The dead fall is also efficacious in their capture, and they are also sometimes taken in large pit-falls covered over with light sticks and leaves, to resemble the natural surroundings.  On this false covering, the bait, consisting of green corn or other vegetables, is strewn and a high wall of logs or stones is erected around it, in order that the animal will be obliged to jump slightly in order to reach the bait.

Remove the hide as recommended for the deer.

[Page 222] SHOOTING AND POISONING.

Until the introduction of the steel-trap, shooting was a common method of taking fur bearing animals, and even to the present day it is quite prevalent in some localities.  Anyone who has had any experience with the fur trade must have learned that furs which are “shot,” are much affected in value.  Some furriers will not purchase such skins at any price; and they never meet with any but a very low offer.  “Trapped furs” and “shot furs” are terms of considerable significance in the fur trade, and anyone who wishes to realize from a profitable sale of his furs, should use his gun as little as possible.  A shot grazing through the fur of an animal cuts the hairs as if with a knife, and a single such furrow is often enough to spoil a skin.  It is these oblique grazing shots which particularly damage the fur, and an animal killed with a shot gun is seldom worth skinning for the value of its pelt.  If firearms are used, the rifle is preferable.  If the animal chances to be hit broadside or by a direct penetrating bullet, the two small holes thus made may not particularly effect the value of its skin, although even then the chances are rather slight.

Trapped furs are of the greatest value.

The use of poison is objectionable as a means of capture in animals especially desired for their fur.  Strychnine is the substance generally employed, and unless its victim is skinned immediately after death the pelt becomes considerably injured by the absorption of the poison.  It has the effect of loosening the fur and the hair sheds easily.

The poison is principally used in the capture of Wolves and animals considered in the light of vermin.  For a wolf or fox, the poison is mixed with lard or tallow and spread on pieces of meat, or a small amount of the powder is inclosed in an incision in the bait.  The amount sufficient for a single dose may be easily held on the point of a knife blade, and death ensues in a a very few moments after the bait is taken.  For a Bear the dose should be a half thimbleful, and it should be deposited in the centre of a piece of honey comb, the cells being emptied of their honey for that purpose.

Other animals may be taken by proportionate quantities of the poison, but for general purposes we discourage its use.

[Page 223] [Illustration:  THE CAMPAIGN.]

[Page 225] BOOK VII.

CAMPAIGN LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS.