NUMBER OF TRAPS.
In some localities there are not many dens and trappers make use of
about all when trapping that section, but in other parts of the
country dens are so numerous that to place a trap at each is
impossible. In states where groundhogs (woodchucks), are numerous
there are often a hundred or more dens along a single bluff or rocky
bank. To have enough steel traps to set one at each is something few
trappers do, yet two or three deadfalls in connection with a line of
steel traps is all that is necessary and the trapper can move on to
the next bluff where dens are numerous and set another trap or two.
As a rule it is where there are many dens, close together, that
deadfalls make the best catches, yet when you find a good den
anywhere, set or construct a deadfall.
All trappers have noticed when tracking animals in the snow that they
visit nearly every den along their route, not always going in but
just sticking their head in. When thus investigating, the animal
smells the bait and is hungry (as nine times out of ten the animal is
hunting something to eat), and if your trap is set properly you are
reasonably sure to make a catch.
In the North, Canada, Alaska and some of the states on the Canadian
border where trapping is made a business, it is no uncommon thing for
one man to have as many as one hundred and fifty traps and some have
out twice that many, or three hundred. Marten trappers in the
trackless forests often blaze out a route fifty or more miles in
length, building shelters along the line where nights are spent.
The trapper who only spends a few hours each day at trapping and
lives in thickly settled districts will find that it is hard for him
to locate suitable places perhaps for more than thirty to fifty
traps, yet if these will be looked at properly during the season the
catch will justify the time and labor in building.
The number of deadfalls and snares that each trapper should construct
in his section must largely be determined by himself, depending upon
how large a territory he has to trap over without running into other
trappers' grounds. It will be little use to build traps where there
are other trappers as trouble will occur, traps may be torn to
pieces, etc. Yet there are many good places to build traps in your
immediate locality no doubt. If there are any creeks near and woods
along the banks you will find good places at both creek and in the
woods. If in sections where there is no forest, like some western
states, deadfalls trapping may be difficult from the fact that there
is nothing to build them with.
In such cases the portable traps, (described elsewhere) in this book,
can probably be used to advantage, but best of all in such places is
steel traps.
The number of deadfalls and snares that a trapper can attend to is
large, from the fact that the game is killed and as the weather is
usually cold, the traps need not be looked at only about twice each
week.
In the North, many trappers have such long lines that they do not get
over them only once a week. The trouble where deadfalls are only
looked at once in seven days is that other animals are apt to find
the game and may injure the fur, or even destroy the pelt.
Where snares with spring pole attachment are used, and the weather is
cold, the trapper need not make the rounds only once a week, as all
animals will be suspended in the air and out of the reach of flesh
eaters.
South of 40 degrees where the weather is not severe, it is policy to
look at traps at least twice a week, and in the extreme South the
trapper should make his rounds every day.
It will thus be seen that a trapper in the North can attend more
deadfalls and snares than one in the South or even in the Central
States. No trapper should have more traps or longer lines than he can
properly attend to. The fur bearing animals are none too numerous
without having them caught and their pelts and fur spoiled before the
arrival of the trapper.