CHAPTER XX.

GOOD DENS.

Some trappers as soon as they have caught one animal remove their trap thinking that there is no longer any use to leave it at that den. While this may sometime hold good in case of large game, such as bear, panther, etc., it does not with most animals; in fact, there are certain dens where trappers each season take from two to five or even more animals. In the case of the larger game even they seem to scent your bait and two bears and occasionally more have been caught at the same place within a few days.

The fact, as a rule, that you have caught one animal in a den, should not cause you to remove your trap. The more animals caught at the same den the better. There is a reason why certain dens are the favorite homes of animals. It may be because they are dry and warm, that there is a nice bed of leaves, etc. At any rate, trappers know that certain dens are valuable--that each season there are animals living there--it making no difference how many have been caught the previous winter. At such dens it will pay to leave your traps all the season, that is, if you have other traps that are catching game in the vicinity. Of course it would not pay to leave one trap set if you did not have others within a short distance. As a rule where there is one good den of this kind there are others in the vicinity, so that you do not want to remove from that certain section.

It often happens that two trappers trap during the season on the same ground, one in the fall and the other later in the season. The second one has often taken more game than the first in the same length of time. Both were considered good trappers and of equal experience. This only goes to show that you never know when all the game is caught; in fact, it never is, for if such was the case there would be nothing left to catch another season, yet when another season arrives the game is apparently about as numerous as ever.

This shows that good dens should be looked up by trappers, if in new trapping grounds to them, before the season opens. The best time to look for signs is in the fall, yet many a good den has been discovered by tracking animals in the snow to their burrow. These extra good dens are usually located on high grounds, at least not in swamps or very low land. It is true, however, that on low land and along sinks and damp places there is good trapping early in the season, but as a rule animals hunt higher and drier sections before the extreme cold weather comes. This being true the best dens are most always found on high and dry ground. Another proof of this is the fact that when large numbers of skunk are dug out of a den it is nearly always on high and dry land.

That there are many excellent dens along rocky bluffs, sandy hill sides, and other like places, the experienced trapper knows. He also knows that along the low land in early fall is good trapping. Mink and coon are, of course, to be caught along streams at all times. It is not necessary to state even to the amateur if muskrat, beaver and otter are what the trapper is after, that along streams is the only place to make a success.

Days spent early in the season looking up dens where hairs, bones, feathers, dung, etc., are to be seen, are days well spent, for many times has a trapper set traps at dens where within a few hundred yards were many better ones, but not being acquainted with the locality, he overlooked these until a snow came. Then he tracked an animal which led him to the dens, otherwise he perhaps would not have discovered them at all. Keep your eye open at all times for good dens. That a large number of animals were caught at a certain den last winter is evidence that that certain den is just the kind of a burrow they want.

It may be that you caught all the animals that lived there the winter before, but others have been raised since. These on their wanders for food have found the den and have found, like their relatives of the winter before, that it was just what they wished, hence they, too, have returned for the winter.

At any rate, a den that is good one season is worth more to the professional trapper than one that has never before showed signs. Or in other words, if he has only one trap left and discovers a new den apparently as good as the one where the winter before he made such good catches, you may rest assured that he will set his trap at the old den. It is possible that not a single animal will be caught this season at the den where such good catches were made last season, but this is an exception rather than the rule.

Old trappers will tell you that they caught so many animals at this den in a certain season, so many the next, etc. Perhaps more skunk have been caught at one den in a single season than any other animal. The catching of ten or twelve at a place is no uncommon occurrence in a season. There are a few cases on record where trappers have caught as high as fifteen, and one instance that we know of, where seventeen were caught at one den from November to March 10th. This was certainly a remarkable catch.

Old trappers will also tell you that signs are what you should look for at all times. These are not only found at dens, but by watching everywhere; signs found in the woods often cause the trapper to hunt for dens which are often close by. Good dens are not at all hard to tell by the experienced trapper, and if you are a young trapper and can induce some experienced trapper to let you make the rounds with him or pay him to spend a day or two with you, it will be to your advantage.

During the summer months when you are running around through the fields and woods fishing and hunting and having a good time, then is the time to start the foundation for the coming season's trapping. Always be on the lookout for signs and learn to read Nature's writings. Then when the trapping season opens, you will know exactly where to set your traps and you will be far ahead of the other fellow that has waited till the season opens before looking over the grounds.

I am glad to see an awakening of the trapper for the protection of fur-bearing animals during the summer months when the fur is unprime; also, the protection of the animal dens. In the June number of H-T-T, writes an Iowa trapper, I called trappers' attention to Johnny Dig-em-out and his destructive method of trapping, and I think every trapper that has trapped in a thickly settled country will bear me out when I say he has lots to do with the disappearance of the fur-bearing animals. I will cite you to the buffalo for instance; years ago the plains were covered with them, but after the hide hunters had gotten in their work for a few years the buffalo was a thing of the past. So, brother, let us take heed before it is too late, or the time will soon come when trapping in the older settled parts of the country will be a very unprofitable business.

Ten years ago in this part of the country, skunk were very plentiful; it was a very poor farm indeed that did not contain at least one skunk den, but now they are about as scarce a fur-bearer as we have. The Dig-em-outs will ask, "Does it pay to trap skunk when you find a den?" I say "Yes." Eight or ten years ago I tracked a skunk into a den. I trapped three skunks in as many nights from that den, and since then I have probably taken twenty-five from the same place, and the den is in good condition yet, and each winter I know where to go to get skunk. Brother, did it pay to leave that den? Some say it is too slow work to trap out a skunk den; I will tell you a quick way that I have tried with success. Build three or four pens near the den, put a bait in each pen and a trap at the entrance of each. I have caught as high as three in a night from one den, that way.

Now trappers, let us strive the coming season, to protect the homes of our fur-bearers, so we can enjoy the pleasures and profits of trapping in the years to come. Let us take the fellow that digs out the dens aside and give him a little good advice and show him where he is working against his own good. Many of them are nice fellows, but simply a little thoughtless about the future of these animals.