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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
4!^'f$Fr . 
 
 
THE 
 
 HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 
 
 BY 
 
 HALSEY THRASHER, 
 
 A:T EXPEniEXCED HUNTER. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 *^1^hV 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ORAXGE JUDD AXD COMPANY, 
 
 2 15 BROADWAY. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S08, by 
 
 ORANGE JDDD & CO., 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
 District of New York. 
 
 Lo\Ti:joy, Son & Co., 
 
 Electkotypees & Steeeotypebs, 
 
 15 Yande water Street, K. Y. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In giving tliis little work to the public, I do it with 
 considerable delicacy, knowing my inability to write for 
 others to read, as I have never studied these things. 
 
 I am a blacksmith by trade, but when I was a boy I be- 
 came fond of a gun and a trap, and my first success in 
 my shop was to make a steel trap. It was my aim to be- 
 come an expert traj^per, and I tried my hand at catching 
 foxes. 
 
 Many a dollar have I paid to cunning old men to leara 
 the art, and I have succeeded pretty well, too; but why 
 has not some man of experience written a book explaining 
 the art of successfully trapping the different kinds of fur 
 animals ? 
 
 I am old, but the thing is in me yet, and I love to catcli 
 the mink, and the otter, and tlie ring-tailed coon, and to 
 bring down a big horned buck and dress his hide to make 
 mittens and gloves ; and I propose to tell the boys how 
 to do it. Old men, too, may learn something from me, 
 for I have learned a little here and a little there ; and have 
 studied out some tilings for myself, and have bought piles 
 of recipes, — some of them worthies^;, sure enough. 
 
IV ■ TREFACE. 
 
 I. have studied tlie nature and habiis of animals of dif- 
 ferent species, and a plan that was good to capture the 
 otter, the mink, and the beaver, forty years ago, is just as 
 good now as then. The nature of animals doesn't change 
 like the nature of men ; we have grown wiser while they 
 have remained the same. The mode of capturing them 
 when I was a boy and the way used now may be put to- 
 gether, and succeed better than cither one alone. 
 
 Men are traveling through the country selling recipes at 
 
 a high price to teach how to dress skins. I j^ropose in 
 
 this work to teach all these things, so that a man may have 
 
 them in a neat little volume for reference at any time. I 
 
 shall also treat upon angling for the trout, the bass, and 
 
 the pickerel, which I think I understand. I hope to make 
 
 it all so plain that even the inexperienced will, in some 
 
 measure, succeed. 
 
 H. T. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Deer Hunting 7 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 How to Catch the Fox 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 How to Hunt and Catch the Beaver 19 
 
 CHxiPTER IV. 
 
 How to Catch the Otter 28 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 How to Catch the Mink 31 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 How to Hunt and Catch the Jluskrat 34 
 
 Cn^\PTER VII. 
 
 How to Catch the Marten 33 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 How to Catch the Fisher 42 
 
 CH^iPTER IX. 
 
 How to Catch the Raccoon 45 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 How to Hunt and Trap the Bear 43 
 
 Cn^VPTER XI. 
 
 How to Hunt and Trap the Wolf 54 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 How to Trap the Pocket Gopher 53 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 Fishing for Trout, riclcerel, and Bass GO 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 How to Hunt the Honey Bee G7 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Hints About Shot-Guns and Rifles 73 
 
 CHAPTER X\I. 
 
 Traps TG 
 
 CHAPTER X^^I. 
 Dressing and Tanning Skins and Furs 83 
 
 5 
 
THE HUI^TER AID TRAPPER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEER HUNTING. 
 
 Where deer are plenty they are often seen in fields and 
 in the woods, but although they are often shot in one of 
 these happen-soes, it takes something more than this to 
 make a successful deer hunter. It requires an understand- 
 ing of the habits of the animal. In the spring of the 
 year, when the deer is i3oor, and worthless as food, and 
 the hide is thin and good for nothing, he is careless as to 
 the approach of man, and may be seen in the meadows 
 and fields searching for food. 
 
 I do not know that they would at this time be unhealthy 
 as food, as it is said that the deer is never sick. I certainly 
 never saw a sick deer, although I have killed hundreds in 
 my life. Some of them were cripples, but none of them 
 seemed to be diseased. The deer has no gall in his liver, 
 but in the month of June I have found cavities in the 
 liver filled with a substance resembling gall, having round, 
 7 
 
8 THE HUNTEr. AND TEAPPEE. 
 
 flat objects moving in it. I have seen several of these in 
 one liver, but never in August or September. 
 
 While in this condition the animal is dumpish and dull, 
 but as cool weather comes on, he wakes up ; and now, 
 my boys, look out. In September the buck begins to 
 harden his horns. He lies in side hills facing the sun, and 
 rubs his horns against little bushes to get off the bark or 
 velvety skin. Now is the time to get a crack at him, if 
 you can, for his meat is excellent for food. But you will 
 have to be sly and keep to windward of him, for he is on 
 the look-out, and if the wind blows from you to him, he 
 will scent you. To know how the wind blows, ever so 
 little, put your finger in your mouth until it is wet and 
 warm, then hold it above your head, and the wind will 
 cool it on the side from which it comes. This is a hunter's 
 trick. >Tov/ proceed to hunt against the v/ind, and when 
 you discover a deer, raise your rifle and aim at the knee 
 of the fore leg : then raise the muzzle slowly until you 
 sight the body, (following up the leg) and then haul off. 
 Don't hold your breath, for that vv-ill make you tremble, 
 but breathe freely until you get ready to pull tiigger. 
 
 This is for September. In October the buck is very 
 shy and the doe twice as much so. She goes into thickets 
 to hide from the buck, thus keeps well hid from you, while 
 the buck passes around the thicket watching for her to 
 come out. When he gets sight of her, they both set off 
 as if routed by a hunter. During this month but few deer 
 
DEER nrXTIXG. 9 
 
 are killed. In aSToYcmber the fan begins. Then the doe 
 comes out to the buck, and the spring fawn generally keeps 
 with its mother, so that you may get sight of the three at 
 once, and a good steady marksman sometimes gets all 
 three of them on the spot. To do this, shoot the doe first ; 
 the buck and the fawn will both stay around. 'Next shoot 
 the buck and then the fawn, so as to have the three. I 
 want to tell you never to go and see what you have shot, 
 without first loading your gun. The deer may not be 
 very badly wounded, and will jump up and run away un- 
 less you have your gun ready to stop him. 
 
 This reminds me of a couple of hunters, John Weiss and 
 George Meyers. They started out on a deer hunt with 
 about ten inches of loose tracking snow. John soon dis- 
 covered a fine large buck, and at once took aim and un- 
 hitched the contents of the old rifle. Down goes the 
 buck, and away goes John to cut his throat. When he 
 gets to him, down goes his gun into the snow. George 
 hears the report of the gun and comes up about this time. 
 John had laid hold of the buck with the intention of let- 
 ting blood, but up come the hind legs and wipe John off 
 and throw his knife out of his hand some distance. John 
 makes a spring to mount him again, and succeeds in strad- 
 dling his back just as he begins to rise. George had now 
 come within hailing distance, and cried out in broken Eng- 
 lish (for they were Dutchmen) " Hang on, Chon ! Hang on, 
 Chon ! " and away went buck, " Chon " and all Well 
 now, John found himself in quite a fix, going through the. 
 
10 THE HUNTER AND TEAPPEE. 
 
 air at a great i^ace. The ground over which he ran was 
 hilly and covered with oak brush, and the ohl buck made 
 for the chimps of brushwood to wipe the rider oif, if pos- 
 sible. But John had learned something, too : he found 
 the buck's horns, that lie back on his neck when he runs, 
 to be of use, not only to hold on by, but to guide his 
 beast, and now they came to the top of a steep hill, clear 
 of brush for a distance, while near the bottom was a thick 
 clump of brushwood. Now John expected his death, and 
 commenced to pull on the old buck's liorns to turn him 
 around. To his great joy he succeeded in turning him, and 
 when they got to the foot of the hill, the buck was so dis- 
 heartened, that he stood still. John vforked one hand into 
 his pocket, got out a small knife, opened it with his teeth, 
 and reached around and cut the buck's throat ; and he 
 sat there, until down he went, and up came George, both 
 as highly gratified as ever two boys were; but some 
 time was spent in hunting up the gun that Avas buried in 
 the snow. 
 
 The deer is afraid only when there is real danger. He 
 is not afraid of you when you are at work driving tenm, 
 or hoeing or chopping ; but take a gun and begin to poke 
 about, and you will find him oif. I once saw a yearling 
 doe standing far out in a forsaken field. I had no gun 
 and no means of killing it. There was a little snow on 
 the ground, which had a crust on it in the open field. My 
 attention was called to the deer by a neighbor's dog, which 
 stood barking at it. I had just stepped out of my shop 
 
HOW TO CATCH THE FOX. 15 
 
 trap and went to bed, pretty sure of catching Mm. I 
 went out quite early the next morning, and to my sur- 
 prise, there lay my trap bottom side up and not sprung, 
 but entirely naked. This same thing occurred many 
 times, and after turning it over the fox would dung in it 
 into the bargain. Old hunters said my trap was not clean, 
 or the fox would not be able to smell it and know where 
 it was. Being at Avork in a blacksmith's shop, it was sug- 
 gested to me to take a piece of rusty iron and to place it 
 near my trap in the bed. This I did, and when I went 
 out next morning my trap was gone. I found it on top 
 of a garden fence with a beautiful gray fox in it. He had 
 dragged it this far, and here got stuck fast. In after years 
 I learned more about the fox. 
 
 HOW TO BAIT THE FOX PEEYIOUS TO SETTIXG THE TE.'OP. 
 
 Go into the field some distance from the house or barn, 
 and make what wo call a hed^ three feet in diameter, or 
 thereabout. Wood ashes will do, but hay chaff is best. 
 Oat chaff is good, wheat chaff is better, and buckwheat 
 chaff better still. Make it deep enough to cover the trap, 
 and have some under the trap to keep it off of the ground 
 or snow. Make it smooth and level, and put some beef 
 scraps on it and throw some around it. This will induce 
 the fox to come up to the bed, and after a few trials he 
 will step into it and pick up the scraps, and perhaps turn 
 it bottom side up to see what there is in it. When you 
 have got hiiu coming regularly and taking the bait, wash 
 
IG THE HII]SrTErw AND TEAPrEE. 
 
 your trap clean in weak lye, grease it, and nib off all the 
 rust and dirt. Then hold it in the smoke of burning hen's 
 feathers until it is well smoked. Chain it fast to a piece 
 of wood about two feet long, and as big as your arm. 
 ISTow take the trap, chain, and clog, open a hole in tlie bed, 
 and bury them neatly in the chaff, having a piece of wood 
 under the trap to keep it steady, and a sheet of paper over 
 it so that the chaff will not jorevent its working easily. 
 Cover everything up neatly, and sprinkle the bait as usual 
 upon the bed. 
 
 Approach the bed only from one side, stepping always 
 in the same tracks, and leave as little sign as possible that 
 you have been there. If snow has fallen since the fox was 
 last there, take a meal sieve and sift a little snow over the 
 heap and over your own footprints for some distance 
 back from the bed. 'Now I expect you will catch him, 
 but if he smells the trap and wont come to the bed while 
 it is there, take it out and clean it better, and melt some 
 beeswax, and with a feather smear it all over the trap 
 and chain. Kow put it in the bed again, and you will be 
 quite sure of the fox. 
 
 The following is the plan of a great Canadian hunter, 
 Mr. Philemon Pennock. He says : — Select a rise of 
 ground in a back field, make a bed of ashes or mould 
 large enough to receive your steel trap level with the sur- 
 face. Bait with cheese or scraps from lard. When the 
 fox takes the bait, set your trap as follows: turn the 
 springs toAvard the jaw that holds up the pan of the trap. 
 
now TO CATCH THE FOX. 17 
 
 Put the trap 1ot7 enough when covered to be level with 
 the siirflice. Put hay chaif inside of the javrs level v.ith 
 tlie pan. Then put a paper over the pan reaching to the 
 inside of the jaws. Then cover with ashes or mould, and 
 make the bed look as it did before the trap was set. Bait 
 vrith cheese or scraps, or fresh meat of any kind. 
 
 Another way is to bury the entrails "of sheep or other 
 animals in mellow ground, making a little hill over them. 
 Set your trap just at the edge of the hill in the dirt, al- 
 ways using the chaff and paper, and keep your trap clean 
 from rust. Scent with musk or lavender water. 
 
 Here is another from an old trapper in the State of Oldo : 
 — First prepare the trap, then hold it in the smoke of 
 burning oat straw until it begins to svreat. Then dry it 
 off with a woollen cloth, and throw it into spring v»^ater 
 for one or two hom-s. After that, dry it off without let- 
 ting it rust. Make the bed with clover or" buckwheat 
 chaff, makhig it as hard as possible with the hand, except 
 a hole in the centre for the trap, which set in and cover 
 lightly with chaff. After the trap is set, take a feather 
 and sprinkle a little oil of amber very lightly over the bed. 
 
 Another common-sense way of catching the fox is to 
 b^it him as usual, and clean your trap as clean as possible, 
 not only from rust and dirt (these should not be in your 
 trap any way), but of all human scent, such as it would 
 get by handling with your naked hands, or in any way 
 touching your body. This is what the fox becomes cun 
 ning about ; but a trap vrashed out in ashes and water, 
 
18 THE HUNTER AND TRAPPEE. 
 
 laid by until it is dry, and then handled with a pair of 
 clean gloves, will no more scare a fox than would so much 
 stone covered up. Don't spit about the bed, nor track 
 about it, and when you have caught a fox, don't handle 
 the trap ^vith. your bare hands, and you may catch a dozen 
 without more cleaning. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW TO HUNT AND CATCH THE BEAVER. 
 
 During tlie greater part of the time since the settlement 
 of America by Europeans, the beaver has been a favorite 
 object with hunters. The general aspect of the beaver is 
 that of a very large muskrat, but the greater size of the 
 beaver, the thickness and breadth of its head, and its hor- 
 izontally flattened, broad, and scaly tail, render it impos- 
 sible to mistake it for any other creature. When closely 
 examined in its movements, both on shore and in the wa- 
 ter, it also closely resembles the mnskrat, having the same 
 qnick step, with great vigor and celerity, either on the 
 surface or in the depths of the water. 
 
