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Full Title
How to make and set traps : Including hints on how to trap moles, weasels, otter, rats, squirrels and birds. Also how to cure skins / by J. Harrington Keene.
Author
Keene, J. Harrington.
Date Added
9 January 2014
Format
Journal
Language
English
Publish Date
1902
Publisher
New York : Frank Tousey
Series
Ten cent handbooks > no. 40
Source
Dime Novel and Popular Literature
Alternate Title
Ten cent handbooks -- no. 40
Topic
Trapping > Handbooks, manuals, etc. Hunting > Handbooks, manuals, etc. Hides and skins > Handbooks, manuals, etc.
About
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Disclaimers
Disclaimer of Liability Disclaimer of Endorsement
OCR
10 HOW 10 MAKE AND SET TRAPS.
sent annually to Windsor Castle by the Park mole-catcher,
for preparation and making up. I dare say this man catches
two or three thousand moles every year, and yet the number °
seem not to decline, so unfailing is the multiplication of
* these velvety little fellows.
The professional mole-catcher usually skins his moles in a
very summary manner. Simply passing a very sharp knife
round the head, and cntting off the foreteet, he turns the
skin off inside out as [should do an eel. Indeed, it is a
more rapid process than eel-skinning, for I once had.a match
with a moje-catcher, which was that .[ was to skin six feir-
sized eels, while he skinned six moles. I lost, though I
am exceediniy quick with eels, by one eel, much to my an-
noyance, for I had loudly boasted of my dexterity. Having
skinved his mole as I described, the mole-catcher then
simply stuffs a pledget of hay or wadding into the skin and
leaves it to dry.
If you have time, however, itis much better to skin the
mole by making an incision down the belly, and taking off
the.fur as you would do in the case of a rabbit. It should
then be tacked with small tin tacks to a dry board, the inside
toward you, and after removing with a blunt knife any
particles of fat, itshould be dressed with a soap made as
follows:--whiting or chalk, 1 1-2 0z.; soft soap, 1 0z.;
chloride of lime, 2 oz. .Ifthese ingredients are not handy
powdered alum will serve, though not so well. :
Now, one word in conclusion of this chapter on the mole,
and it will serve as good advice whenever vou are trapping.
Be quiet; do not zo lumbering all over the-ground with the
. tread of a cart-horse, for it must be borne in mind that the
mole has not only a good perception of actual sounds, but
an exquisile sense of vibration. Like a trout, the softest
tread wil) in some cases apprise it of danger and cause it to
retire to its citadel. Your object is to catch moles by cut-_
ting off their retreat, for if they are in the central habitation
they may not take the route when next astart is made that
you desite and in which the trap is set.
Ii. .
THE WEASEL, STOAT AND POLECAT,
‘‘ Tr-we consider the animal creation on a broad scale, the
aggregate of living beings will be found to de the devourers
and destroyers of others.” The editor of Cassel’s Natural
History is responsible for thia statement, and it struck me
as a forcible and appropriate one for this chapter on weasels,
ete. Without doubt the weasel, next to the rat, is one ofthe -
most destructive of our vermin, preying aw it does with Xe
.
a a