well in daytime as at night, and I have often, by observing this rule, found on my return at different times almost all kinds of animals caught while I was at the other end of the road.

CHAPTER V.
BAIT AND SCENT.

The mink is very hard to catch, as all or most all experienced trappers tell us, so therefore we must believe them, says an experienced Canadian trapper. Some say that mink are afraid of human scent. In one sense they are but in another they are not, as I will prove to you in the following paragraph:

While I was trapping on Twenty Mile Creek in Ontario I had an occasion to go my rounds very early one morning. I had not gone far before I ran onto a large mink track, and as the snow was only here and there in small patches I did not follow it. I returned the same way to get a skunk I had hidden, and on reaching this particular spot I saw as before, my tracks going one way and Mr. Mink's another. I never thought any more about it until I came to the next patch of snow, and there were his newly made tracks beside my own, and some were discerned in the same prints as I had made, so that must prove that he wasn't afraid of human scent there. If that mink had been afraid of human scent he most certainly would have avoided my tracks, but as it was he saw me coming and hid somewhere until I was past.

NORTHWESTERN SKINS.

I do not say that a person can drop a trap down anywhere, set any old way, and catch mink; but I do say that it all depends where the human scent is. If a man sets a trap and handles it with his hands or any other foolish thing, he will catch but very few mink.

My way of setting a trap for a mink is this: Find a den or hollow log in the vicinity where mink tracks are seen. After you have found the place where you intend setting your trap, set it in the following way: Cut a hole in the ground at the entrance shaped like a straight stemmed pipe, only make it large enough for the trap to set in nicely. After that, set the trap, twisting the spring around to the same side of the trap as already excavated, and taking the dirt you have the pan, placing the trap in the place you have taken out, cover the trap with it, being careful not to let any lump or pebble lay at the base of the jaws, as it prevents them from closing tightly, and your mink may get away.

For bait, take the tail, front and hind legs of a muskrat, also a small piece of flesh, or better yet the entrails, and place them in the hole, being careful not to set it too close, but close enough so that the mink will have to step on the pan of the trap. It is better to have it too far back than too close, as you then run a better chance of getting your mink. Also have some musk or some reliable scent, and put a few drops on a stick a short distance from the trap. After all of this be very careful in brushing out all signs, and make everything look as natural as possible, depart, and I know from experience that you can catch a mink, providing you follow the directions above.

In order to trap very shy animals use no bait of any kind, but set your traps where they are sure to go and you can capture the shyest mink, says a Maine trapper. The places where mink are sure to go are into holes, dens, hollow stumps and logs, and to make a success you want a trap set at all the places. If there isn't any, make some any time in the summer for the coming season.

The right size and best kind of trap for mink is the Blake & Lamb No. 1. Have them free from rust and foreign odors, as mink have keen smelling organs; boil them in ashes and water, also boil them again in a kettle filled with fir or cedar twigs, and after they are dried and when hot rub them all over with beeswax, and when set cover carefully and fasten to something movable.

In the fall of the year use no scent, but in the spring when they are running around use their own musk, mixed with fish oil and salt to preserve it. This is my way to trap mink without bait, and I have captured large numbers of them.

I claim that animals are their own best scent. If experience is worth anything I am sure of it. About the first trapping I ever did (1877) I ran out of mink bait and came across a rivulet running into the main creek and mink track in plenty. Well, what was I to do? I must set a trap. I took a piece of the hind quarter of a mink. Being a green hand at the business I did not know whether it would work or not. But the next time I visited my trap I found out the plan was a success, for I had Mr. Mink safe and sound. Ever since I have had occasion to use the same for bait.

Another illustration I will give which proves beyond question that this theory is a correct one: In 1878 I set a trap in a hole in the bank, the water not freezing all winter, but ran a stream over the trap, out of the hole. I used no bait. But I believe I caught every mink coming that way. Every mink caught of course would freshen up the place with his musk. The result was 15 mink. I believe other animals are the same; but skunk and civet are not so particular what they eat; anything half decomposed or rotten will answer.

The civet is very troublesome when they find your mink trap. In setting in water (he will not go in water if he can help it) he will make a hole at one side and get your bait in spite of you. At other times he will crawl over all your stagings and reach in, like a monkey, apparently as limber as Indian rubber, and get your bait. In dry land sets they walk right into your trap and you can get rid of them.

TRAPPERS "SHACK".

A few words about scent. I never did believe in mixing a lot of stuff together as some say, says a Canadian trapper. Now if a mink is attracted by the odor of fish oil or the scent of muskrat musk or of blood or the scent of the female mink, that does not say that we should mix them all together and expect it to catch every mink that comes along. Would you expect the mink to distinguish the smell of each of these substances when they are all mixed together? If we like chicken, sweet potatoes, chocolate cake and mince pie, would it make it better to mix all these things together? I don't think we would like it.

As for the fox, the very best scent or decoy is the matrix of the female fox, as has been described so often, but it is hard to get. Next to this I think comes skunk essence and it should be sprinkled around quite freely, as the fox is not afraid of it, like some trappers are, and it also helps to kill the smell of the iron of the trap. Now don't think by this that you should rub it on the trap. Just sprinkle it around the trap.

But none of these scents will attract an animal as far as some seem to think, and I find that one of the most important things is to find where animals use and set your traps near these places. Of course you must study the nature and habits of your game or you will not know how to set the trap after you find the place. Then set your traps carefully, work hard, keep your eyes open, use reason and good sense, take care of your furs and you will be successful.

For mink I use a No. 1 or No. 1 1/2 trap. The latter is preferable. For scent that obtained from the scent bags of the mink or weasel, mixed with anise oil, is the best decoy I ever used, says a Minnesota trapper. This scent is found near the root of the tail in two round bags about the size of a pea, and is a yellow liquid smelling very strong.

After setting the trap I scatter feathers around and over it. The mink, seeing the feathers and scenting what he supposes to be a weasel, will dig up the whole works looking for something a weasel has overlooked, and he is mighty lucky if he don't get in the trap.