GOOD AND LASTING BAITS.
Animals are not afraid of smoked baits, and in the early and late
parts of the trapping season it is a positive benefit to slightly
smoke the bait; it lasts so much longer than fresh meat and hangs on
to the bait stick until almost the last shred, and if an animal turns
from the trap house without biting it, it is because he is not
hungry.
The baits I have found the most enduring and most likely to tempt an
animal are--first and always the muskrat. All animals, that is bear,
mink, fox and marten will bite at this bait when they will not
consider any other. For a bear trap, use one whole rat, take out the
inside (because the inside will cause it to decay quicker), have the
rat slightly smoked, just enough to stiffen the meat, then have a
sharp pointed stick, about three feet long, run the stick through the
two thighs, up along the back bone, through the neck stopping at the
skull. Plant this in the back of your bear trap house and you have
one of the best inducements for a bear to catch.
For mink or marten traps a smoked rat makes five good sized baits,
neck and head one; each quarter one. Do not throw away the tail. It
stands in the same relationship as a tidbit to an animal as a
beaver's tail does to a trapper. Therefore at the trap where you want
an extra inducement, twist the tail about the rest of the bait and
tie it to keep in place.
During the very cold months partridge and rabbit meat keeps good a
long while in the hard frozen state, but as an all round lasting bait
for mild or cold weather, good for either mink or marten, I have used
with great success both the windpipe and tail of the ox. The tail
has, of course, to be skinned while fresh, and I cut off a ring or
two of either the windpipe or tail and run a sharp stick through each
piece, and carry them in my bait bag with the sticks in. When I want
one for a trap I pull out the stick and the hole is there ready to
place on the proper bait stick. A tail will make ten generous baits,
likewise the windpipe.
All fish bait is good for mink, but the majority decompose so quickly
that unless hard smoked it drops off the bait stick in a few hours
and is eaten by the mice on the ground, or very soon disappears by
the action of the earth and evaporation. As a lasting fish bait
(unsmoked) I have found the sucker or carp the very best; they are a
fleshy fish with no inside to speak of, and a very tough skin. One of
about twelve or fourteen inches long will give sufficient bait for
ten traps.
[Illustration: CAUGHT IN MIDWINTER.]
In setting mink traps along the shore of lake or river I take the
fish whole in the canoe, and as I set a trap cut off a section with
my belt axe, beginning with the tail. Each bait will be an inch or an
inch and a quarter broad lengthways of the fish. You make your bait
stick very sharp and run it through crossways of the section,
piercing the skin on both sides. Long after the flesh part of the
fish has rotted and fallen away, the skin ring will be yet in
evidence shriveled up dry on the stick, but yet useful as bait.
In using partridge or rabbits for bait, it is very much towards their
lasting powers to not remove the skin or feathers. Cut the section
you want with a very sharp axe, run your bait stick through the
portion of meat and plaster down close on top all the feathers, hair
or skin and tie securely if in mild weather. If in cold weather, all
that is necessary is to place each bait stick, primed, out of doors
over night, and the next day you can carry them in your bait bag like
so many knots.
In conclusion will say that a few drops of oil of anise is the best
alluring scent I have found for mink. A final word of advice. Unless
your traps in water-set always have a tossing pole, otherwise when
you visit your line you may have the chagrin to find only the paw
instead of the animal. As the minister says, one more word. If it is
your intention to return on your tracks when visiting your trap road,
be sure and clean out, bait and reset each trap as you go. In mild
weather or towards spring, animals run as well in daytime as at
night, and I have often, by observing this rule, found on my return
at different times almost all kinds of animals caught while I was at
the other end of the road.