some extent off from the center line.
[Illustration: BADGER]
[Illustration: BADGER TRACKS; LEFT. (SLIGHTLY REDUCED)]
It is readily tracked down, and when its hole is approached,
the animal frequently exhibits its head as a target from its
curiosity to see what is coming. If run into a hole, it will almost
invariably reappear within a few minutes. If it offers no chance
for a shot, a trap placed at the entrance and covered nicely
generally brings about its destruction. If no trap is at hand it
can be confined to its hole by tying a piece of paper or a rag to
a stick and placing it not less than two feet from the entrance,
which will prevent its leaving the hole for twenty-four hours or
so. This is a surer method of keeping the animal a prisoner than
blocking the entrance, and works satisfactorily also with other
marauders that take to holes.
A fox can usually be held thus for several days, and by this ruse
I have actually starved two of them to death. There was in each
case three entrances, and but one trap at hand, which was in both
instances uncovered by the prisoners during the first night.
[Illustration: BADGER
(A) Walking. (B) Running.]