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SCIENCE VERSUS LUCK OF TRAPPING | |
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By Walter S. Chansler.
WEBSTER defines science as accumulated and established knowledge, which has been systematized and formulated with reference to the discovery of general truths, or the operation of general laws. Luck, he defines as a course or series of events, affecting one's interests or happiness, which are regarded as occurring by chance. This definition of these words is nowhere more applicable than when brought into relation with the various forms of outdoor sports.
how often we hear the expression, with reference to some successful hunter, trapper or fisherman: "Oh! he's just lucky! He always is successful." When we analyze his success, however. we find back of it a knowledge of the principles governing the sport, which has been systematized and formulated with reference to the operation of general laws; we find the success of the "lucky" sportsman not due to chance or luck, but plainly the result of applied science.
Many years ago, when the writer was a small boy, he went fishing one day with his uncle and a neighbor. Trot lines were used, and, if the writer remembers rightly, three of these were set in very deep water and kept baited with live crawfish. We were using the only boat along that part of the river, and as the point which we had selected as a desirable location for trot line fishing was more or less secluded, we had hoped to spend the night here fishing, unmolested by other fishermen. We were disappointed in this, however, as a man by the name of Emmons —the owner of the boat we were using—came into our camp shortly before sundown and asked us if he would interfere with our arrangements in using the boat to set out a short trot line. He stated that he only wished to bait and "run" his line three or four times, and that he would use the boat only at such times as we were not needing the use of it.
This man was known as a "lucky" fisherman, and was an expert boatman, and therefore needed little aid in setting out his line: nevertheless, the writer accompanied him—as ballast—and learned from him. that night, the secret of his success.
Scarcely had we started up the river to the point indicated by the fisherman as the location he had selected for setting out his line, when he began plying me with questions concerning the kinds of bait we were using, the location of our lines, the depth of water we were fishing in. and the manner of procedure followed out in setting out the lines. After listening closely to my description of the operations of my uncle and his partner, he turned to me with the simple words: "They won't ketch anything." Upon questioning him concerning his reasons for making the statement, he replied: "They're fishin' in too deep a-water. This time o' year you got to fish in shallow water where they feed." It was early July, and he was using the same kind of bait as were we—live crawfish.
Upon arriving at the point which this fisherman had chosen as being a good location for a trot line, the writer was surprised to learn that the water was only two to three and one-half feet deep; but this seemed to be just the depth the old fisherman wanted, as, after viewing critically the situation, he remarked that he guessed he would "ketch enough to make the skillet smell."
The writer accompanied this fisherman on every trip made to the line, and if his memory serves him right, it was thirty-five pounds of fish that this man removed from that one line during the four trips made to it that night. These consisted of carp, perch, catfish and one eel. The writer's uncle and his partner caught only three little one-half-pound catfish. This fisherman's phenomenal success the writer attributes to his knowledge of the habits of the fish he was endeavoring to capture, and his efficiency in applying this knowledge with reference to the operation of general laws—science. The writer feels that luck had very little to do, in this instance, with this fisherman's success.
Several years ago the writer formed a partnership with a young trapper for a few weeks' trapping in late autumn. This young man was known as a very successful trapper, yet his experience along this line of work was indeed very limited. We were trapping on the headwaters of a small creek, and our line of traps extended down this stream to a point where it crossed a public road some two or three miles south of the writer's home. Signs of fur game were very scarce and it was necessary to use the utmost caution in making sets, as the game to be found in this section was very wary and trap-shy. During the three weeks we were trapping in this section the writer observed very carefully the methods employed by this young trapper, and at all times he found these to be the results of a knowledge of the principles governing the sport.
This trapper often set traps at locations where signs of game were absent, relying entirely on his knowledge of the habits of animals to guide him in making the set, and it was seldom indeed that this knowledge led him astray. Many times has the writer seen him stop and survey critically his surroundings, then take a trap from the pocket of his hunting coat and carefully make a set beneath the arched root of some bush or young tree, or in some faint trail through the weeds and briars on the bank of the creek, remarking as he did so that he would get a mink, muskrat, raccoon, or a skunk (as the case might be), here in a few nights. And he usually did get results from these sets. Sometimes he would catch nothing in these sets for three or four nights, but this seemed never to discourage him, and usually, sooner or later, he "made good" with these apparently unpromising sets.
The writer remembers an incident that happened one morning in early December while he and this young trapper were "running" the trap line, that showed in a striking manner the relation of science to success. We had been trying to capture a large mink that used to be about the drifts along the part of the stream where we were trapping, and for more than a week he had foiled all our attempts to capture him. We had tried bait sets, blind sets, and decoy sets; all of which failed to fulfil their purpose. The writer had about lost all hopes of ever being able to capture this "-educated" mink—as all our knowledge concerning the habits of these animals had been brought into use and availed us nothing— when the young trapper announced that he had found a place down the creek where he felt sure he could make a set that would outwit this sly old rascal. This old "educated" mink had been locating and avoiding otir sets since the first day we had seen his big catlike, tracks in the soft mud at the margin of the stream, and the writer—himself "at the end of his rope"—was ready to fall in with any suggestion or plan that would enable us to capture him. When the old rascal located a trap on the side of the stream where he was traveling, he would cross to the opposite side and continue his perambulations. If a trap was set at either side of the stream he would keep to the middle of the stream, or jump over the trap on that side of the stream where the set offered the least impediment to his progress. In this manner he avoided our sets and baffled all our attempts at capture, until we, in sheer desperation, were ready to give any method a thorough trial that promised even the least hope for success.
It was at this juncture that the writer's partner discovered, at a point on the creek where the roots of a large oak tree had been exposed by high waters, a "natural blind set"' that he felt sure would take this old trap-shy mink. A large root elbowed out from the bank and formed an arch through which a well defined trail led along the bank hack some eight to 12 inches from the water. In this archway the young trapper set a new shiny trap, and only partially covered it with leaves. In the space between the large root and the water, he set a No. 1 Newhouse trap and carefully covered it with water-soaked leaves. This trap was set just at the water's edge, and the space between it and the big root was carefully blocked with a fair-sized chunk of wood which was covered with damp leaves. This set was well sprinkled by dashing water on it with the hands, and was left unmolested until the second morning after it had been made, when the writer, on visiting the set, found the big "educated" mink tangled in the fibrous roots, with the jaws of the Newhouse trap firmly gripping his right forefoot.
This, of course, might have been the result of chance, but the writer much prefers to think it due to science.
Undoubtedly chance oft times has something to do with results in outdoor sports. The barefoot boy. the bent pin hook, and the big trout, bear witness to this fact. But that chance smiles on any one individual continuously, regardless of his skill—applied science—is unthinkable. In outdoor sports, as in many other things, the man who is scientific is usually the one that is successful.
Fur, News. Fur News, January 1916.
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