 Beavers have long been the theme of the naturalist's 
 
 admiration, on account of their apparent sagacity and skill 
 
 in building their habitations. They are not particular in the 
 
 site they select for their dwellings, but in a lake or pond 
 
 where a dam is not required, they are careful to build 
 
 where the water is sufficiently deep. The materials used 
 
 in constructing their dams are the trunks and branches 
 
 of small birch, mulberry, willow, poplar, alder, elm, ash, 
 
 etc. The strength of their teeth and their perseverance 
 
 may be estimated by the size of the trees they cut down. 
 
 Dr. Best informs us that he has seen a mulberry tree eight 
 19 
 
20 THE HUNTER AXD TEAPPER. 
 
 inches in diameter wliich had been gnawed down by the 
 beavers. I have seen botli asli and ehn of tliat size cut 
 down by them. These are cut in such a manner as to fall 
 into the Avater, and then floated toAvards the site of tbe 
 dam. The figure of the dam varies, according as the 
 stream has a gentle or a rapid current. Along Vv^ith the 
 trunks and branches of trees, tliey intermingle mud and 
 stones, to give greater security, and the dams remain long 
 after the beavers liave been exterminated. The d\velIinG;s 
 of the beavers are formed of the same material as the dam, 
 and are adapted in size to the number of inhabitants ; 
 there are seldom more than four old ones, and six or eight 
 young ones. The walls are very skillfully and strongly 
 constructed, and tlie whole fabric is a curious evidence 
 of the sagacity of the animal. To capture beavers resid- 
 ing on a small river or creek, the Indians find it necessary 
 to stake the stream across, to prevent the animals from es- 
 caping, and then they try to ascertain where tlie vaults or 
 washes in the banks are situated. This can only be done by 
 those who are very experienced in suck explorations. The 
 hunter is furnislied v/itli' an ice-cMsel, lashed to a handle 
 four or five feet in length. With this instrument he 
 strikes against the ice, as he goes along the edge of th 
 banks. The sound produced by the blow informs him 
 v\'hen he is opposite one of these vaults. When one is 
 discovered, a hole is cut througli tlie ice sufiiciently large 
 to admit a full-grown beaver, and the search is continued 
 until as many of the places of retreat are discovered as 
 
HOW TO HUNT AND CATCH THE BEAYEll. 21 
 
 possible. Duiing the time the most expert hunters eve 
 thus occupiocl, the others, vrith the women, are busy m 
 breakmg open the beaver-houses, whicli, as may be sup 
 posed from what has been ah-eacly stated, is a task of some 
 difficulty. The beavers, alarmed at the invasion of their 
 dwellings, take to the water and swim with surprising 
 swiftness to iheir retreats in the banks ; but their entrance 
 is betrayed to the hunters watching the holes m the ice, 
 by the motion and discoloration of the water. The entrance 
 is instantly closed with stakes of wood, and the beaver, 
 instead of finding shelter in his cave, is made prisoner and 
 destroyed. The hunter then pulls the animal out, if with- 
 in reach, by the introduction of his hand and arm, or by 
 a hook designed for this use fastened to a long handle. 
 Beaver-houses found in lakes or other standing waters 
 offer an easy prey to hunters, as there is no occasion for 
 Staking the water across. 
 
 Among the Hudson Bay Indians every hunter has the 
 exclusive right to all the beavers caught in the washes 
 discovered by him. Each individual, on finding one, 
 places some mark, such as a pole or the branch of a tree 
 stuck up, in order to know his own. Beavers caught in 
 any house are also the property of the discoverer, who 
 takes care to mark his claim. 
 
 The number of beavers killed in the northern parts of 
 this country is exceedingly great, even at the present 
 time, after the fur trade has been carried on for so many 
 years, and the most indiscriminate warfire waged un- 
 
22 TUE HUNTER AND TEAPPEE. 
 
 interruptedly against the species. In the year 1820, sixty 
 thousand beaver skins were sold by the Pludson Bay Com- 
 pany, which we can by no means suppose to be the whole 
 number killed during the preceding season. If to these 
 be added the quantities collected by the traders from the 
 Indians of the Missouri country, we may form some idea 
 of the immense number of these animals which exist 
 throughout the vast regions of the IsTorth and West. It 
 is a subject of regret that an animal so valuable and pro- 
 lific should be hunted in a manner tending so evidently to 
 the extermination of the species, when a little care 
 and management on the part of those interested might 
 prevent unnecessary destruction, and increase the source 
 of their revenue. The old beavers are frequently killed 
 within a short time of their littering season, and with ev- 
 ery such death from three to six are destroyed ; the young- 
 are often killed before they have attained half their growth 
 and value, and of necessity, long before they have con- 
 tributed to the continuance of their species. In a few 
 years, comparatively speaking, the beaver has been ex- 
 terminated in all the Atlantic and in the Western States, 
 as far as the middle and upper v/aters of the Missouri ; 
 Avhile in the Hudson Bay Possessions they are becoming 
 annually more scarce, and the race v»all eventually be ex- 
 tinguished throughout the whole continent. A few indi- 
 viduals may, for a time, elude the immediate violence of 
 persecution, and like the degraded descendants of the 
 aborigines of our soil be occasionally exhibited as melan- 
 
now TO iirxT axd catch the eeavek. 23 
 
 clioly mementos of the tribes long previously whelmed in 
 the fathomless gulf of avarice. The business of trapping 
 requires great experience and caution, as the senses of the 
 beaver are very keen, and enable him to detect the recent 
 presence of the hunter by the slightest traces. It is neces- 
 sary that the hands should be washed clean before the trap 
 is handled and baited, and tliat every precaution should 
 be employed to elude the vigilance of the animal. 
 
 The bait which is used to entice the beavers is prepared 
 from the substance called castor, obtained from the gland- 
 ulous pouches of the male animal, which contains some- 
 times from two to three ounces. This substance is called 
 by the hunters harkst07iG^ and is squeezed gently into an 
 open-mouthed phial. The contents of five or six of these 
 castor bags are mixed with a nutmeg, twelve or fifteen 
 cloves, and tliirty grains of cinnamon, in fine powder, and 
 then the whole is stirred up with as much whiskey as will 
 give it the consistency of mustard prepared for the table. 
 This mixture must be kept closely corked up, and in four 
 or five days the odor will become more powerful ; v.ith 
 care it may be preserved for months without injury. Va- 
 rious other strong aromatics are sometimes used to in- 
 ci'ease the pungency of the odor. Some of this prepara- 
 lion, smeared upon the bits of wood with which the traps 
 are baited, will entice the beaver from a great distance. 
 
 The castor, whose odor is similar to tanners' ooze, gets 
 the name of barkstone from its resemblance to finely pow- 
 dered bark ; the sacks that contain it are about two inches 
 
24: ^ THE IIUXTEE AND TRAPPER. 
 
 in length. Behind these, and between the skin and root 
 of the tail, are found two other oval cists, lying together, 
 which contain a pure, strong oil of a rancid smell. 
 
 During the winter season the beaver becomes very fat, 
 and its flesh is esteemed by the hunters as excellent food, 
 but those occasionally caught in the summer are very thin 
 and unfit for the table. They lead so wandering a life at 
 tliis season, and are so much exhausted by the collection 
 of materials for building, or the winter stock of provisions, 
 as well as by suckling their young, as to be generally, at 
 that time, in a very poor condition. Their fiu', during the 
 summer, is of little value, and it is only in winter that it 
 is to be obtained in that state vfhich renders it so desira- 
 ble to the fur traders. 
 
 Beaver hunting is a laborious occupation. With your 
 beaver traps on your back you start into the wild woods 
 and go to some small branches or creeks that empty into 
 lakes or large streams. Follow these up until you dis- 
 cover small trees, cut down by the beaver. It is not ex- 
 actly like chopping done with an axe, but it is fairly 
 chopped after all, — cut smoothly from above and below, 
 lengthv/ise with the grain. If the cut seems fresh and 
 new, the beavers are close by. Don't make much noise, 
 nor leave much sign behind you, if you intend to catch 
 them in a trap. 
 
 We will suppose this is late in the fall, just before the 
 winter sets in, and that you suddenly come upon a dam 
 as you travel up the little stream, and it proves to be an 
 
nOY>' TO HUNT AXD CATCH THE BEATER. 2o 
 
 old dam of long standing ydtli a large pond of water 
 above it. Yon may naturally conclude tliat tliere is a 
 large family of beavers, say eight or ten in number. Of 
 course you want to catch them all in your trap, so hunt 
 carefully around the pond and you will find their feeding 
 place, where they have eaten the bark oS" from their feed 
 wood. Here set your trap in four inches of water, with a 
 twelve-pound stone fastened to the end of the chain. 
 Fasten to it also a piece of bark twelve or fourteen feet 
 long, the other end being fastened to the shore. When 
 the bearer is caught he will make for deep water, and the 
 stone will sink him and drown him. The bark will let 
 him go far enough, and will enable yon to trace the trap 
 and pull him out. The bark should be fastened to a stake 
 under water, and the slack should be coiled up and put 
 under the stone. The whole apparatus, except the trap, 
 should be nicely covered with mud. K you find the place 
 where they haul in tbeir timber, set a trap there in the 
 same way. Also just at the mouths of their holes, under 
 water. Always have the trap sufiiciently weighted, or the 
 beaver will come ashore and amputate his leg. AYhen you 
 set the trap at the feeding place, smear the wood around 
 it with the castor scent before described. 
 
 Xow I must tell you of one of my beaver hunts. When 
 I was a boy I went with one of my comrades, loaded 
 with our guns, traps, blankets, and provisions, to the 
 liead of a small stream in the middle of a great cedar 
 swamp. We foUovred the stream through swamps and 
 2 
 
26 THE IIUXTER AND TEAPPEE. 
 
 thickets for a mile or so, sometimes crawling on our hands 
 and knees, and sometimes climbing over fallen trees. By 
 and by onr little creek grew broader, and as we began to 
 leave the swamp, it spread into a large pond vritli a dam 
 about thirty rods long. On one side the land was rather 
 low, on the other side a steep bluff, rising directly from 
 the water to the height of about eighty feet. The bluff 
 was covered with a growth of small poplar and birch. 
 The beaver had made roads or slides from the very top to 
 the bottom, some smooth and neat. They cut their wood 
 on the very top of the bluff, and slid it down into the 
 pond. 
 
 Now here was a chance to catch a beaver, but I lacked 
 just such a little book as this to tell me how to do it. It 
 was near night, and we cut a hole in the dam, and set one 
 trap there and another at a feeding ]Dlace ; then we went 
 over behind the hill to camp for the night. It was not 
 very far away, the hill being a narrow one. Here we 
 struck a fire and prepared our supper of broiled pork and 
 bread, and got ready for a night's rest. But the scent of 
 the broiled pork attracted the attention of a pack of gray 
 wolves of the bigger sort, and when we had got fairly 
 down and asleep, with our guns under our heads, the ' 
 whole pack set up a howl vrhich made us dream of wolves 
 until I awoke, whispering to my companion ; this caused 
 him to start up and speak aloud. One old she-wolf, which 
 had come up within a few feet of us, commenced to bark 
 outright. Just then my old gun poured out a stream of 
 
now TO nUXT AXD CATCH THE BEAVER. 27 
 
 fire, that looked a rod long in the j^itch darkness, and the 
 whole pack set u]) a howl that made the woods roar agam. 
 A few discharges of our guns, one at a time, made them 
 change their minds, and we started up our fire, which drove 
 them off to the distance of about half a mile, where they 
 kept up their howling until daybreak. The muss upset 
 our beaver catching for that night, and finally, when we 
 did get a couple in the traps, as they were not weighted, 
 one of tlicm ran away with the trap after cutting a dry 
 ash j^ole nearly in two in several places, and the other 
 drew himself ashore and cut off his leg, leaving that in 
 the trap to tell the story. 
 
 Wlien you cut a beaver dam, don't make a hole more 
 than six inches deep. Wade in the water while you are 
 doing it; don't step on the land, and don't spit on it; 
 neither handle it with dirty hands. Set the trap as before 
 directed in about four inches of water where they v»^ould 
 naturally svrim up to the gap in the dam, and you will be 
 sure to catch them. 
 
 Another mode is to take a poplar or alder stick or pole, 
 and stick it in the water in a slanting direction near the 
 feeding place. Set the traj) near the bottom of the stick, 
 and as they work down in gnawing off the bark for food, 
 they will get into the trajx This plan works well aftei* 
 the water is frozen over. 
 
CHAPTER IV, 
 
 HOW TO CATCH THE OTTER. 
 
 The otter is a sliy animal, seldom seen by day, and yet 
 it is a hovering creature. He is an amphibious aaiimal, 
 and will sometimes go forty or fifty rods under water 
 without coming to the surface to breathe, w^hile he fre- 
 quently makes a land journey of two or three miles, to 
 pass from one stream to another. When there is snow on 
 the ground the otter travels mostly by sliding. He takes 
 two or three steps and then turns over on his back and 
 slides eight or ten feet, on the level, and much more on 
 descending ground. They propel themselves along with 
 their hind legs, which are quite long and partly wxb-foot- 
 ed. They are very fond of playing in the snow; they 
 will seek out a steep place, directly at the w^ater side, 
 crawl to the top of it, and then face about and go head 
 first down into the water; then up they climb and at it 
 again, having great sport. One of these slides is the best 
 place for catching the otter in a steel trap, which should 
 be set \vith a heavy stone, chain, and strip of bark, ex- I 
 actly as described for the beaver, in about four inches of 
 water near where they climb out to crawd up the slide. 
 
 The otter is a great hand to catch fish, and seems to 
 have some means to attract them, and make them so tame 
 that he can pick them up as he pleases. It is supposed by 
 
 some that he drops his musk or oil in the water, and calls 
 
 28 
 
.j,v\> r""^"!)^ ii> "'?>l%|%^ M 
 
 
 
now TO CATCH THS OTTEll. 29 
 
 the fish m that way. Ho^y tliat is I don't j^retcnd to 
 knoTT, but he has been seen to climb up on a big stone or 
 log, and after sitting there a httle while, to plunge into 
 the water, soon returning with a pickerel or a sucker, when 
 he vrould sit and eat it, and when finished, make a dive 
 and fetch out another. One mode of hunting or trap- 
 ping the otter is to take a vial of otter musk and go to 
 some place where a log lies in a stream, vrith one end 
 sticking out of the water. Set your trap on the log vrhere 
 the water is about four inches deep, and smear some of 
 the musk on the upper end of the log. Or you may set 
 your trap alongside of a stick or any other object, on 
 which you can put the scent, taking a bush or sapling with 
 the leaves on, shai'pening its lower end and sticking it 
 through the ring of the trap chain ; then set it up in the 
 water as though it grew there, for a clog to your trap and 
 a mark to find it by. 
 
