CHAPTER XI.

STOP THIEF.

STOP THIEF TRAPS are manufactured by the Animal Trap Co. A great deal has been said for and against this trap, but like all traps, one must know how to use them. Trappers that have taken the trouble to learn how to set them report good results. A great many that were quick to condemn them at first now praise them highly.

The manufacturers say the No. 1 is for squirrels; No. 2, for mink and marten; No. 3, for skunk and opossum; No. 3 1/2 for fox and raccoon; No. 4, for wolves. But we think the larger sizes should be used for mink and skunk.

In trapping for mink, fish, bird or muskrat is the best bait but a hungry mink will eat almost any kind of fresh meat. When convenient, scatter dry grass or leaves over the trap but do not cover the hole. If no hole is found, make one or two in earth or snow.

Fasten the trap with a chain or piece of wire to a stake or drag of some kind, when near the water. No fastening is needed if there is no water near. Find where the raccoon, skunk, civet cat, opossum, etc., frequent and set the trap in the same way as for mink. Bait with bird, chicken and the like. Oil the working parts of trap to prevent rust.

The Stop Thief Trap is thought very highly of by some trappers for use in a peculiar situation and like the New Tree Trap, tho not as yet well known, it is likely to prove a very effective machine in the hands of men who know how to use it.

I procure a crotched stick, writes a Pennsylvania trapper, the prongs of which are about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter and of sufficient spread to fit the trap with which they are to be used. I send a drawing which will make it plainer than a page of description. The best way of setting a trap thus equipped will readily suggest itself according to the place selected.

When setting at a hole which the animal is known to be in, the wood part or crotch may be placed next the hole or ground and there will not be much of the iron of the trap exposed to the animal as it comes out. Or, if setting where the animal is expected to come and enter the hole, the trap would be best placed with the wood out. With the latter set one would have to be careful to place the trap so that nothing would interfere with the working.

Traps thus rigged will, of course, weigh more than the bare trap and are more bulky and cumbersome, but where one is trapping in a timbered country the crotch need not be cut until upon the ground where it is to be used, or if in a section where timber is scarce, could be placed beforehand where it is to be used, just as one would do with stakes, rocks, drags, or clogs, spring poles and the like, when setting steel jaw traps. Dry timber could be used instead of green which would lighten materially. However, I prefer the heavier, as I think it holds the trap more firmly in place, thus requiring less fastening. Small wire is best to fasten the trap to the crotch as mice and squirrels will cut twine.

While I feel that the Stop Thief will never begin to equal any steel jaw trap, I think there are times when it may be used to advantage, and I expect to try mine again the coming season and expect to do better with them than last season.