href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@34098@[email protected]#pic136" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">Bank Set for Wolf and Coyote
The Grizzly Bear
The Raccoon
The Badger
The Opossum
The Lynx
The Wild Cat or Bay Lynx
The Cougar
The Wolverine
The Pocket Gopher
Burrow of Pocket Gopher
The Rabbit
Rabbit Snares
Tracks of Furbearing Animals
Tracks of Furbearing Animals
Tracks of Furbearing Animals
Tracks of Game Animals
Canadian Pattern Stretching Boards
Steel Traps

The Author with a Catch of Furs.

INTRODUCTION.

Among the many outdoor occupations, trapping the furbearing animals is perhaps the most pleasant and in many instances is also very profitable.

Although trapping was one of the earliest industries of this country, the occupation has not passed away, along with the vanishing wilderness, for there is more trapping done today than at any time during the past. Scattered all over North America, in both the thickly settled portions and the more remote districts are thousands of trappers who are each season deriving both pleasure and profit from this unique calling.

Trapping in itself is an art. Many of the wild creatures are exceedingly wary and the trapper must match his reason against the instinct, the natural wariness and the acquired knowledge of the animals. This wariness alone has saved some species of animals from extinction, and although man is superior to all brute life, such intelligent animals as the fox and the wolf frequently prove a match for the most expert of trappers.

In order to be successful, one must know the wild animals as a mother knows her child. He must also know and use the most practical methods of trapping, and it is my object to give in this work, the most successful trapping methods known.

These modes of trapping the furbearing animals have for the most part been learned from actual experience in various parts of the country, but I also give the methods of other successful trappers, knowing them to be as good as my own. I am personally acquainted with some of the most expert trappers in North America and have also followed the Indians over their trap lines and in this way have learned many things which to the white man are not generally known.

E. KREPS.

SCIENCE OF TRAPPING.

CHAPTER I.
THE TRAPPER'S ART.

During past ages many of the wild creatures of the forest and stream were hunted and captured in various ways by the inhabitants of the wilderness,--the flesh of these animals being the principal food of many tribes of savages and the skins being used for clothing; but it was only after furs became a staple article of wearing apparel among civilized nations and the traders had learned of the profits to be made in the fur trade that wholesale and systematic trapping began. For many years after the commencement of the fur trade in this country, the occupation of trapping was monopolized by the native inhabitants, but later some of the bolder of the white race pushed into the wilderness and learned the trapper's art.

To-day there are thousands of trappers scattered over the United States, Canada, Alaska and Mexico and the catching of wild animals for profit is no longer considered to be an occupation fitting only for the savage, for there is scarcely a farmer, ranchman or other person whose calling brings him close to nature who is not more or less interested in the fur-bearing animals. Wild animals are not all hunted for the sake of their furs. There are some such as the wolf, coyote, mountain lion and wild-cat which have become positive nuisances because of their destruction of stock and for such the government and in many cases the stockmen pay a bounty. The capture of wolves and coyotes especially has become a profitable business.

As to the profits to be derived from this occupation, there are professional trappers in the North, South and West whose catches amount to from five hundred to two thousand dollars or more each season, but the number who do as well as that is comparatively small. By far the greater number of trappers are those who follow other occupations and devote only their spare time to the capture of wild animals and they are for the most part farmers and country boys who in this way add considerable to their yearly income.

It is not at all necessary to go into the wilds in order to do successful trapping, and almost any farming section will be found to be a paying trapping ground. Indeed, the country man or boy will in most cases do far better in his own home district than he would by going into some place with which he is not familiar even though the fur-bearing animals be more plentiful there than at home. In his own territory he will learn the haunts of each kind of fur-bearing animal, its route of travel, the dens, etc., and this knowledge will be of great value when the actual trapping commences.

Of course all of the various species of animals will not be found in any one section but where one is missing there will be some