 In all of these preparations you must be careful to leave 
 no sign of your having been around ; every place where 
 you have stood, and every thing you have touched, should 
 be washed by having water thrown upon them. 
 
 It is better to set your traps with a canoe, or, in a smaU 
 stream, by wading. In hunting for the otter, it is of no 
 use to look anywhere, except where there are plenty of 
 fish, for they live mostly on this food. They cat craw- 
 fish, and I think some clams, but I am not able to say 
 whether they eat any kind of fowL They are to be found 
 at the inlets of little lakes, and they frequent small streams 
 
so THE nUNTEIl AND TRAPPEK. 
 
 that have trout and chub in them. Tlicy go into big riv- 
 ers, too, and they may he found in winter near quick wa- 
 ter, where they will have holes through the ice at which 
 they come up and feed. If the water is not more than a 
 foot deep, fasten a big stone to your trap and set it down 
 on the bottom, being careful to leave room for them to 
 pass to and fro, between the ice and the trap ; otherwise 
 they will spring it with the belly and not get caught. It 
 must be at least a foot deep from the ice to the trap to al- 
 low them to get caught, and if the water is from three to 
 six feet deep, bait the trap with a little trout, or dace, or 
 sucker, fastened into the pan lengthwise of the trap. Then 
 sink the traj:), right side up, directly under the hole, and 
 you v/ill catch him by the nose, if the trap is smart enough. 
 There are various other ways to outgeneral this sly, cun- 
 ning animal. One of these is after this fashion. Go to 
 the place where he burrows in the bank, making a hole 
 under water ; set your trap directly in the mouth of the 
 hole, and when he goes in or out, you will catch him. 
 Another way is to find some bushy point under cedars or 
 other thick trees, where the bank rises directly up from 
 the water; there make a slide in the fall of the-year, that 
 will look as though a log had been drawn endwise down 
 into the water. Choose a handy place to set your trap, 
 where the water is shoal at the edge and deepens rapidly. 
 Sprinkle sweet oil or other musk about the slide. In 
 early spring set your trap as directed above, and you will 
 catch the first otter that comes alone. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW TO CATCH THE MINK. 
 
 This little animal, whicli is much like the weasel, has, 
 of late years, become so valuable, that no pains is sjoared 
 to obtain his hide. It is but a few years since that a mink 
 skin would not brmg above thirty cents. The value of 
 the fur was not known. At this time, although he is so 
 small a creature, a prime northern skin is worth from ten 
 to twelve dollars. The mink is shaped much like the ot- 
 ter, and although he appears to be no more fitted for 
 swimming than the weasel, yet the water is his home. 
 He eats fishes and frogs, and craw-fish, and now and then 
 gets into the barn and steals chickens, and goslings, and 
 ducks, and crawls into the cellar and eats up the sausage 
 meat, and whatever he can lay his jaws to. He is a pilfer- 
 ing little rascal, and yet so simple and foolish that he will 
 run into a naked trap. For the sake of something to eat, 
 lie runs up streams of Avater and crosses the land from one 
 lake to another, — a regular renegade. He burrows in 
 steep banks, or under old roots, or in the rocks. The 
 young are brought forth in May or June, in litters of five 
 
 or six, — black looking little things. 
 31 
 
82 THE IIUXTER AND TRAPPER. 
 
 To catch tbis animal, you have only to be acquainted 
 with its hahits. lie follows streams of water, hunting ev- 
 ery nook and corner for something to eat. Place your 
 trap near the edge of the water, (so that it will be cover- 
 ed about an inch deep,) directly in front of a steep bank 
 or rock, or something on which you can hang your bait, 
 about eighteen inches above the level of the trap, which 
 must be so close to the shore that the mink cannot get to 
 the bait without ste23ping on it. The bait should be fresh 
 fish or frogs, or the head of some bird or fowl. He is 
 very fond of brains. 
 
 Another plan is to set your trap on the land about two 
 feet from the shore, covering it v,dth a few leaves, moss, 
 grass, or loose dirt, or anything that mil not prevent the 
 jaws from closing. Hang the bait about eighteen inches 
 above it, and scent it with a mixture made of equal parts 
 of honey, sweet oil, and essence of peppermint. About a 
 teaspoonful of this on the bait will cause them to come 
 from a long distance. Some use wooden traps, with 
 which they are quite successful. 
 
 The following is a good -plan : Set your traps about two 
 feet back from the water, and from forty to eighty rods 
 apart, up or down the stream. Then walk over the Ime, 
 drawing after you the carcass of a muskrat, or a roasted 
 crow, or almost any fresh meat ; and any mink that crosses 
 this line or trail will follow it to the trap. It is also a 
 good plan to set your trap where the mink must walk 
 over it to get at the bait. He is a great fellow to catch 
 
HOW TO CATCH THE illXK. 33 
 
 muskrats, which he loves to eat, and you may "bait the 
 trap with muskrat carcass and set it in a rat house, where 
 you will often find handfuls of little fish that the mink 
 has brought there. In the winter time he travels along 
 si)ringy brooks, pulling out frogs, and here he may easily 
 be caught. You may also catch them in winter at the 
 sides of big springs, or along the springy sides of joonds 
 and swamps, where they like to roam. 
 
 2* 
 
CHAPTER YI. 
 
 HOW TO HUNT AND CATCH THE MUSKRAT. 
 
 The musquash, or muskrat as it is often called, is another 
 peculiar American animal, which is so well known as 
 scarcely to require description. It is also very w^idely distrib- 
 uted over the United States, frequenting alike land border- 
 ing uj^on salt and fresh water, choosing swamps with dry, 
 sandy banks, or earth embankments, in which it burrows. 
 It is ten or tw^elve inches long, with a thick-set, archiug 
 body ; head short, but rat-like ; and the gnawing or front 
 teeth very large, long, and powerful. The hind feet are 
 very long, and a short web is found only between the 
 longest toes ; yet the animals are rapid and strong swim- 
 mers. The tail of the musquash is compressed vertically, 
 that is, it is flat, the edges being above and below. The 
 beaver, which the muskrat greatly resembles in its hab- 
 its, and wdiich is naturally close akin to it, has a broad, 
 horizontally flat tail. Like the beaver, the musquash 
 builds his dam-like house in the sw^amps, ponds, and 
 marshes, setting the house upon the end of a log, or some- 
 thing that wdll swim, in the event of a flood, otherwise 
 they w^ould be drowned out ; and where they are frozen 
 down in time of low water, when the flood comes, they 
 
 have to abandon the house and go to their holes in the 
 3^ 
 

now TO HUNT AXD CATCH THE MUSKEAT. 35 
 
 banks, or tliey drown in their houses, being shut in by ice. 
 The materials used in building are roots and grass, and 
 mud, carried together by mouthfuls and completely pack- 
 ed ; pond lily tops, where they grow, form a large pait 
 of the house. They have a nice little chamber above the 
 water, where they sleep, with an aperture through which 
 they can dive into the water at any alaim from without ; 
 the house on the outside has the appearance of a heap of 
 lialf-rotten manure, with some sticks in it. These houses 
 they commence to build about the first of October, or 
 when frosty nights begin to prevail, and they abandon 
 them when warm weather comes again. This house- 
 building is a mutual thing ; if there were ten houses in a 
 pond, and you should destroy nine of them, they would 
 all go the tenth, and there, by carefully managing, you 
 might catch the whole. They eat the roots of aquatic 
 
 »lants, calamus, pond lilies, etc., and are veiy fond of 
 ^resh water shell fish, especially the clam. So far as their 
 food goes, they do the farmer little damage. The name 
 muskrat is obviously derived from the strong odor of 
 musk. " Musquash " is said to be the Indian name, and 
 is preferable, for he is not a rat in any proper sense, but, so 
 
 speak, a beaver on a small scale. I shall now try to tell 
 you how to successfully hunt and trap him. As soon as 
 the ice goes off in the spring, you should commence, as 
 his fur is then at its best. 
 
 The muskrat drops liis dung on logs or sticks resting on 
 the bank, with one end in the water. When you find his 
 
36 THE HUNTER AND TEAPPER. 
 
 " sign " on a log, chop a notch in it and set your trap 
 about an inch under water, putting the chain-ring over a 
 tally stick or over a stake driven into the log, in such a 
 2^osition that the muskrat may get into water deep enough 
 to drown him. So go along near the shore in your canoe, 
 huntiiig out these resorts of the muskrat, and set your 
 traps as directed. On a moonlight night at this season 
 of the year, you may go with your boat or canoe into 
 some sly place, and then set up a squeaking noise as much 
 like a rat as you can. If any are wdthin hearing they will 
 soon make their appearance, and you may take aim at the 
 head and shoot. This is a good way to hunt them along 
 the edge of drowned land, and in ponds and lakes. An- 
 other good plan is to set your trap in two or three inches 
 of water, at the places where they crawl ashore to dig for 
 roots, and if you place a bit of parsnip, sweet apple, or 
 carrot, on the end of a stick just over the traj), you will 
 be quite sure of a catch. 
 
 Do not commence hunting too early in the fall ; they do 
 not bring forth their kittens until midsummer, and about 
 the first of September they are but little things with very 
 black 2^elts, and hardly worth the catching. But as soon 
 as frosty nights come, and they begin to build their 
 houses, you may go to Avork setting your traps two or 
 tliree inches under water, at the place wdiere they haul up 
 their building material. At this season they feed chiefly 
 on aquatic plants, and form large beds of loose stuff at 
 their feeding places, and you may set your trap in these beds. 
 
HOW TO HUXT ASD CATCH THE MUSKP.AT. 37 
 
 In winter, when the ice has made a bridge over all, go 
 to one of their houses, and on the south side make an open- 
 ing through the side directly into their chamber, and set 
 your trap at the entrance of the dive-hole. Close up the 
 opening that you have made, and you vrill soon catch the 
 rat. If there are other houses, destroy all but this one, 
 to which the whole colony will come, and you may catch 
 them all ; or you may have a one-tined spear made of 
 round three-eighths rod, about eighteen inches long, with 
 a strong beard near the point. Have this fixed to a han- 
 dle, say four feet long. Go very softly up to the south 
 side of the house, and drive in your spear in a slanting di- 
 rection, a few mches above the ice. You will often transfix 
 two at a time. Or you may demolish the house and watch, 
 the dive-hole, spearing the animal when you see his nose 
 come up. 
 
 You may use a scent to call the muskrat in the begin- 
 ning of the year. There are various things that will do 
 it. Perhaps the strongest is found in the female rat, in a 
 small bag which holds from thirty to forty drops, and lies 
 near the vagina. Carrying this scent in a vial, go to a 
 log which -lies with one end in the water, set your trap and 
 fasten it as above directed, and put a drop or two of oil 
 en the log just above the water. The first rat that comes 
 along will be yours. The oils of rliodium and amber can 
 be used in tiie same manner to advantage. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW TO CATCH THE MARTEN. 
 
 The Pine Marten, a native of the North, and an inhabit- 
 ant of the pine forests, whence it derives its name, is 
 abundant in the northern portions of British America, and 
 is not uncommon among the wooded ravines of the north- 
 ern United States. It builds its habitation chiefly on tlie 
 tops of the fir, or seizes on the already formed nest of the 
 squirrel, or some bird, whence it drives the owner, and 
 enlarges for its own convenience. It is of rather less size 
 than the common Marten, but its fur is finer and darker, 
 and the throat and breast yellow, instead of white. In 
 summer it assumes a lighter tinge, and its hair be- 
 comes shorter : in winter its toes are well j^rotected by 
 long wool, which drops off as the weather gets warm. Its 
 habits are similar to the common Marten, but it is more 
 fierce ; it never meets the wild-cat without a deadly en- 
 counter, and is sometimes victorious even over the 
 eagle, when that bird pounces on its prey, seizing the 
 aggressor by the throat, and bringing it lifeless to the 
 ground. Formerly, the fur of this species formed a lucra- 
 tive article of export from the United States. At pres- 
 ent immense quantities are brought from Siberia, and in 
 38 
 
HOW TO CATCH THE MAllTEX. 39 
 
 one year the Hudson Bay Company alone sold fifteen 
 thousand skins. 
 
 The Sable inhabits tlie same countries in the ^orth, 
 and has sometimes been confounded with the former, 
 which it strongly resembles in structure and habits ; 
 but Professor Polios, wbo examined it and its native soil, 
 has assigned it its place as a distinct species. It is some- 
 what larger iu size than the Pine Marten; its head is 
 rather more slightly depressed, and its muzzle more elon- 
 gated, the soles of the feet more villous, and finally, the 
 fur on its body is more beautiful, soft, long, black, and 
 shining, and the hair turns with ease either way. The skin 
 is consequently more valuable, and one of them not ex- 
 ceeding four inches broad has sometimes been valued as 
 high as seventy-five dollars. The tails are sold by the 
 hundred at from twenty to forty dollars. The exiles in 
 Siberia are required to furnish a certain number of skins 
 annually, from which the Russian government is said to 
 derive a considerable revenue. The smell of the Marten 
 tribe is rather agreeable. They are taken in traps, and 
 also hunted with the musket. 
 
 The Marten is easily caught. Tlie common way is to 
 set dead-falls a quarter of a mile a^^art on the banks of 
 streams, or through brook and wilderness, hauling a trail 
 of liver, or the body of roasted crow from one to the other. 
 The dead-fall is so well known that it is not necessary to 
 describe it. 
 
 In using the steel trap, bait with the bodies of crows, 
 
40 THE HUNTER AND TEAPPER. 
 
 chickens, partridges, fresli fish, liver or entrails. Stake the 
 bait in the hollow roots of trees, under logs, or under the 
 edges of rocks ; then set your trap in such a manner that 
 they will have to go over it to get the bait ; fasten it with 
 chain and stake, and cover it up with moss or leaves. 
 Or set your trap in some convenient place, where you can 
 suspend the bait eighteen inches above it in such a man- 
 ner that they cannot possibly climb up to it, for they will 
 certainly do this when they can. 
 
 The Marten may be caught in a wooden trap in the fol- 
 lowing manner. In the side of a tree, with its bottom 
 about eighteen inches from the ground, cut a square hole 
 six inches wide, eight inches high, and five or six inches 
 deep. Cut a pole about twelve feet long, and square off 
 one end so that it will play up and down easily in the 
 hole, and so that when it is raised against the top, there 
 will be five inches space below it ; that is, have the squared 
 end only three inches thick, and a little narrower than the 
 width of the hole. Let the other end rest on a forked 
 stick, so as to hold it in a horizontal position. Raise the 
 squared end against the top of the hole and set it with a 
 standard and spindle near the back of the hole. Bait the 
 spindle v/ith any of the meats named above. The Marten, 
 in trying to get the bait, pulls out the standard, and lets 
 down the pole, which catches him by the head. 
 
