File:The trapper's guide; a manual of instructions for capturing all kinds of fur-bearing animals, and curing their skins; with observations on the fur-trade, hints on life in the woods, and narratives of (14766327854).jpg

Identifier: trappersguideman01newh (find matches)
Title: The trapper's guide; a manual of instructions for capturing all kinds of fur-bearing animals, and curing their skins; with observations on the fur-trade, hints on life in the woods, and narratives of trapping and hunting excursions
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Newhouse, S. (Sewell) Noyes, John Humphrey, 1811-1886
Subjects: Trapping Hunting
Publisher: Community, N.Y., Oneida community, limited
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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riking into their houses with his hatchetfor the purpose of setting his traps, he frequently sees a wholefamily plunge into the water and swim away under the ice.Following one of them for some distance, he sees him comeup to renew his breath in the manner above described. Afterthe animal has breathed against the ice, and before he has hadtime to take his bubble in again, the hunter strikes with hishatchet directly over him and drives him away from hisbreath. In this case he drowns in swimming a few rods, andthe hunter, cutting a hole in the ice, takes him out. Mink,otter, and beaver travel under the ice in the same way ; andhunters have frequently told me of taking otter in the mannerI have described, when these animals visit the houses of theMuskrat for prey. In summer, Muskrats live mostly in banks and in hollowtrees that stand near a stream ; and sometimes, for want ofsuitable marshes and ponds, they i-emain in the banks andtrees through the winter. They are very prolific, bringing
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CAPTURE OF ANIMALS. 23 forth from six to nine at a birth, and three times a year. Thefirst kittens also have one litter, which attain to about the sizeof house-rats in September. They have many enemies, suchas the fox, wolf, lynx, otter, mink, and owl. They are foundfrom the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Rio Grande tothe Arctic Regions. But they do not inhabit the alluviallands of Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, though inother regions they live much further south. The modes of capturing the JNIuskrat are various. One ofthem we have already seen. Another is by spearing, ofwhich a fine example will be given in a subsequent article byMr. Thacker. These methods are good at certain seasonsand in certain conditions of the ice, &c. ; but for general serv-ice there is no means of capture so reliable as the steel-trap.Traps should be set in the principal feeding places, play-grounds, and holes of the Muskrat, and generally about twoinches under water. Bait is not necessary

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