near-by bushes. Also, he built deadfalls much like those he built for
bear, but of course much smaller; and again the bait was castorum, but
this time it was rubbed on a bit of rabbit skin which was then attached
to the bait stick of the deadfall. The deadfalls he built for beavers
were nearly always made of dead tamarack--never of green
poplar--otherwise the beavers would have pulled them to pieces for the
sake of the wood.

Further, Oo-koo-hoo told me that in the spring he sometimes broke open
beaver dams and set traps near the breaks in order to catch the beavers
when they came to repair the damage. Such a mode of trapping was, he
said, equally successful whether or not there was ice upon the water.
He also told me that he had seen other Indians catch beaver with a net
made of No. 10 twine, with a three-and-a-half-inch mesh, but that,
though the method worked rather well, he had never tried it. The way
of all others, that he liked best, was to hunt them by calling, and the
best time for that was during the mornings and evenings of the rutting
season.

Later in the year, when the ice is gone, and the beaver is swimming,
say a foot under water, the hunter can easily follow his course from
the appearance of the surface. The same applies to the muskrat, mink,
and otter. Muskrats and beavers swim much alike, as they are usually
going in search of roots, and, knowing exactly where to find them, they
swim straight; but minks and otters swim a zig-zag course for the
reason that they are always looking for fish and therefore are
constantly turning their heads about; and that rule applies whether
their heads are above or below the surface.

When a beaver--providing he has not slapped the water with his tail--or