 It may be well to state where the Marten is to be found. 
 It is chiefly above the latitude of 45°, in northern N'ew 
 York, on the so-called John Brown track, and in all north- 
 
now TO CATCH THE MAETEX. 41 
 
 em Canada, from fifty to one luindred miles north of Lake 
 Ontario, from its eastern end to Lake Huron. In that 
 country there are immense cedar swamps with great pme 
 ridges, and along their borders the Marten may Lest be 
 hunted, by setting a line of wooden traps, ten miles 
 long or so, which is as much as can be attended to in one 
 day. 
 
 The Marten may be followed by his tracks, which are 
 about the size of a small cat's. He always travels on a 
 jump, making only the mark of two feet close together, 
 the pairs being about two feet and a half apart. When 
 closely pursued he takes to a tree, and is a splendid 
 climber. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW TO CATCH THE FISHER. 
 
 The Fisher, or Black Cat of our hunters, is a small, yet 
 powerful animal, standing nearly a foot from the ground. 
 It was formerly very abundant in the Middle States, but 
 is now confined to the thinly settled northern districts. It 
 is a nocturnal species, and lives chiefly on the smaller 
 quadrupeds; but also devours frogs, fishes, and serpents. 
 It climbs with great ease, and takes up its abode in the 
 trunk of a tree. The form of the body is typical ; head 
 broad, nose acute, ears about three inches from the nose, 
 broad, rounded, and distant ; the fore feet are shorter than 
 the hind ones, and the soles of both are covered with 
 short hair; the color is grayish over the head and ante- 
 rior parts of the body, dark brown or black behind. 
 
 The name of Fisher, which has been censured as not 
 applicable to the animal, is, however, that by which he is 
 best known, and which it has received from its character- 
 istic habits. Richardson states that it feeds on the hoard 
 of frozen fish stored up by the inhabitants. We are in- 
 formed by a person who resided many years near Lake 
 Oneida, where the Fisher was then common, that the 
 name was derived from its singular fondness for the fish 
 
 used to bait traps. The hunters were in the habit of 
 42 
 
HOVv' TO CATCH THE FISHEII. 43 
 
 soaking their lisli over niglit, and it was frequently carried 
 off by tlie Fisher, whose well-known tracks were seen in 
 the vicinity. While I have been engaged catching Mar- 
 ten, having a line of wooden traps several miles long, the 
 Fisher wonld get upon the trail, and destroy all the traps 
 he came to, taking the bait as he went. It brings forth 
 two young ones at a time, annually. The hunting season 
 for the Fisher in the northern parts of Canada and the 
 Western States commences about the tenth of October, and 
 hists till the middle of May, when the fur becomes less 
 valuable. The ordinary price is a dollar and a half per 
 skin, but for two or three years past they have fetched 
 ten dollars, although they are not so fine nor so highly 
 valued as the Sable. 
 
 After finding my Marten traps torn, I had to devise 
 some way to stop that, by capturing the Fisher. I found 
 that he would never go in at the door of the trap, but 
 would pull up the cover, and so take the bait without be- 
 ing caught. I at once built a string trap, with two holes, 
 one above the other, making two doors to enter the trap, 
 and so arranging that when one sprung, both would 
 spring ; so that if he went in at the upper or lower door 
 he was equally certain to be caught. 
 
 I found, however, that he always went in at the top. 
 The Fisher may also be caught with a good double spring 
 steel trap, by using the following precaution. First bend 
 down a small sapling, and fasten the top under a hook, 
 previously driven in the ground for the purpose. To the 
 
44 TUE nu:?a'Eii and TRArPEE. 
 
 end of the sapling fasten the chain of the trap, set it, and 
 cover it up neatly with leaves or other light substance, 
 hanging the bait about two feet above tlie trap, with no 
 other possible means of getting to it but to reach up over 
 the trap. When he is caught and tv/itched about, he 
 pulls the pole from under the hook, and is jerked up into 
 the air, trap and all. This will prevent his gnav/ing olF 
 his leg, which he would surely do if he had the trap to 
 himself. About the best bait that I know of is fish, but 
 chicken or fresh meat of any kind v/ill do very well. 
 
 When the Fisher travels he makes his tracks in the 
 same manner as the Marten, only his feet are about the 
 size of a fox's, and his jumps are about three feet long, 
 unless he is hurried, when they are four or five feet long. 
 When you see these tracks in the fresh fallen snow, make 
 up your mind to catch the animal. It will take you all 
 day perhaps, but then you will have the booty. 
 
 Although he is a nocturnal animal, yet when routed in 
 the day-time he travels at a great rate, but if you have a 
 good dog you may soon overtake him. When hard 
 pressed he may take to a tree, but will be more likely to 
 run into a hollow log. In the first place you may shoot 
 him, but in the second the axe comes into play. 
 
 You may scent the trail leading from one trap to 
 another as you do for the Marten, and the same trap will 
 answer for both animals, and you will sometimes catch a 
 Coon or a Mink. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 now TO CATCH the raccoon. 
 
 The raccoon is well known in the greater part of the 
 American Continent; and the raccoon hunts form the 
 burden of many laughable stories. This animal possesses 
 the mischievousness of the monkey, united with a blood- 
 thirsty and vindictive spirit ; he slaughters the tenants of 
 the ponltry-yard with indiscruninate ferocity, and this in 
 many cases leads to his own destruction, by exciting the 
 vengeance of the farmer. 
 
 Being peculiarly fond of sweet substances, the raccoon 
 is occasionally very destructive to fields of Indian corn. 
 AVhile the ear of the corn is still young, soft and tender, 
 in the milk, and is very sweet, it is then eagerly sought 
 by the raccoon. A family of them, five or six in number, 
 frequently enter fields of corn, and in one night do con- 
 siderable damage, both by the quantity of grain they con- 
 sume, and tlie number of stalks they break down. 
 
 The raccoon is an excellent climber, and his strong, sharp 
 claws effectually secure him from being shaken off the 
 branches of trees. In fact, so tenaciously does this ani- 
 mal hold to any surface upon Avliich it can make an 
 impression with its claws, that it requires a consid- 
 erable exertion of a man's strength to drag him ofi', 
 
 and as long as a single foot remains attached, he con- 
 45 
 
46 THE HUNTER AND TRAPPEPw 
 
 tinnes to cling with great force. The conical form of 
 the head, and the very pointed and flexible character of 
 the muzzle or snout are of great importance in aiding the 
 raccoon to examine every vacuity and crevice to which he 
 gains access ; nor does he neglect any opportunity of us- 
 ing his natural advantages, hut explores every nook and 
 corner with the most persevering diligence and attention, 
 greedily feeding on spiders, worms, or other small insects 
 which are discovered by his scrutiny. Where the open- 
 ing is too small to give admittance to his nose, he employs 
 his fore paws and shifts his position, or turns his paws 
 sidewise, in order to facilitate their introduction and effect 
 his purpose. This disposition to feed on the grubs or lar- 
 vae of insects must render this animal of considerable 
 utility in forest lands, in consequence of the great num- 
 bers of injurious and destructive insects he consumes. 
 He is also said to catch frogs with considerable address, 
 by slily creeping up, and then S2:)ringing on them with 
 both paws. The general color of the raccoon is blackish 
 gray, which is pale on the under part of the body, and has, 
 over considerable part of the neck, back, and sides, some 
 fawn, or light rust-colored hair intermingled. The tail is 
 covered with hair, and is marked with five or six black 
 rings around it on a yellowish white ground. The entire 
 soles of his feet are bare. AYhen standing, he rests upon 
 his feet from heel to toe, flat like a bear, but in walking 
 he goes upon his toes only, like a cat. 
 
 There are many caught and killed about cornfields, but 
 
'"m^-tf"' '" "• i 
 
now TO CATCH THE KACCOOX. 47 
 
 the fur is then not veiy good. Later in the fall, and dur- 
 ing the winter and spring, up to the middle of spring, it 
 is excellent, and when the pelts are well dressed they make 
 good mittens ; j^uttmg a whole skin in each one they reach 
 up to the elbows. In the spring of the year, when the 
 snow begins to go off the ground, the raccoon is easily 
 found. On a warm night they come out from their hol- 
 low trees, make a circuit, and return on their back track. 
 By watching for their return, you are quite sure to find 
 them, one, two, three, or four, altogether. When you go 
 out to hunt them, take an axe with you, and fell some 
 hollov/ tree in which they have their nest, and see what 
 fun you will have in trying to outrun the little ring-tails. 
 Later in the season, when the ground is bare, and the 
 ice is out of the creeks and ponds, they travel along the 
 muddy shores in search of frogs, of which they are very 
 fond. Take a good smart trap and set it on the edge of 
 the water. Fasten it well, and bait it with fi:-;h or fowl of 
 any kind, placing the bait above the trap as for a mink, 
 or behind the trap, in such a way that the coon can only 
 get at it by going over the trap. Scent the bait with oil 
 of anise. You may also catch him with a pole trap, bait- 
 ed with frogs, fish, or a bit of partridge. "When you find 
 coon tracks in the mud, you may set your trap with a lit- 
 tle oil of anise rubbed on the under side of the pan, cov- 
 ering it up with leaves or moss. The first one that comes 
 along will stick his fore paws into the trap, feeling for the 
 bait. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW TO HUNT AND TRz\P THE BEAE. 
 
 The American black "bear is of two kinds. One is 
 short-legged and has a heavy body, sometimes weighing 
 five hundred pounds, and is black all over. The other is 
 longer legged, not generally so heavy, and has a brown 
 face. This one is a great racer. Wherever there is much 
 woods or forest, there bears abound. They are not put 
 together like the dog or hog, or any other animal. Their 
 fore legs bend like a man's arms, and they use them in the 
 same way. 
 
 They are great hog eaters. Their mode of catching 
 the hog is to take him up in their arms and squeeze him 
 some, commencing at the same time to take their dinner 
 out of the shoulder and neck at the back of the hog, 
 while alive, and squealing as only a hog can squeal. 
 
 Bruin will carry a hog as heavy as himself, holding him 
 
 in his arms clear of the ground, crossing a stream on a 
 
 log as steadily as a man could do it. He is not troubled 
 
 with a tail when in an upright position, for he has no tail 
 
 to speak of. His ears are small, his mouth large, his teeth 
 
 strong, his fore paws like a man's hand, Iiis hind feet and 
 
 legs much like a man's feet and legs. I liave skinned a 
 
 fat bear and stretched him out, lying on his face, his 
 48 
 
nOAV TO HU>7T AND TKAP THE EEAK. 49 
 
 white fat making liim look very mucli like a man. Xo 
 animal kind I ever saw bears so near a rosemljlance. 
 
 AThen he travels along he makes tracks with only the 
 fore part of his feet, but when he sits or stands, a full- 
 sized track with his hind feet may be seen, or when he is 
 walking upright. 
 
 He is a great natural boxer, and it is not easy to hit 
 him W'ith a club or any such weapon, for lie defends him- 
 self like a well-trained pugilist, wliile a slap from his ugly 
 paw tells on man or beast. 
 
 He is a great hand to fight dogs, sets himself up on end 
 and cuifs them right and left, one clip being enough to 
 make a cripple. 
 
 The bear is A'ery fond of sweets, and will go any length 
 to rob bees of their honey. It is one of their curious 
 tricks to climb a tree where bees have stored their honey, 
 and gnaw them out. Their constant growling about the 
 bees' stings often shows their whereabouts to tlio hunter. 
 They also rob a bee-house vrhen they have a chance, and 
 they are often betrayed at the hog-pen by the squealing 
 of the hon^s. Xothiu^ suits them better than to find a 
 hog in a pen, and no one to oppose them. They will 
 cliinb in and out again, hog and all. They are very fond 
 of corn in the roasting-ear state, and it is not slow the 
 way they will sit up to a hill of corn and take the ears. 
 I have seen them in a field of wheat or oats standing on 
 their hind feet, and with their fore paws gathering the 
 grain to their mouths with great handiness. They are 
 
50 THE hu:n'ter and teappee. 
 
 very fouJ of acorns, "beccli nuts, hucldeberrios, and all 
 kinds of sweet berries, and they will go some distance to 
 get apples. In fact, it is a good plan to set a bear trap 
 under a sweet apple tree. They are quite as hard to get 
 a shot at as a deer, being wild and watchful. 
 
 The bear is very fond of water and loves to swim, and 
 you can overtake him with a boat ; but mind to shoot 
 him before you go too near, for if you fail to kill him he 
 is bound to get aboard if the boat stays right side up, and 
 if your gun is not loaded he will stand as good a chance 
 as you to get ashore alive. 
 
 It is a rare thing for a bear to attack a man, but you 
 must not assault the female when she has cubs, or you 
 will pay for it. Old Mr. Pomeroy, hunting his cows one 
 morning, saw a she-bear standing in his road. Says he, 
 " Old girl, I'll give you a scare ;" so he pulled his old frock 
 over his head and made at her with a great " boo." But 
 old Mrs. Bruin never flinched, but dove right at him, and 
 he turned and put for home as hard as he could go, with 
 one sole of his shoe partly loose, flapping as he went, and 
 the old bear right at his heels, warming his butt at every 
 jump, almost to his house door. The old man said she 
 never could have made any impression on his stern, for it 
 was. dried up as hard as a butternut. 
 
 The bear is a hibernating animal, and goes into win- 
 ter quarters as soon as cold weather sets in. Some 
 times they stay out until the snow is quite deep on the 
 ground. But they generally make for their dens before 
 
now TO IIUXT AXD TRAP THE BEAR. 51 
 
 this ; sometimes they take up their quarters in a hollow 
 tree, climbing up and letting themselves down inside, and 
 s'ometimes they have a hole scooped out of the earth, and 
 have a great lot of stuiF gathered to stop the mouth of 
 the hole, drawing it after them as they go in. If mast 
 and nuts arc plenty in the fall, they will go in fat and will 
 not get any poorer. They lie and suck their paws all 
 ^^-inter. 
 
 It is here that they bring forth their cubs, from two to 
 three hi number. AYhen they first come out in the early 
 spring, the cubs are about the size of large kittens. They 
 make a crying noise, very much like a little baby. The 
 mother will defend them to the last, and it is very danger- 
 ous to offend her if not well prepared. If the bear is 
 taken when young, it is easily domesticated and taught 
 many tricks. 
 
