Deadfalls and Snares: A Book of Instruction for Trappers About These and Other Home-Made TrapsHarding, A. R. (Arthur Robert)
General
Deadfalls and Snares: A Book of Instruction for Trappers About These and Other Home-Made Traps
Harding, A. R. (Arthur Robert)
Animal traps; Animal traps -- Juvenile literature
To set the trap, pile stones on the end of the lid until it will tip
easily, then put a pole thru under lid and go inside and fasten the
bait on the bait stick. Then pull the long pole down and hook it into
the notch in the bait stick. Remove the stones from lid and take the
pole from under it and the trap is set and ready for the first bear
that comes along. If the lid does not seem heavy enough, pile stone
on it. A trap of this kind may be made by two men in half a day and
will be good for a number of years.
* * *
The log trap is one of the very best methods of taking the bear, it
beats the deadfall all to nothing, says an old and experienced Ohio
bear trapper. It is a sure shot every time; I have never known it to
fail except where the pen had stood for a number of years and become
rotten. In a case of that kind the bear would have no difficulty in
gnawing his way out. This trap or pen, as I shall call it, has been
time tried and bear tested. My father used to make these traps and
many is the time when a boy I have ridden on horseback upon a narrow
path, cut for the purpose of letting a horse pass along and on
nearing the pen heard the growling and tearing around of the bear in
the pen and the hair on my head would almost crowd my hat off.
Go about building it this way: First select the spot where you have
reason to believe that bear inhabit; now having made your selection,
get a level place and on this spot lay a course of logs with the top
flattened off; this may be eight by three feet. This being done,
commence to lay up the house of logs six to eight inches in diameter.
Three sides of each log should be flattened; these will be the top,
bottom and the inside. It is necessary this be done, for they must
fit closely together in order that the bear cannot get a starting
place to gnaw. This is why I suggest that the inside of the log be
flattened. It is a well-known fact that you can put any gnawing
animal into a square box and he cannot gnaw out for he cannot get the
starting point.
Lay a short log first, then a long one, notching each corner as you
go so the logs will fit closely together. Now for the front corners;
drive a flattened stake into the ground, letting the flattened side
come against the logs. Now as you proceed to lay on a course of logs
pin thru the stake into each log. Now go on up until you get a height
of about four feet, then lay on, for the top, a course of short logs
commencing at the back end.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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