The Wild Goose Trap
Category:
TRAPS FOR FEATHERED GAME.
In our northern cold regions, where the wild geese and ptarmigan
flock in immense numbers, this trap is commonly utilized. It consists
merely of a large net fifty feet in length, and fifteen in width,
arranged on a framework, and propped in a slanting position by
two poles, after the manner of the sieve trap. It is generally
set on the ice; and the trapper, after attaching his strings to
the props, and sprinkling his bait at the foot of the net, retires
to a distance to await his chances. Tame geese are often used as
decoys, and sometimes the bird whistle already described is used
for the same purpose. For the capture of the ptarmigan, the bait
consists of a heap of gravel. It is hard to imagine a less tempting
allurement, but as the food of the birds during the winter is sapless
and hard, it becomes necessary for them to swallow a considerable
amount of gravel to promote digestion. The great depth of the snow
renders this commodity very scarce during the winter season; and
the Indians, taking advantage of this fact, succeed in capturing
immense numbers of the game in nets by the use of that simple
allurement. The gravel is packed on the surface of a pile of snow,
placed under the centre of the net, and the draw-string is carried
to some neighboring shrubbery or place of concealment, where the
trapper can always get at it without being seen by the birds under
the net.
When everything is thus prepared, the hunters start out into the
adjacent woods and willows, and drive their game toward the nets.
This is generally an easy matter, and, no sooner do the birds come
in sight of the heap of gravel, than they fly towards it en masse,
and the ground beneath the net is soon covered with the hungry game.
The hunter then goes to the end of the line, and, with a sudden pull,
hauls down the stakes: the net fans over the birds, and they are
prisoners.
Hundreds of ptarmigan are often thus caught by a single sweep of
the net. The trap is simply arranged, and may be constructed on
a reduced scale for smaller birds, if desired.
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The Bird Whistle
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