 After the snow has fallen, if you come across a bear's 
 track, follow it up, and sooner or later you v/ill trace him 
 to his den. If this is a cave in the earth, you can block 
 it up with logs of wood until you are prepared to kill him. 
 
 One mode of trapping tlic bear is as follows : Go to 
 that part of the wood that is frequented by bears and 
 cut some logs about six feet long. Lay three of them 
 down parallel, occupying a space of about six feet wide 
 from outside to outside. Then lay other logs across these 
 close together, as you would lay a corduroy-road, and pin 
 them down to the sleepers thorouglily. Then lay up four 
 sides, cob-house fashion, two feet high, thoroughly })inned 
 
52 THE HUXTER AND TEAPPEE. 
 
 together, Avitli a door cut in one side, two and a half feet 
 wide. Tiiis is the bottom half of the trap. Now build a 
 similar box, that, when turned upside down, will slide into 
 the bottom one, so that the space will not be above eight 
 or ten inches when they are dropped together. Now cut 
 a log of wood, say twelve inches through and twenty feet 
 long, and pin the top box directly across the end of this. 
 Support the beam across a log in such a way that the box 
 can be moved up and down, so as to open or rise out of the 
 bottom and make a space of three feet. Set this with a stand- 
 ard and spindle baited with a chunk of some kind of fresh 
 meat, daubed with honey, honey and oil of anise being 
 at the same time well smeared over the inside of the trap. 
 The heft of the top house and beam, when sprung, should 
 be enough to crush any bear that might chance that way. 
 Another good way to catch a bear when he has been com- 
 mitting depredations on a hog or other farm animals is to 
 set a big steel trap in a spring hole or swampy place, put- 
 ting a natural looking bit of moss on the pan for him to 
 step on, and hanging a bait of the dead animal where he 
 can only get it by going over the trap. 
 
 Where bears come into cornfields, they often set spring 
 guns to slioot Mr. Bruin; but that is a dangerous way of 
 doing it. I have known men to be killed instead of the 
 bear. It is a good way to hunt the bear vritli a dog that 
 understands him, and will only nip him in the hams. This 
 will soon cause him to tree, and he is a pretty goocl 
 climber for so large an animal. He climbs almost exactly 
 
HOW TO HU^T AXD TEAP THE BEAE. 53 
 
 as a man does, but if you are careless about going uj) to 
 the tree to shoot hhn, he will come down not exactly like 
 a man. He puts his arms around the tree, and lets go and 
 comes down with a big scrape or slip, striking the ground 
 with his butt sufficient to make him bound three feet 
 high. But he is ready for oft', and you have lost your 
 shot. So be careful and go up slily and shoot him out. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HOW TO HUNT AND TRAP THE WOLF. 
 
 There are several yarieties of wolves in tlie United 
 States. The prairie wolf, of two or three different kinds, 
 is but small, and is easily trapped or shot. He is not so 
 destructive among sheep as the large gray wolf of the 
 timbered country, and it is about these that I shall have 
 the most to say. They are confined to no particular loca- 
 tion, but travel about from one place to another. Still 
 they have their particular routes, as from one swamp to 
 another, and where their course brings them near a settle- 
 ment, they sally forth at night to steal a sheep, if these are 
 kept out and are not penned. Killing sheep is a business 
 they understand, and they will cut the throat of one about 
 as slick as a knife can do it. They are greedy creatures, 
 and always w^ant to kill the whole flock. I have known 
 as many as thirty to be killed in a single night by one 
 wolf, — nothing done but to cut their throats. When the 
 she-wolf can find an old bear's den, she will take posses- 
 sion of it to have her puppies, usually about the last of 
 April or the first of May. These follow her all the sum- 
 mer and fall, when they start off on their own hook to see 
 54 
 
HOW TO HUXT AXD TRAP THE T70LF. 55 
 
 what they can catch to cat. When deer are plenty, it 
 seems as though they conld catch one whenever they 
 please. I have often seen how they operated, one or more 
 running directly on the track, and one on each side. Af- 
 ter a short run, they would close in, and the venison vras 
 sure to be taken. There seemed to be no possibility of 
 escape. In fact, they are great hunters ; some will hide 
 in a run-way, while the others drive the deer along. I 
 have often heard the gang, belonging to an old slut with 
 an old dog in company, set up their how-de-low, from the 
 blow of a conch shell to the barking of a puppy dog, 
 screech and scream, all at once, — utter confusion. 
 
 It is no sign whatever that they have caught anything 
 because they make such a noise, although when one wolf 
 catches game or finds a deer or any such thing, he goes 
 off a short distance and sets up a howl that makes the 
 welkin ring ; and when joined by his comrades, they go 
 together and feast on their booty. While the wolf is 
 calling the others together, should you remove the bait or 
 body, when the pack return with the one that caught it, 
 and they find nothing there, the unfortunate beast pays 
 with his life the penalty of his false alarm. Wolves often 
 catch deer on ice, and Avhile they have gone to call the 
 pack, men have often removed the body, and then from a 
 safe distance watched the tragedy I have spoken of. 
 
 To my mind the wolf is the shyest creature I ever tried 
 to get a shot at, and to catch one in a trap you must use 
 the same caution that I recommended in traj)piDg for fox- 
 
56 THE nUiSTTER AISTD TRAPPER. 
 
 es. Never touch the trap with your bare hands, unless 
 you are going to set it under water. 
 
 The best way to trap wolves is to take the carcass of a 
 dead horse or other animal and draw it to a spring-hole, 
 and then set your trap exactly as recommended for bears. 
 Wolves may be poisoned by the wholesale. Where 
 there are wolves in the country, they have, as I said be- 
 fore, regular routes over which they travel several times 
 during the winter. By close observation you can learn 
 about when they will be along, — within a week or so, at 
 any rate. N'ow hunt up an old horse that is about to 
 die, lead him to the spot that you liave selected, kill him, 
 and skin him. Take pieces of lard about the size of a 
 hazel nut, and slices of tough flesh from the horse large 
 enough to thoroughly enclose the lard. Spread the lard 
 a little on one side of the flesh, and sprinkle upon it as 
 much strychnine as can be taken up on the point of a 
 knife blade. Mix this with the lard; then roll up the 
 meat neatly and tie it slightly, so that the strychnine can- 
 not be exposed on the surface, and lay it down on the car- 
 cass of the horse. Put about a dozen of these baits ex- 
 actly where you can find them at any time. When you 
 come again to examine the place, as many pieces as are 
 gone, just so many dead wolves you may expect to find 
 within two or three rods of the spot. I have known a 
 whole gang to be killed in this way in one night. 
 
 Foxes may be killed in a similar manner, only very much 
 less strychnine is necessary. When the wolf, the fox, or 
 
HOW TO HUNT AXD TEAP THE "WOLF. 57 
 
 any other animal is killed with strychnine, the carcass 
 sliould be burned at once, lest fowls or other domestic 
 animals get poisoned by it, and the hide should be imme- 
 diately tarred with alum and salt, as described in the chapter 
 on dressing skins. If this is delayed, the hair and fur will 
 come out and spoil the looks of the skin. If wolves kill 
 a sheep or calf, or any other creature, for you or your 
 neighbors, take the body to some place out of the reach 
 of domestic animals and put poison about it as above di- 
 rected, and you v\'ill be sure to make them keel over. 
 
 You can so scent your boot soles with a mixture made 
 of the oil of rhodium, oil of fenugreek, oil of cummin, and 
 flour of sweet fennel, as to make the wolf follow your 
 track or trail. By going far into the w^ilderness and trav- 
 eling among the swamps, you can fetch the wolves into 
 your neighborhood, but they are not pleasant neighbors 
 to have. 
 3* 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOW TO TllAP THE POCKET GOPHER. 
 
 The pocket gopher is a destructive little animal. He 
 digs roads under the surface of the ground, leading in 
 different directions, wherever he is likely to find food. 
 He will not permit this pathway to be open to the light, 
 except while it is necessary in throv^^ing out his dirt. His 
 manner of doing this is very curious. He is provided 
 with two pockets, one on each side of his head, which he 
 fills with dirt, and then comes to the surface, and with a 
 dexterous movement discharges his load, scattering it for a 
 distance of ten or twelve inches. When this dirt begins to 
 foiTQ a heap around his hole, he roots it away with his 
 nose after each discharge ; and when it is too far from the 
 place where he is burrowing to fetch the dirt out at this 
 hole, he closes it up tight, and at a distance of ten feet 
 or so, proceeds to make another, and so on through the 
 field, eating off the roots as he goes. He appears to know 
 where to steer, and he can burrow straight for a turnip 
 patch or a stack of corn or wheat. 
 
 After many experiments, I learned to trap him. I set 
 
 my trap in the mouth of the hole, and he would bring dirt 
 
 and cover it up while stopping the hole, which he never 
 58 
 
HOW TO TRAP THE POCKET GOPHER. 59 
 
 leaves open. I then dug in with my hand, and placed it 
 beyond where he began to drop the dnt, and so caught 
 him. This succeeded every time. 
 
 And now I will tell you how to hunt him. Any where, 
 where you see his work, that is, little hills of fresh dirt 
 thrown up, you may go with a little stick, or whip stock, 
 and push it down around the hillock until you strike his 
 road. Right here, I want you to understand that you 
 can't dig into one of these hillocks and find the hole. He 
 so effectually closes it up that I never saw one opened 
 where it was first made. When you have struck the 
 track, dig down until you come to it, which is sometimes 
 as low as eight or ten inches. Then, with your hand, dig 
 it out large enough to slide in your trap, reaching your 
 arm in to the elbow. The best trap to use is the little 
 one spring kind, of the Xewhouse make. Having j^ushed 
 the trap in, go away, without further fixing, and perhaps 
 in an hour, perhaps in three or four days, you will catch 
 the lad. 
 
 "When you cut the hole, he may be at one side of it or 
 at the other. K he is in the opposite end from where you 
 have set the trap, he may fill up the hole, and in that case 
 you must change the position of the trap. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FISHING FOR TROUT, PICKEREL, AND BASS. 
 
 The trout, I mean tlie live trout, is the prettiest fish to 
 look at that swims, and he is full as good to eat as he is 
 to look at, that is, if he is properly cooked. 
 
 Most folks know something about fishing, yet there are 
 few who fish with much success. Some men take a rod 
 and line, and if there are any fish in the brook Avill surely 
 have their share of them, and I propose to show you how 
 the thing is done, so that if the fish are there you must 
 catch them. 
 
 In the first i^lace, a man or a boy must have at least a 
 
 moderate share of common sense, in order to be successful 
 
 in fishiug for trout. Then he must have a good hair line 
 
 of gray horse hair that is not easily seen in the water, or a 
 
 fine hair or gut line. I have seen some good lines made 
 
 of sea grass. But nothing is so good as the hair line, as 
 
 it will not twist around the brush, never kinks, and rarely 
 
 gets tangled. You also want a good Limerick hook, not 
 
 too small, what is commonly called a bass hook. A little 
 
 hook will catch little trout, but is not strong enough or 
 
 large enough to catch big trout. A big hook will catch 
 
 big trout, and occasionally little ones, too. For bait, you 
 
 want a piece of hog's liver. I suppose a piece of beef's 
 60 
 
nsniXG FOK TKOUT, PICKEEEL, AND BASS. CI 
 
 liver would do, but they say it is not so good. Cut it np 
 the size of a bean, leaving a portion of the outside on each 
 piece, to make it tough. Angle-worms are said by some 
 to be the best bait, and they can be improved in this Tvay : 
 Put them in a box large enough to hold a little earth with 
 them; on this pour a small quantity of sweet cream, and 
 in a few hours they will have eaten enough to appear 
 white, or kind of striped. Xow take smallage (celery) 
 jam it up, and put it among the worms and dirt, and start 
 for your fishing. When you can get no better bait, any 
 fresh meat will do, and any bait is improved by being 
 mixed vrith tincture of assafoetida, which has the effect of 
 causing the trout to bite when he otherwise would not. 
 Some use sweet sicily, and some the oil of anise. The 
 sicily root is chewed, and spit upon the bait ; the oil of 
 anise is put in the box with the bait. Eemember this, a 
 frightened trout will not bite for you, nor for anybody 
 else, and you must go to the creek very slyly, or they will 
 see you and run away. Most of the trout do run away, 
 and so we catch but the smaller part of them. It makes 
 no odds how good the bait is, they won't bite if they are 
 frightened ; so, you see, in order to have much success, 
 you must use some strategem — that is, crawl up to the 
 edge of the stream and tbrovr the line over skilfully, and, 
 if they have not seen you, they will snap as quick as a 
 gun lock. Perhaps two or three, or a dozen, will try to 
 catch it first ; certainly it is the finest sport ever indulged 
 in. Take the fish off your hook, and don't flourish with 
 
62 THE HUNTER AND TEAPPER. 
 
 your rod ineanwliile. If they are likely to see you^ 
 you had better squat down while you are baiting your 
 hook. You should have a basket with you to slip the 
 trout in as you catch them, occasionally putting in some 
 leaves to prevent their getting jammed. Putting them in 
 a bag spoils them, by their continually rubbing together ; 
 but a basket and leaves kee-p them looking as beautiful 
 as themselves. I saw the handsomest picture of a trout 
 in the American Agriculturist, that I ever saw. 
 
 In fishing for trout, you must keep your bait continually 
 moving, with a sort of twitching motion, or floating down 
 with the swift current. Mind you, they lie and watch 
 just at the foot of the little rapids in the creek, to catch 
 any live worm or hopper that will help to fill a hungry 
 belly. If you have no bait, a piece of woolen rag may 
 catch one, and then you can cut a bit of what is called the 
 throat-latch, or of the narrow part next to the tail, and 
 upon this put a little assafoetida, and they will bite 
 it well. 
 
 The best time to catch the trout, that is, the time when 
 they are in the best condition to eat, is about the middle 
 of April. From this to the middle of May or first of 
 June they are good, but not so good as earlier in the sea- 
 son. In the fall they move to their spawning ground, and 
 perform their important duty before the fall of the leaf. 
 While they are on their beds, they clo not seem to be so 
 easily frightened, and you may often see hundreds lying 
 close to2;ether. 
 
FISHIXG FOR TEOUT, PICKEREL, ^^JN'D BASS. 03 
 
 With a little care you may catch nearly all of them, al- 
 though some of them, and the largest ones at that, Avill 
 not bite. In such a case, Lave three hooks fixed like a 
 grapple, and with your line swing it under their heads, so 
 that a light twitch will fetch the hooks into their belly. 
 Some catch them with a slip-noose made of annealed wire, 
 or brass wire, and fastened to the end of a rod, so that 
 it may be slipped over their heads. 
 
