Our illustration gives a very clear idea of the affair.  The sides are built of stout young tree-trunks, cut into sections and firmly driven into the ground close together.  For a large animal,—­a bear, for instance,—­the enclosure should be about seven feet deep, two and a half feet wide, and four feet high.  The top should be built in with the sides, after the manner of the log cabin, described in page (244.) The two posts at the entrance should be first set up.  On the back side of each, near the end, a deep notch should be cut for the reception of the cross piece at the top.  This should likewise be notched in a similar manner on both sides of each end, so as to fit singly into the notches in the uprights on the one side, and into the second pair of uprights [Page 30] on the other.  These latter should next be inserted firmly into the ground, having been previously notched on both sides of their upper ends, as described for the cross piece.  They may either be fixed in place and the cross piece sprung in between them at the top, or the latter may be held in the notches of the first pair, while the second are being inserted.  Continue thus until the full length of the sides are reached, when the end may be closed by an upright wall of plain logs, either hammered into the ground, after the manner of the sides, or arranged one above another in notches between the two end uprights.  The sliding door is next required.  This should be large enough to cover the opening, and should be made of stout board slabs, firmly secured by cross pieces.  It should be made to slide smoothly into grooves cut into perpendicular logs situated on each side of the opening, or may be arranged to slip easily between the flattened side of one log on each side and the front of the pen.  Either way works well.  In the latter an additional upright or short board should be inserted in the ground at the edges of the sliding door, to prevent the latter from being forced to either side by the efforts of the enclosed captive.

[Illustration]

There are two or three ways of setting the trap, depending upon the desired game.  For a bear it is arranged as in our illustration.  An upright post, two feet in length, should be cut [Page 31] to an edge at one end, and wedged in between the logs at the top of the trap, near the middle.  Across the top of this, a pole seven feet in length, should be rested; one end being attached by a loop, or secured in a notch in the sliding door, and the other supplied with a strong string about four feet in length, with a stick eight inches in length secured to its end.  Through the centre log, in the back of the pen, and about two feet from the ground, an auger hole should be made.  The bait stick with bait attached should be inserted through this hole from the inside, and the spindle caught on the outside between its projecting end and a nail driven in the adjoining upright.  This principle is clearly illustrated on page 105 at (a), and, if desired, the method (b) may be used also.  For a bear, the bait should consist of a piece of meat scented with burnt honey-comb.  The odor of honey will tempt a bear into almost any trap, and even into such close quarters as the above he will enter without the slightest suspicion, when a feast of honey is in view.