The Bear Trap
Categories: TRAPS FOR LARGE GAME.This trap is constructed after the idea of the old-fashioned box
or rabbit trap, and has been the means of securing many a hungry
bear, or even puma, whose voracity has exceeded its cunning. The
lynx and wild-cat are also among its occasional victims; and inasmuch
as its prisoners are taken alive great sport is often realized
before the captive is brought under control.
Our illustration gives a very clear
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
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.
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
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.
For the cougar, or puma, the best bait is a live lamb or a young
pig, encaged in a small pen erected at the end of the trap. A fowl
is also excellent. When thus baited, the setting of the trap is
varied. The upright post at the top of the trap is inserted nearer
the front, and the cross pole is stouter. The auger hole is bored
in the top of the trap, through the centre of one of the logs, and
about twenty inches from the back end of the trap. The spindle is
dispensed with and the end of the string is provided with a large
knot, which is lowered through the auger hole, and is prevented
from slipping back by the insertion of a stick beneath. This stick
should be about three feet in length, and of such a size at the
end as will snugly fit into the auger hole. It should be inserted
delicately, merely enough to hold the knot from slipping back, and
so as to be easily released by a slight movement in any direction.
This mode of setting is more fully detailed on page 52. As the
puma steals in upon his prey he dislodges the stick, the lid falls,
and he finds himself imprisoned with his intended victim. This
trap is much used in India and Asia for the capture of the tiger,
and the jaguar of South America is frequently entrapped by the
same devices.
More
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