 Trout may be caught at any season of the year, if you 
 can only find where they are. In winter they move into 
 deep holes of water, and by cutting a hole in the ice over 
 one of these deep holes, and baiting with liver, you may 
 catch them, even when it is so cold as to freeze them stiff 
 in a few moments. 
 
 Pickerel fishing is quite different from trout fishing. 
 There are several distinct kinds of fish called the Pickerel, 
 different sorts having the same name in different coun- 
 tries. In Canada, for instance, the Pickerel is a short, 
 chunked, weasel-eyed, yellow fish; in this country it is 
 a long, slim, spotted, flat-headed fish, and a regular fish 
 eater, closely allied to the muscalonge ; in fiict, some per- 
 sons cannot distinguish between them. They are fished 
 for in the same way, and their habits, so far as I know, 
 are exactly alike. As soon as the ice goes off, in the 
 spring, the Pickerel and muscalonge go to their spawning 
 places near the banks of the streams, among bogs, and 
 where the bottom is muddy. 
 
 They frequently get into the drowned lauds where the 
 
64 THE HUXTER AXD TEAPPEE. 
 
 high water of sj^ring has flowed, and you may see them 
 lying, two and two, sometimes with their back fins out of 
 water, and many are caught by shooting and spearing. 
 The best way is to go on to these spawning places in the 
 night in a boat, with a good, bright light, and to pick 
 them up with a spear, which is fine sport indeed. Farther 
 along in the season, you may catch them with a hook and 
 line. A small frog or a small fish makes a good bait, but 
 you can do just as well, and it is more convenient, to 
 have a spoon hook, such as you can buy at any store 
 where they sell fishing tackle. Your line should be about 
 sixty feet long. 
 
 When you have everything prepared, ipui out in your 
 boat, throw out your hook and trolling line, and go ahead 
 just fast enough to keej) the bait dancing or skipping 
 along the surface of the water. Keep near to the shore, 
 on the shoals, especially if the river or lake is skirted with 
 bulrushes. If there are any pickerel or muscalonge about, 
 you will soon have business, especially if your bait is 
 taken by a fellow weighing twenty pounds or so. 
 
 The best time in the day for this sort of fishing is from 
 seven to eleven in the morning, and from two to five in 
 the afternoon. 
 
 It is about useless to go a-fishing for Pickerel in mid- 
 summer, as they bite slowly then, and are, withal, poor 
 and soft, and unfit for food. But during the winter they 
 are excellent, and are easily caught in the following man- 
 ner: 
 
FI6HIXG FOR TROUT, TICKEREL, AXD BASS. G5 
 
 Make a box six feet square and six feet deep, and turn 
 it upside down on tlie ice over a bole about twenty inches 
 across. Have a door in the side of the box through 
 which you can go in and out. You may also have a bench 
 and a stove inside, to keep yourself snng and warm. 
 When you are in, close the door so that it will be quite 
 dark ; then you can see for some distance in the water, 
 but it is best to be where it is only about two feet deep. 
 Bait your line vvdth a little wooden fish, weighted with 
 lead, and with tin fins. Keep this playing about in the 
 water, and the pickerel, which are always on the lookout 
 for prey, will come after it, aud you can coax them up 
 near to the surface and then strike them with a short 
 bearded spear. 
 
 Another way to fish through ice is to set a lot of Imes 
 about thirty feet long with a cork float to keep the hook 
 off the bottom, baiting it with a small live fish. The rest 
 of the line may lie coiled up near tlie hole so that it will 
 pay out easily, and the other end of it may be fastened to 
 a little bush stuck up in the ice. When the pickerel takes 
 the bait, he runs away w^ith it as he swallows it, and the 
 Ions: line is needed to f>ive him a chance to do this. The 
 shaking of the bush will show w^hen you have a bite, and 
 you can attend to twenty lines at once, and have more 
 sport. 
 
 Fishing for bass is quite another business. To my 
 mind, they are a much better fish than the pickerel. 
 There are several kinds of bass, — the black, the striped, 
 
66 THE HFNTEU AND TEAPPER. 
 
 and the yellow ; the last two lands are the best, and in 
 April and May they are very fat, and next to the trout for 
 eating. 
 
 You can raalie some headway in spearing them in early 
 spring, but the better way is to catch them with a troll- 
 ing line, with a spoon hook or spinner. From the middle 
 of June to the middle of July, they are spawning^ and do 
 not like to bite. In the fall and winter I have never suc- 
 ceeded in catching many. Quite early in May a fishing 
 rod with a strong line and hook, baited with a small frog, 
 "w^ill answer very well. I have also known them to be 
 quite successfully caught with a gill net. 
 
 I have said nothing about scenting the bait for these 
 fish, as I consider it useless. 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 HOW TO HUNT THE HONEY BEE. 
 
 The Indians say that the honey bee is the white man's 
 forerunner, and it is to he found wherever the pale-faces 
 have settled. In many parts of the country they are 
 quite plenty, and honey is excellent eating. Still the 
 honey of wild bees is not so good as tame honey, because 
 the latter is made from white clover and buckwheat. 
 However, when wild honey is made from bass-wood blos- 
 soms and leaves, it is almost as good as that made from 
 buckwheat. 
 
 The bees are in our forests, and if you will have a little 
 patience, I will tell you how to find them, and to get their 
 honey. 
 
 First ; in early spring, before the snow goes off, after a 
 warm day or two the bees come out and fly about in the 
 air, dropping their filth in the shape of dark yellow spots 
 all over the snow in the neighborhood of their tree. 
 When you see this upon the snow, begm to look for a bee 
 tree. As the spring opens, and the snow goes off, they get 
 very hungry, and if you offer them honey they will take 
 it very soon, and you may line them directly to the tree. 
 
 I now propose to tell you how to get a true line of 
 
 bees. We will say it is in the month of July. This is 
 67 
 
68 THE hu:ntee and trapper. 
 
 early for hunting "bees, and they don't care much about 
 your honey, because there are so many swamp flowers for 
 them to gather from, and you must get somethmg they 
 like better. Take corn cobs (without the corn,) and lay 
 them lengthwise in a trough, and pour a little chamber 
 lye or urine upon them, and let it stand out of doors for a 
 day or two, when the bees will come to it and fill them- 
 selves at this season more eagerly than with honey. 
 
 Now lie down on your back so that you can see them 
 against the sky, and watch which direction they take. 
 After they have taken a turn or two they will strike 
 straight for home. The point of a swamp, or a high hill, 
 will sometimes make them curve a little, but otherwise 
 they will strike a hee line^ as the saying is. When you 
 are sure which way they go, set one stake with the top 
 painted white, to enable you to see them better, at the 
 place where you stand, and another at the point over 
 which they disappeared. By these two you can take the 
 range for the third, and so on, and now you have your 
 line started, and have only to follow it straight on to 
 strike the bees. Two men can set the stakes much faster 
 and more easily than one. 
 
 A surveyor's compass, if you know how to use it, will 
 answer the same purpose, but staking is very correct, — 
 only start right, and doiiH doubt the hses^ for they w^ill fly 
 straight, I assure you. 
 
 Another plan is to set the trough farther on in the line 
 of flight, from time to time, until you reach the tree. 
 
now TO HirXT THE HOXET BEE. 69 
 
 The usual timo for liiinting bees is after the first frosts 
 in the fall of the year ; and now I will try to lead you 
 into a regular bee hunt. 
 
 Provide yourself with a tin pail, or a wooden box, 
 (with a bail and cover,) having a capacity of about two or 
 three quarts ; also a nice plain glass tumbler ; a piece of a 
 sbingle with a handle to it (this is to cover the tumbler 
 with) ; some new, good honey ; a piece of clean honey, 
 comb, and a piece of refuse comb that the honey has been 
 pressed out of. 
 
 Kow start and go where you have seen bees at Vv^ork ; 
 some winter blossoms may be there in bloom, on vrhich 
 you may find the honey bee. 
 
 Then take your piece of clean comb and fill it with 
 honey (made thinner, if necessary, by the addition of wa- 
 ter or urine, v\'hich is better) and set it on the top of a 
 stump or some place fixed for it. Xext proceed, in the 
 following manner, to catch a bee: Take the tumbler in 
 one hand and the shingle in the other. TThen you see the 
 bee on a flower hold the tumbler in such a way that you 
 can knock bim into it with a very light blow, and shut 
 him in with the shingle. Carry him to the prepared honey- 
 comb and turn the tumbler bottom side up, when he will 
 rise up, and you may withdraw the shingle and set the 
 tumbler over the honey-comb. Then take a handkerchief 
 or your hat, and cover the tumbler with it, and the bee 
 will at once settle down and commence to fill himself; 
 when he gets steadily at work, take the tumbler away so 
 
70 THE HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 
 
 that he will be at liberty to start for home as soon as he 
 is satisfied. Now watch closely which way he goes, and 
 for this you must be where you can see all around, for 
 when he first rises he will swing around in a circle several 
 times until he is thoroughly acquainted with the ground, 
 and. then he will strike his bee-line for home, and you 
 ought to be able, particularly under the morning sun, to 
 see him fly for twenty rods. Presently more will come, 
 and they will fly back in the same direction ; then set your 
 tumbler over such as may be on the comb, slip under the 
 shingle, take up the honey and start on the line as far as 
 you could, see or had the range. There make a stand 
 again, and proceed as before ; so continuing, you will come 
 to the tree, or to where they will fly so crooked as to baffle 
 you completely, when you may make up your mind that 
 you are in the right neighborhood. They will swing around 
 and rise very high to pitch down to their nest, or they 
 will fly past the tree and turn and come back toward it. 
 You should have a small pocket spy-glass with which to 
 examine the tops of tall trees, or to examine any suspicious 
 looking one. 
 
 If you should not succeed in finding blossoms with bees 
 on them, you should make a fire and heat some stones red 
 hot, and lay on them some of the refuse comb I spoke of, 
 and when this begins to burn, it will raise quite an odor 
 of honey and beeswax, which the bees will smell out from 
 quite a distance. When they come to it, catch them im- 
 der your tumbler, and proceed as before directed. 
 
HOW TO HUNT THE HOXEY BEE. 71 
 
 Sometimes the bees will come from cliiTerent directions, 
 in wliicli case you must mark tlie back of one of them with 
 chalk, so that you can see which way he goes. 
 
 Sometimes they don't seem to like honey, and then it is 
 a good plan to put in a little oil of anise, — say two or 
 three drops to a gill. 
 
 When you have found the tree in which the bees have 
 their hive, and are ready to cut it down, fell it so that it 
 will strike on some small tree that will let it down easy, 
 and if you want to save it for a skip or breeder, saw out 
 the jDiece that the bt?es are in ; first, if it is much shatter- 
 ed, drawing it together with a chain and putting hoops 
 around it. The bees will rej^air any damage that may be 
 done inside, if they have warm weather enough to do it in. 
 
 If you want to save it, it is best to mark the tree and 
 let it stand until spring, and then cut it down and take it 
 home, when the bees will have plenty of time to commence 
 the season of honey-making. If there is a large, rough 
 hole for them to stow away in, they will make as much 
 again honey during the season as they would do in the 
 woods. If you want much honey, have a large place for 
 them. If you set one hive on another, and leave no open 
 space, they will work on and fill up and breed, and never 
 swarm. In this way two hundred pounds of honey may 
 be obtained. 
 
 You must have the hive so w^ell fixed, top and bottom, 
 that mice and pismires will be excluded, leaving only a 
 suitable aperture for the bees themselves to go in and out. 
 
7:3 THE IIUXTER AND TRAPPER. 
 
 This they Trill guard against all intruders, — moths, hornets, 
 or robbing bees from other swarms. My experience is, 
 when you see a robber come to the bee hole in the hive, 
 you will know him at once by his fine singing noise and 
 the manner in which he alights on the board to avoid the 
 sentry. Have your knife ready and cut him in two ; they 
 won't do this many times before they will stop it alto- 
 gether. 
 
 In the month of July the bees make a loud, humming 
 noise at their hives, and in walking through the w^oods 
 you may hear them fifteen rods. Many are found in this 
 way, and it is about the best way to hunt them when they 
 are plenty during this month. About the middle of the 
 afternoon the drones are out, and you may hear them for 
 twenty rods. 
 
 It is at this season that it is best to use stinMng hait^ 
 as we call it. I told you before how to make it ; they 
 like it better than honey. 
 
 Another way to make this bait is to take a wooden 
 trough that will hold about six quarts, and put in it about 
 four quarts of rotten mould or muck earth, a small hand- 
 ful of salt, and two quarts of urine. After two or three 
 days the bees will commence to work in it, and they will 
 fill themselves about as quickly as they will with honey. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HINTS ABOUT SHOT-GUNS AND RIFLES. 
 
 Shot-gu^s are of various sizes and patterns. The best 
 size, I think, weighs about eight pounds, — double barrel- 
 led. The best kind, in my opinion, is the laminated steel 
 twist gun. 
 
 The gun should put about six shot within tlie size of 
 your hand at a distance of eight rods, and for ducks and 
 all large game it should be a strong shooter. 
 
 The most important point in the gun is the construction 
 of the barrel, that is, the shape of the bore. If this is a 
 joerfect cylinder, — of exactly the same size from muzzle to 
 breech, — the gun is worthless, as it would shoot with no 
 force. In order to be a strong shooter it must be a little 
 the largest at the breech. Of course it will " kick," but 
 kicking is not always a sign that the gun will carry shot 
 well, even though it be a strong shooter, and for this rea- 
 son the contraction of the bore toward tlie muzzle may bo 
 too rapid, or too great, so that the lines of opposite sides 
 of the bore would cross each other too short a distance in 
 advance of the muzzle, so that the shot would cross each 
 
 other and so scatter. If these lines cross within a dis- 
 73 4 
 
74 THE HUNTER AND TRAPPEE. 
 
 tance of five or six rods, when the shot have flown eight 
 rods, they will scatter over a wide space. As the shot 
 leave the gun they hug the sides of the bore, and if this 
 is of equal size through its whole length, they will com- 
 mence to scatter as soon as they leave the muzzle, and the 
 gun will be of no use ; but if the bore gathers toward the 
 muzzle so that the charge is concentrated at the proper 
 distance, the gun will shoot well. 
 
