Page 161 - The Lost Ways

How to Set a Body Grip Trap

Once you find the bubble trail, take an ax and cut a square hole out of the ice. Then pull
out your ice chunks. Use a body grip trap, and put a peeled potato on the trigger prongs.
Be sure to check with your local laws to ensure baiting traps are legal in your area.

Put the trap on its setting stick (this is just a good stick you found) then chain it to its cross
stick that stays on top of the ice to keep the trap there. That stick needs to be longer than
the hole is wide, or the critter will get away with your trap. When you come back, you’ll
likely have a beaver in that trap.

If you can’t find a bubble trail, look for narrow spots in the creek, and set the traps there.
If there are none, you can bet that the entrance to the hut will be pretty much facing the
water. Just set the body grip trap 10 feet from the hut to the center of it in the same way
by chopping a hole in the ice, etc.

Tanning

There are a ton of manuals out there on skinning, so I won’t go into that, but I will give
some tips on tanning.

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