. Animal snapshots and how made . case the chain should besecured within its length of deep water. The musk-rats idea of freeing himself when caught in a trapseems to be to get into deep water. The exer-tion with the added weight of the trap will exhaustthe strength of the muskrat and he will soon , if the trap is so fastened that he cannotget into deep water, after several hours he will usuallyfree himself by gnawing off his leg. Muskrats are very stupid about being trapped. Iftwo or three traps are placed at short distances apartin a runway, the first muskrat passing will prob
. Animal snapshots and how made . case the chain should besecured within its length of deep water. The musk-rats idea of freeing himself when caught in a trapseems to be to get into deep water. The exer-tion with the added weight of the trap will exhaustthe strength of the muskrat and he will soon , if the trap is so fastened that he cannotget into deep water, after several hours he will usuallyfree himself by gnawing off his leg. Muskrats are very stupid about being trapped. Iftwo or three traps are placed at short distances apartin a runway, the first muskrat passing will prob-ably be caught, while a second and even a third mayfall victims to the tempting bait, although usuallythe squealing of the two is sufficient to frighten awaythe third one for a time. Traps arranged in theorder just described are visited between ten and The Muskrat 87 eleven oclock at night and again in the early muskrat is easily caught in a box trap, whichshould be lined with tin, to prevent his gnawing hisway A Trap Baited for MuskratWhen the streams are frozen the trapping of themuskrat practically ceases and the. hunter will meetwith better success if he visits the marshes, wherethe lodges are to be found. For this purpose thehunters go in parties of three or four. One memberof the party carries a spear, which has, usually, four 88 The Muskrat prongs about eight inches long, while the others areeach armed with an axe. The party, thus properly equipped, arrives at themarsh and cautiously approaches a muskrat lodge onthe southern exposure. This side being naturally thewarmest, the muskrats are more apt to be found here,resting snugly in their warm beds. The experiencedhunter can usually locate the exact spot above themuskrats by the dehcate frostwork upon the outsideof the lodge, produced bv the warmth of their spot having been located, the spearman drives thesharp prongs through five or six inches of the lodgewall, and usually pins one or more
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectani, booksubjectbirds