 If your gun scatters too much, it is because it is too 
 large or too small at the breech. This you can determine 
 by going to a gunsmith, who will cast lead in the barrel. 
 If this will push through the whole barrel with a uniform 
 pressure, it is of the same size throughout and must be 
 made larger at the breech; this is done by casting a 
 block of lead on the end of a rod near the breech, and 
 working it up and down with emory powder in such a 
 way as to grind it off more at the breech than toward the 
 muzzle. Try it occasionally until at a distance of eight 
 or nine rods it will plant six shot within the size of your 
 hand, placing them in threes, here and there. If it still 
 scatters too much, work out the breech a little more, until 
 it springs sharply in firing and throws the shot as you 
 want it to. 
 
 The same principle holds true with regard to the rifle. 
 It will not shoot strongly, unless it is a little smaller at 
 the muzzle than at the breech. 
 
 They make rifles in great perfection now-a-days, but they 
 are not all accurate shooters. Very many breech-loaders 
 
HIXTS ABOUT SHOT-GUXS AXD EIFLES. 75 
 
 are not, — not shooting closely and steadily, yet a fifteen 
 shooter is certainly an excellent weapon with which to 
 face a bear, if one can be obtained that will shoot steadily. 
 Still, I am not certain that this is the case. 
 
 I like the Henry rifle on many accounts, for you need 
 carry no powder-flask, bullet-pouch, cap-bag, nor ramrod. 
 Your wiper is in the end of the breech. You need not 
 cover this rifle from the rain, and it would go ofl" just as 
 well if it had lain under water all night. It carries a half- 
 ounce ball, which is quite large enough.* 
 
 There are double-barrelled rifles, loading from the 
 muzzle, which are accurate shooters, and can be depended 
 on every time. 
 
 For bear or deer hunting, I prefer balls that weigh 
 about fifty to the pound. 
 
 * Probably if our author had knoT\Ti the Spencer Eifle, which carries 
 seven charges iu its magazine and is a capital arm, he would have given 
 it the preference over the Henry, as did our army during the war.— [Ed.] 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 TRAPS. 
 
 For catching the mink, coon, fox, or any small animal 
 that may cross a stream of water on a fallen tree, be the 
 same large or small, a wooden trap may be used that may 
 be made in about half an hour's time by any man or boy 
 who has a little ingenuity. 
 
 Where a tree or j^ole has fallen or been placed across a 
 brook, any small animals travelling in that vicinity will, 
 more or less, cross uiDon it, and I have long been puzzled 
 to find a traj) that would catch them. I have seen the 
 necessity for such a trap and have waited for other men 
 to invent it, but none was forthcoming; and at length, by 
 persevering, I contrived the following simple and easy 
 23lan, shown in fig. 1. 
 
 The letter A represents the brook ; J), the tree crossing 
 it ; and C, the bed-piece of the trap, lying at right angles 
 to the pole, one end resting upon it and the other (it may 
 be 20 or 30 feet long) lying in the crotch j5", which is 
 driven into the bed of the stream. D represents the dead- 
 pole lying over the bed-piece C, working up and down 
 between the two guides, ^ E^ the hinge end of it resting 
 in the crotch H. The tra]) end reaches to two posts, 11^ 
 which hold up the trio:ger and cap piece G G, tied to- 
 
 TO 
 
TRAPS. 
 
 77 
 
 getlier witli a bit of stout cord or bark. When the trap 
 is set, the dead-pole lies on the end of the trigger G. The 
 long strip of wood marked i^ Avith one end tied to the 
 dead-pole with a bit of bark, at JI, we will call the tongue. 
 This reaches through between the guides E E^ and the 
 
 Fi^^ 1. — TP.AP FOK MINKS, COOXS, ETC. 
 
 trigger posts 11^ being long enough to catch the end of 
 the trigger in a notch made in the end of the tongue. The 
 pressure of the dead-pole upon the trigger lifts the tongue 
 from the bed-piece and enables you to set the trap high 
 or low, as you jolease, according to the size of the animal 
 you are after, whether a squirrel or a coon. 
 
 The tongue may be made of a round piece of wood, 
 about the size of a hoop pole, split in two and placed flat 
 
7» THE HUNTER AND TRAPPEE. 
 
 side down. It should be four feet long. The bed-piece 
 should be enough larger than the dead-pole to enable you 
 to set the guide and trigger posts E JE^ and 11^ into it, 
 driving them into auger holes, or, the ends being cut 
 wedge-shape, into splits made with an axe. 
 
 This trap may be set in the same manner on the top of 
 a fence to catch squirrels, or across the beaten path of any 
 animal that will step on a pole to jump over it if he finds 
 it in his road. 
 
 The dead-23ole should be raised from six to ten inches, 
 according to the size of the animal you want to catch. 
 This is regulated by making the trigger shorter or longer. 
 
 I will now try to describe a wooden trap that may be 
 built with little labor, in which you may easily catch a 
 bear. The only tools necessary are a good, sharp axe, and 
 a two-inch auger. 
 
 Go to the usual haunts of the bear, or to some j^lace to 
 which he makes frequent visits, and lay down a bed-piece 
 or log, say ten inches in diameter and twelve feet long. 
 Directly on the top of this place a dead-pole of the same 
 diameter, and the full length of the tree, or thirty feet 
 long. Let the small end of the dead-pole be somewhat 
 elevated, so that it may lie fairly on the whole length of 
 the bed-piece. At the centre of the bed-piece build a 
 house-like enclosure (about two feet wide and three feet 
 long on one side of the bed-piece) by driving down 
 straight pieces of good timber about three inches in di- 
 ameter, set firmly in the ground so as to be four feet high, 
 
TEAP3. 79 
 
 and covered over so strongly that a bear cannot unroof it 
 to get at the bait tliat is to be put inside. The end of 
 the house next to the bed-piece will hold it firmly and will 
 serve as one side of the guides for the dead-pole to play 
 between. Stakes of the same sort should be driven down 
 at the other side of the bed-piece, one ojDposite each end of 
 the enclosure, to complete the guides, and these should be 
 connected with the others by extending the roof over them. 
 
 Three inches from the outside of the enclosure, on the 
 side toward the but-end of the dead-pole, and nine mches 
 back from the bed-piece, drive down a large, soUd post. 
 Cut a groove or notch in the top of this, to hold the lever 
 and keejD it from rolling. This jDost should be about two 
 and a half feet high, or sufficient to raise the dead-pole two 
 feet at the entrance of the trap. 
 
 Make a strong lever, say five feet long, to rest in the 
 groove at the top of the post, and support the dead-pole 
 over one end of it, so that the other end will come down 
 by the side of the enclosm-e. 
 
 Now drive another stout post at the outside of the 
 house near its back end, so that the lever will pass down 
 a little outside of it. In this post, on the side toward the 
 dead-pole, cut a notch with the square sidft above, so that 
 a latch stick placed over the end of the lever, to hold it 
 down, will be pressed nj) against it and held there. This 
 latch stick should pass through an aperture in the side of 
 the enclosure or house and reach nearly across it, its other 
 end being held up by another post having a notch cut 
 
80 THE HUXTER AND TEAPPEE. 
 
 with its square side below. The latch will now hold the 
 lever under its outer end, be pressed up against the flat 
 side of the notch in the post outside of the house, and 
 pressed down against the flat side of the notch in the post 
 inside of the house. 
 
 Next, take a forked stick of good size and lay it across 
 
 N 
 
 Fig. 2.— TRAP FOR BEARS. 
 
 a bed-piece on the bottom of the house so that it will play 
 up and dow^n over it. Put the crotch end under the latch 
 stick, and let the two prongs reach nearly to the bed-piece 
 of the trap. Pin a board or other flat piece of wood 
 across these for the bear to step on, and set a post (by 
 
TRAPS. 
 
 81 
 
 means of an auger hole) in the crotch end, reaching to 
 the under side of the latch stick. When the bear steps 
 on the board and i^resses it down, he will raise the crotch 
 end, and the post wnll throw the latch out of the notch, 
 when it will no longer hold the lever, and the dead- 
 pole will fall 
 across his back. 
 The dead - jDole 
 should be heavily- 
 weighted by lay- 
 ing logs across it. 
 ^^^^_^ The trap** should 
 _1 be baited with 
 honey, for the 
 bear will always 
 
 F\<^. 3.— TRAP FOR BEARS— SECTION. , , , _^ 
 
 risk his life to get 
 at this. Fresh meat will bait it for the wolf or for a dog. 
 This is preferable to the steel trap, for there is no 
 danger of catching men or cattle in it ; and its cost is 
 trifling. The plan, fig. 2, page 80, wdll help the description : 
 A, the bed-piece ; ^, the dead-pole, of which a section 
 only is shown ; C (7, the guides ; D, the lever post ; -E', 
 the lever ; i^, the latch ; G, the latch post outside of the 
 house; JI IlJS^y the house or enclosure; I, the treadle 
 for springing the trap ; iT, the bed-piece, across which the 
 treadle is balanced ; X, the post to knock off the latch ; 
 JLT, the latch post inside of the house. In fig. 3 some parts 
 
 of the trap are given, which are obscured in fig. 2. 
 4* 
 
CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 DRESSING AND TANNING SKINS AND FURS. 
 
 HOW TO DRESS THE SKINS OF THE BUCK AND THE DOE, 
 AND TO PEEPAEE THEM FOR MAKING MITTENS, GLOVES, 
 ETC. 
 
 There are various ways of dressing these skins, but 
 some are easier and better than others. Several of the 
 recipes given below have been hawked about the country 
 at five dollars each. 
 
 We will commence with what is called oil-dressing, and, 
 to begin at the beginning, the directions would be, " first 
 catch your deer." As soon as the hide is taken off from 
 the deer's back, it should be grained ; to do this, provide 
 yourself with a beam eight inches through, and six feet 
 long ; put two legs in one end, and let the other rest on 
 the ground, so that it will stand at a steep slant. The 
 beam must be of hard wood, shaved smooth, without a 
 ridge in it. 
 
 Provide yourself with a knife. One made for the pur- 
 pose is best, but you may make a very good one by taking 
 an old shaving knife and grinding it square across the 
 edge, until it has a face about a sixteenth of an inch 
 
 across. Then whet the corners smooth, so that they will 
 
 82 
 
DRESSING AND TAXXIXG SKIXS AND FURS. 83 
 
 not cut the skin. A piece of a scythe, with a handle at 
 each end, makes a good fleshing knife. 
 
 "Now sit down, with the highest end of the beam 
 against your belly, and lay on the skin, hair side down, 
 and i^roceed to take off all the flesh and fat, and every 
 unequal substance before you turn the hair side up. 
 Then commence to grain, with the neck of the skin next 
 to you, and shove against the hair, having a firm hold of 
 the knife, and shoving with some strength, when off will 
 go a streak of the grain, and so proceed until it is all off. 
 This is the way to grain a green hide just taken from the 
 animal. 
 
 To grain a dry hide, first put it in a tub or barrel of 
 warm Avater, and let it lie for twenty-four hours, and then 
 add to each half barrel of water a pint of good slaked 
 lime, and let it stand twenty-four hours more ; then pro- 
 ceed as with a fresh skin. 
 
 When the work is properly done, the skin will be as clear 
 as glass, with no streak of grain or other uneven substance 
 left ; unless it is in this condition, it will not dress well. 
 
 Now, in order to dress one buck skin, take eight quarts 
 of fresh rain water and warm it, and put in one pint of 
 soft soap. Put in the skin while the liquid is warm, and 
 work it with the hands, or punch it with a stick, until the 
 soapsuds is quite worked into it, say twenty-four liours. 
 Then take it out and pass it between two sticks, or pass 
 it tlirough a good wringing machine. Then pull it until 
 it is dry, in the hot sun, or before a hot fire. Next stretch 
 
84 THE nUNTER AND TRAPPER. 
 
 it out to its full size, and spread on some soft grease, or 
 any animal oil, until it is well oiled through. Then heat 
 uj) the suds again, and aj^ply half as much more soap, and 
 put in the skin again and work it well for a time, and let 
 it lie twenty- four hours longer. Then take it out and pull 
 it dry, as before. For all doe skins, and for yearling 
 bucks, this will be enough, but old buck skins must go in 
 once more, and when pulled dry again they will be as soft 
 as velvet. 
 
 The best grease to use is butter, which is the greatest 
 softener in the world, and a less quantity will answer than 
 of any other grease. 
 
 When the skin is dressed and pulled dry, you may apply 
 ochre to make it yellow, or hang it u-p in a smoke-house 
 and smoke it with a smudge of rotten w^ater elm, which 
 will make it a beautiful reddish yellow. 
 
 Another process is to let the skin lie in clear water until 
 the hair will slip off, and then grain it on the beam. This 
 is a very good way. I have practised it, and found the 
 leather as tough as that of the green hide. 
 
 Take the brains out of the head of a deer, or of a hog, 
 tie them up in a cloth, and put them into a gallon of 
 water, and boil for an hour ; then squeeze the cloth so as 
 to press through as mucli as you can ; let it stand until 
 you can barely hold your hand in it without scalding ; 
 then put in the grained skin, working it continually for 
 two or three minutes ; then take it out, wring it, and pull 
 it dry. If not soft enough, heat up and put in again ; 
 
DKESSIXG AND TAXXIXG SKIXS AXD FURS. 85 
 
 then work it and dry it as before. No doubt it will be 
 done by tins time, but if it is still, a little hard, apply a 
 small amount of butter, and work it in thoroughly, and 
 then smoke, as before directed. This is the Indian dress- 
 ing. There is no doubt that the first recipe — the oil- 
 dressing — is the best of all. 
 
 Tanning. — The first thing to be done preparatory to 
 tanning a hide or skin is to soak it, as no hide can be 
 tanned unless it has been soaked and properly broken on 
 a fleshing beam. Soak in soft water, and, unless the hides 
 have been salted, add a little salt to the water. Green 
 hides should remain in until thoroughly well soaked, say 
 from ten to twelve hours, according to thickness; dry 
 hides from two to six days. All hard or unbroken spots 
 must be softened after soaking. To remove the hair or 
 wool, immerse the hide or skin in a liquor composed of 
 ten gallons of cold, soft water, eight quarts of slaked 
 lime, and eight quarts of hard wood ashes. Let it soak 
 from two to six days, or until the hair or wool slips off 
 easily. 
 
 If it is desired to keep the wool or hair clean, instead 
 of using the liquor, take equal parts of slaked lime and 
 hard wood ashes, and make into a thin paste, with water. 
 Spread this on the flesh side, and then roll up the skin, 
 flesh side in, and place it in a tub or barrel, barely cover- 
 ing it with water. Let it soak from one to ten days, or 
 until the hair or wool can be easily removed ; then take 
 
86 THE HUNTER AND TEAPPER. 
 
 the hides from the soak, and scrape off the hair and flesh 
 with a fleshing knife. 
 
