CHAPTER XXIV.
HINTS ON FALL TRAPPING.
Before the readers of the H-T-T receive the November issue the death sentence will have been passed and executed upon many a luck-less fur-bearer whose hides will be "on the fence," for in many states trapping can be done at any time, more is the pity, writes a Michigan trapper and buyer. In Michigan no trapping is allowed until November 1st, which is plenty soon enough. Last season I saw many hundreds of skunk, coon and mink and also opossum skins that had been taken in October and were only trash. It was a worthless, wasteful slaughter. Muskrats are the only animals that may, with reason, be taken during the first half of October and yet it is better to wait until general collections are good.
I will first ask the amateur if he uses the precaution to stake his rat and mink traps at water sets with bushes instead of stakes. They do not attract the attention of hunters and other stragglers and especially boys as does the new whittled wood of a stake; sometimes it is necessary to go still farther than this and cut a short stake and shove it entirely out of sight under water or mud.
When you find where a rat is working slightly in many places along a bank and you do not know just where to place your trap, dig a little place in the bank at the water's edge and up above it and set your trap in the entrance under the water a half inch. This will attract the rat and you will most likely get him. It helps to pin down a rat's leg or other small portion of the carcass in the excavation just mentioned. Rats will not eat the meat, but it is sure to draw them into the trap; and then by baiting with rat flesh you will often get a mink.
After you have caught a rat at feeding signs or in any other inconspicuous place and you do not get more after two nights, it is well to move your trap to a new place. I generally trap three nights on one stretch of ground and then take up all except now and then one occupying the most favored positions; the remaining traps will catch the stragglers and the traps you remove and reset will be on guard to a purpose.
Be careful and do not dry your furs by the fire. I saw many lots of rats last fall and into the winter that would break like glass, the skins had been made so brittle by the fire-drying process. It makes the pelt side look dark and unprime as well.
In setting for mink, follow water setting as long as possible and set under over-hanging roots and banks where the tracks are seen or where a log lies up so as to permit the mink's passing under and, in short, wherever the game is most apt to pass thru or under as is the mink's habit. Where there is no timber and the banks are low, then the main dependence is on making a trench as described and pinning down a portion of muskrat.
I will also say that I have found rat houses a capital place to catch mink. Both coon and mink visit rat houses that are nearest to shore; knowing this, after you have caught off the rats, dig a hole in the side of the house and throw in a portion of a muskrat. Set jour trap at entrance covered with water or thin mud and if there is a mink or coon that visits the house you will get him if things don't go contrary, the trap fail to get hold or some other ill luck occur.
When a coon is expected a long hardwood stake should be used. I have had a number blunder into rat traps, chew the soft popple or willow stake all to pieces and go off with the trap. And they have never returned one yet.
A word more on the mink question. When I find a place that mink are most sure to pass thru or under, I do not use bait. Especially if the mink is old and cunning and has been trapped, or one that has been nipped by a trap and become "bait shy." For these I make blind sets only. My trap and chain is under water and also my stake.
The trap is barely covered by water or mud and an old leaf or two that is watersoaked is laid on the trap. If I think there is a chance for the mink to avoid the trap, I lean up an old chunk or dead stick against the bank with the lower end just beyond the trap next to deep water. It is plain to be seen that if he goes behind that prop he will hear something drop. I have caught many a mink in this manner that have eluded all the trappers in my neighborhood.
Several years ago an old trapper and myself fought a friendly contest in our endeavor to catch a sly old dog mink. He traveled on a creek which was a mere thread. My competitor was a strong believer in bait and before a week had passed he had tried muskrat, fish, birds and frogs. The mink passed nightly but ignored all these offerings, the main reason being that a meadow near by teemed with mice.
Calling the mink a "bad one," he invited me to try my hand. He had about a dozen baited traps set. I took one good No. 1 Newhouse and selecting a place where the bank was undermined and the mink's track could be seen on a shelf, I placed my trap next to the bank, placed the leaves of a long soaked weed over the trap which was barely submerged. I then took a large weed that was full of branches and thrust it in the bed of the stream, so close to the trap that the mink would be liable to pass between it and the bank. The next morning I met the old trapper coming back from his round. "Well, did you get 'im?" I asked.
"No, but you did and I killed him for ye and he's a whalin' big one," he added rather dryly. His disappointment was but poorly disguised and like the "fox and grape fable" he comforted his chagrin by saying: "He probably blundered in, with so many traps set, how could he help it? I'd a ketched 'im in a night or two." I did not dispute this statement, but kept a deal of thinking.
All thru November skunks will be visiting old dens looking up winter quarters to suit and wandering with their usual lawlessness. By placing traps in the entrance of these holes you will catch some of the striped gentry, but your catch will be vastly greater if you bait. Many skunks only look down a hole and do not enter, which they would do if you place a bait of muskrat, rabbit or chicken below the trap at each setting. The skunk is such a glutton that altho he may be gorged to repletion he will still try to encompass more if it is food to his liking.
Quite a number of trappers wish to know how skunk catching can be done without odor. Boys, don't be afraid of the odor. Wear old clothes and discard them at the close of day. The perfume that the first skunk gives off when you dispatch him is an advantage to you. It draws others. So having caught one, keep your trap there. I have had a trap set at a den for a long time without its being disturbed, but as soon as I caught one several more got fast in quick succession.