Ebook The Trapper's Guide

The Trapper's Guide and Manual of Instructions for Capturing All Kinds of Fur Bearing Animals is a guidebook for hunters and tradesmen who make a living in trapping and hunting. The book explains how to catch and trap fur bearing animals, how to cure their skins, how to survive in the woods, how to build boats and catch fish during winter, how to protect the yard from pests and insects, and how to hunt deer, bear and other large game.

Most of the material compiled for the book is by S. Newhouse, an expert craftsman of steel traps. Newhouse was a member of the Oneida Community and was renowned for his expertise in woodcraft. Newhouse is quite precise in his depiction of the various ways to trap animals, covering everything from steel traps to poison. Readers who object to hunting may want to skip these chapters because of their vivid description of trapping.

Newhouse describes mammals and their habits and characteristics using the language of trappers and sportsmen rather than the language of scientists. This makes for very readable sections on animals like muskrats, where the reader learns how muskrats build nests with underwater entrances, where they live with family members of six to ten. Some of Newhouse's observations are fascinating, like his comment that otters "destroy fish in great numbers for the mere pleasure of killing them," even when they do not need food. The fanciful otters were also known to build slides just for the fun of sliding down the banks.

The Trapper's Guide and Manual of Instructions for Capturing All Kinds of Fur Bearing Animals includes essays from trappers describing their experiences in the woods. These first-person narratives are exciting and read like adventure stories. The book covers mink, sables, ermines, martens, otters, fishers, bears, raccoons, badgers, fox, moose, squirrels and more. There are great illustrations of some of these rare animals. The book is both useful and entertaining and will be loved by readers who enjoy the great outdoors.