 The hides, by being soaked in the lime liquor, are raised 
 too much to be submitted to the tanning liquor. They 
 must first be reduced to their original thickness, by being 
 entirely freed from the lime. This is done by what is 
 termed "bating." 
 
 A bate is made of ten gallons of cold, soft water, one 
 half bushel of wheat bran, and a quarter of a pound of 
 sulphuric acid. It should be prepared a day or two before 
 using, in order that the bran may ferment. By using 
 lukewarm instead of cold water, the process will be 
 hastened. Put the hide into this bate, and let it remain 
 mitil it is reduced to its natural thickness and is as soft as 
 a green liide. Then remove it and rinse it in soft water, 
 and work it out, at least once, over the fleshing beam. 
 For a thick hide, a second rinsing and working will be 
 necessary. 
 
 Tanning Liquor. — For light hides, add one-half bushel 
 of wheat bran to ten gallons of soft, warm water, stirring 
 it in. Let it stand in a warm room until it ferments, then 
 add seven pounds of salt, and stir it until it dissolves ; 
 then add slowly, and stir in, two and a half pounds of 
 sulphuric acid. Into this liquor put the hide, and handle 
 it until it is perfectly saturated. 
 
 This tan will impart no color to the leather, but will act 
 as a mordant for setting a variety of bark or vegetable 
 
DRESSING AXD Tx^XNIXG SKIXS AND FUES. 87 
 
 colors. This tan liquor, when properly prepared, has a 
 sour, 2)ungent taste, sharper than the keenest vinegar, but 
 is not so strong as to injure the tongue or hands. This is 
 the test for the strength of the liquor. If it becomes 
 much reduced below this test, while the hides are in it, it 
 must be strengthened. To do this, remove the hides; 
 then skim off the bran, which is now worthless, and add 
 to the old liquor fermented bran, salt, and acid, as before. 
 Light hides should remain in the tan liquor from four to 
 twelve hours. Then rinse them in soft water, two or 
 three times, pushing out all the tan from the fur or hair. 
 All tanned skins should be thoroughly rinsed before 
 applying the liquid stuffing, which is composed in the 
 following manner. 
 
 Take one-third leached lye, and two-thirds tanner's or 
 neat's foot oil, beat together, and apply with a stiff brush. 
 Give calf skins two coats, furs one light coat, and deer 
 skins two coats, one on each side. Hang them in the 
 shade to dry. When half dry, take them on the beam 
 over some yielding substance, and by pushing the edge of 
 the flesh knife stoutly over the leather in all directions, it 
 will become soft and pliable. 
 
 In treating a calf skin, when the liquid is nearly dried 
 in, apply a thorough coat of water-proof stuffing. 
 
 All bides and skins when drying are like full cloth. 
 When wet, they contract or pull up, and have to be 
 stretched. To do this, take tlie hide after the liquid stuff- 
 ing is dried in, dampen it, and place it on the fleshing 
 
88 THE HUin^ER AXD TKAPPER. 
 
 beam over some yielding substance like a sheep skin. 
 Then use the flesh knife, (a circular knife, like the cook's 
 chopping knife.) By pushing the edge stoutly in all 
 directions over the leather, it will become stretched, and 
 be made fit for the various uses to which it is to be put. 
 
 The following is a simj^le way to dress deer skins. First 
 have them grained as already directed. Then, into a two 
 gallon stone pot, put two quarts of rain water, one oz. sul- 
 phuric acid, and one gill of salt. 
 
 Put in the hide, work it well for two or three minutes, 
 wring it out, pull it dry, and smoke it. 
 
 COLOEING HIDES. 
 
 Black. — ^Use logwood clear; dry, and then use cop- 
 peras water to make it black. Don't use too much cop- 
 peras. 
 
 Drab. — Pulverize blue clay with soft soap, add blue 
 vitriol, or extract of logwood, to shade the color as you 
 wish. 
 
 Dark Brown. — Seven lbs. of oak bark, six lbs. of young 
 fustic, one lb. of logwood. Strike in with strong alum 
 water. 
 
 To Buff Buckskin. — ^Take five parts of dry whiting 
 and two parts of yellow ochre, and mix them with water 
 to a stiff paste. Mould into balls, and lay by to dry. 
 When the dressed skin is dry, rub the ball over the sur- 
 face, and scour the powder in, and nap the leather by go- 
 ing over it with sand paper, folded over a small piece of 
 
DEESSIXG AND TAXXIXG SKIXS AXD FUES. 69 
 
 half round wood ; or rub the leather down with pumice, 
 stone. 
 
 Buff or DarJc Brown. — Take equal parts of pulver- 
 ized, unslaked lime, and litharge, and mix to a thin paste 
 with water ; apply it with a brush. One or two coats 
 will give a light buff or buckskin color, which every ad- 
 ditional coat will deepen. By adding ammonia and 
 nitrate of silver, a beautiful black color is produced. This 
 color may be so applied as to give a leopard skin appear- 
 ance, and in the hands of an ingenious person, a beautiful 
 effect can be produced. 
 
 Another. — One oz. of crystalized nitrate of silver, eight 
 oz. carbonate ammonia, one and a half pints of rain 
 water. Cork tight. Apply to the surface of the fur with 
 a brush. One application will make a brown, and by re- 
 peating it often enough, the color may be deepened to a 
 black. 
 
 TO DEESS FOX SKIXS. 
 
 Commence to skin the fox by ripping down the back 
 of each hind leg until the slits meet at the crotch. Don't 
 rip up the belly, but skin the body whole. Skin the tail 
 by putting a split stick over the bone of the tail, between 
 the hide and the body. Hold it tight, so that it will 
 scrape the bone of the tail, and then pull this out of the 
 hide. Draw tlie hide over a board, made ready of a 
 width from end to end, and when it is dry, slip it off and 
 turn it fur side out ; then it is ready to sell. 
 
90 THE HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 
 
 BEAVER SKINS. 
 
 Ki}) the skin as you would that of a sheep. Stretch it 
 to its full size in all directions, and nail it on a board to 
 dry. It may be dressed by a mixture of equal j^arts of 
 rock salt and alum dissolved in water, with coarse flour 
 stirred in to make it about as thick as cream. Spread 
 this on about half an inch thick, and when dry, scrape it 
 off. If this is not enough, put it on a second time. 
 
 To make it into furs, pluck out the long hairs. 
 
 OTTER SKIN. 
 
 Skin him nearly the same as the fox, only that the tail 
 must be ripped up, and when the hide is turned down to 
 the four legs, they must be skinned out carefully. Slip 
 the skin over a board that will not fit it so tightly as to 
 injure the fur. Stretch out the tail, and hold it in place 
 by tacking it with small nails around the edges. If it is a 
 real black fellow that shines like a crow, probably you 
 will get eight or ten dollars for him. It may be dressed 
 in the same manner as a beaver skin. 
 
 MINK SKINS. 
 
 The same directions in all respects as for the foregoing, 
 save that after the paste gets dry it should be scraped off 
 with the bowl of a spoon, taking care to keep the skin 
 stretched tightly, so that the astringent matter will not 
 shrink it too much. 
 
DEESSIXG AXD TAX]STNG SKINS AXD FUES. 91 
 
 The skin may be dressed as soft as yelvet, and the ahim 
 and salt will set the hair securely. 
 
 During the warm, summer months the mink is nearly 
 stripped of his fur, the skin is thin, and the buts of the 
 hair stick nearly through, making the pelt black. 
 
 The skin is in its prime from midwinter until about the 
 middle of May. 
 
 MIJSKEAT SKIXS. 
 
 These skins are very tender, and the flesh is very tough, 
 so that they will not bear fleshing until they have lain for 
 at least six hours in the tan liquor described above for 
 light deer skins. After this it should be fleshed over the 
 flesh side of a sheep skin, with the circular fleshing knife. 
 The fur may be enlivened by being rubbed with a mixture 
 of equal parts of scorched bran and clean wliite sand. 
 
 EACCOOX SKIXS. 
 
 These should be nailed on a board to dry, and smeared 
 with a paste made of equal parts of alum and salt dis- 
 solved in a weak solution of sulphuric acid, say 2 oz. of 
 alum, 2 oz. of salt, 1 drachm of sulphuric acid, 1 pint 
 of water, and a little wheat bran. When nearly dry, 
 scrape it ofi* with a spoon, and work the skin very soft. 
 
 This may be done by rolling up the skin, instead of nail- 
 ing it on a board ; or it may be put in the tan liquor 
 recommended for light deer hides. 
 
 BEAE SKIX'S. 
 
 Tan in the same manner in all respects as the Raccoon 
 skins. 
 
GARDENING FOR PROFIT 
 
 In the Market and Family GJ-arden. 
 By Peter Hexdersox. 
 
 This is the first work on Market Gardening ever published in this 
 country. Its author is well known as a market gardener of eighteen 
 years' successful experience. In this work he has recorded this 
 experience, and given, without reservation, the methods necessary 
 to the profitable culture of the commercial or 
 
 It is a work for which there has long been a demand, and one 
 which will commend itself, not only to those who grow vegetables 
 for sale, but to the cultivator of the 
 
 FAMILY GAEDEN, 
 
 to whom it presents methods quite different from the old ones gen- 
 erally practiced. It is an original and purely American work, and 
 not made up, as books on gardening too often are, by quotations 
 from foreign authors. 
 
 Every thing is made perfectly plain, and the subject treated in all 
 its details, from the selection of the soil to preparing the products 
 for market. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Men fitted for the Business of Gardening, 
 
 The Amoxint of Capital Eequired, and 
 
 "Working Ij'orce per Acre. 
 
 Profits of Market Gardening. 
 
 Location, Situation, and Laying Out. 
 
 Soils, Drainage, and Preparation. 
 
 Manures, Implements. 
 
 Uses and Management of Cold Frames. 
 
 Formation and Management of Hot-bede. 
 
 Forcing Pits or Green-houses. 
 
 Seeds and Seed Raising. 
 
 How, "When, and WTiere to Sow Seedo. 
 
 Transplanting, Insects. 
 
 Packing of Vegetables for Shipping. 
 
 Preservation of Vegetables in "Winter. 
 
 Vegetables, their Varieties and Cultivation. 
 
 In the last chapter, the most valuable kinds are described, and 
 the culture J^roper to each is given in detail. 
 
 Sent post-paid, price $1.30. 
 OBANGE JUDD & CO., 245 Broadway, Kew-York. 
 
THE 
 
 SMALL FEUIT CULTUEIST. 
 
 BY 
 
 ANDREW S. FULLER. 
 Beautifully Illustrated, 
 
 We have heretofore had no work especially devoted to small 
 fruits, aud certainly no treatises anywhere that give the information 
 contained in this. It is to the advantage of special works that the 
 author can say all that he has to say on any subject, and not bo 
 restricted as to space, as he must be in those works that cover the 
 culture of all fruits — great and small. 
 
 This book covers the whole ground of Propagating Small Fruits, 
 their Culture, Varieties, Packing for Market, etc. While very full on 
 the other fruits, the Currants aud Raspberries have been more care- 
 fully elaborated than ever before, and in this important part of hia 
 book, the author has had the invaluable counsel of Charles Downing. 
 The chapter on gathering and packing the fruit is a valuable one, 
 and in it are figured all the baskets and boxes now in common use. 
 The book is very finely and thoroughly illustrated, and makes an 
 admirable companion to the Grape Culturist, by the same author. 
 
 COINTTEP^XS: 
 
 Chap. I. Batiberrt. Chap. VIL Gooseberry. 
 
 Cbap. II. Strawberry. Chap. YITI. Cornelian Cherry. 
 
 Chap. III. Raspberry. Chap. IX. Cranberry. 
 
 Chap. IV. Blackberry. Chap. X. Huckleberry. 
 
 Chap. V. Dwarf Cherry. Chap. XL Sheperdli. 
 
 Ch.u*. VI. CURR.VNT. Chap. XII. Preparation fok 
 
 GATHERING FrUIT. 
 
 Sent post-paid. Price $1.50. 
 
 ORANGE JUDD «& CO., 245 Broadway, K'ew-York 
 
THE 
 
 
 OIOTMJL WJyLJLO i| 
 
 ANDEEW S. FULLEE. 
 
 NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION. 
 
 THE STANDARD WORK 
 
 ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE HARDY GRAPE, 
 
 AS IT NOT ONLY DISCUSSES PRINCIPLES, 
 
 BUT 
 
 ILLUSTRATES FHAGTIOE. 
 
 Every thing is made perfectly plain, and. its teach- 
 ings iTiay be fbllo^ved upon 
 
 ONE VINE OR A VINEYARD 
 
 The following are some of the topics that are treated i 
 
 Growing Netv Yarteties from Seed. 
 
 Propagation by Single Buds or Eyes. 
 
 Propagating Houses and their Management fully describet). 
 
 How TO Grow. 
 
 Cuttings in Open Air, and how to Make Layers. 
 
 Grafting the Grape — A Simp'.e and Successful Method. 
 
 Hybridizing and Crossing — Mode of Operation. 
 
 Soil and Situation — Planting and Cultivation. 
 
 Pruning, Training, and Trellises — all the Systems ExPLAiirnK 
 
 Garden Culture — How to Grow Vines in a Door- Yard. 
 
 Insects, Mildew, Sun-Scald, and other Troubles. 
 
 Description of the Valuable and the Discarded Varieties. 
 
 Sent post-paid. Price $1.50. 
 
 Orange Judd & Co., 24:5 Broad^vay. 
 
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 Every Man, Woman and Child, 
 
 INCITY, VILLAGE and COUNTRY, 
 
 THE 
 
 AMERICAN AGEICULTUEIST, 
 
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 FARM, aAHDEN AND HOUSEHOLD, 
 
 Including a Special Department of Interesting and 
 
 Instructive Reading for CHILDREN and YOUTH. 
 
 The AgriaiUnrifit Is a large periodical of Thirty-txoo pages, quarto, not octavo 
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 ing hundreds oi beautiful and insCruclive Engraviiiss in everj- annual volume. 
 
 It contains each month a Calendar of Operations to be performed on the Farm, 
 In the Oi*clia.rtl and Garden, in and around the Dwelling, etc. 
 
 The thousands of hints and sujr.gestions given in every volume are prepared byprac- 
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 articles are thorouglily edited, and every way reliable. 
 
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