The following secret applies to _all_ animals, as every animal is
attracted by the peculiar odor in a greater or less degree; but it is
best adapted to land animals, such as Foxes, Minks, Sables, Martins,
Wolves, Bears, Wild Cats, &c., &c.
Take one half pound strained honey, one quarter drachm musk, three
drachms oil of lavender, and four pounds of tallow, mix the whole
thoroughly together, and make it into forty pills, or balls, and place
one of these pills under the pan of each trap when setting it.
The above preparation will most wonderfully attract all kinds of
animals, and trappers and others who use it will be sure of success.
_To Catch Foxes._--Take oil of amber, and beaver's oil, each equal
parts, and rub them over the trap before setting it. Set in the usual
way.
_To Catch Mink._--Take oil of amber, and beaver's oil, and rub over the
trap. Bait with fish or birds.
_To Catch Muskrat._--In the female muskrat near the vagina is a small
bag which holds from 30 to 40 drops. Now all the trapper has to do, is
to procure a few female muskrats and squeeze the contents of a bag into
a vial. Now, when in quest of muskrats, sprinkle a few drops of the
liquid on the bushes over and around the trap. This will attract the
male muskrats in large numbers, and if the traps are properly arranged,
large numbers of them may be taken.
In trapping Muskrats, steel traps should be used, and they should be
set in the paths and runs of the animal, where they come upon the banks,
and in every case the trap should be set under the water, and carefully
concealed; and care should be taken that it has sufficient length of
chain to enable the animals to reach the water after being caught,
otherwise they are liable to escape by tearing or gnawing off their
legs.
_To Catch Beaver._--In trapping for beaver, set the trap at the edge of
the water or dam, at the point where the animals pass from deep to shoal
water, and always beneath the surface, and fasten it by means of a stout
chain to a picket driven in the bank, or to a bush or tree. A flat stick
should be made fast to the trap by a cord a few feet long, which, if the
animal chanced to carry away the trap, would float on the water and
point out its position. The trap should then be baited with the
following preparation, called
"_The Beaver Medicine_."
This is prepared from a substance called castor, and is obtained from
the glandulous pouches of the _male_ animal.
The contents of five or six of these castor bags are mixed with a
nutmeg, twelve or fifteen cloves and thirty grains of cinnamon in fine
powder, and the whole well stirred together with as much whiskey as will
give it the consistency of mixed mustard. This preparation must be left
closely corked up, and in four or five days the odor becomes powerful;
and this medicine smeared upon the bits of wood, &c., with which the
traps are baited, will attract the beaver from a great distance, and
wishing to make a close inspection, the animal puts its legs into the
trap and is caught.
The same caution in regard to length of chain should be observed for
Beaver, as for Otters, Muskrats, &c., for unless they can reach the
water they are liable to get out of the trap and escape.
_Chinese Art of Catching Fish._--Take Cocculus Indicus, pulverize and
mix with dough, then scatter it broadcast over the water, as you would
sow seed. The fish will seize it with great avidity, and will instantly
become so intoxicated that they will turn belly up on top of the water,
by dozens, hundreds, or thousands, as the case may be. All that you now
have to do, is to have a boat, or other convenience to gather them up,
and as you gather put them in a tub of clean water and presently they
will be as lively and healthy as ever.
This means of taking fish, and the manner of doing it, has, heretofore,
been known to but few. The value of such knowledge admits of no
question. This manner of taking fish does not injure the flesh in the
least.
_Secret Art of Catching fish._--Put the oil of rhodium on the bait, when
fishing with the hook, and you will always succeed.
_To Catch Fish._--Take the juice of smallage or lovage, and mix with any
kind of bait. As long as there remain any kind of fish within many yards
of your hook, you will find yourself busy pulling them out.
_To Catch Abundance of Eels, Fish, &c._--Get over the water after dark,
with a light and a dead fish that has been smeared with the juice of
stinking glawdin--the fish will gather round you in large quantities,
and can easily be scooped up.