First published in 1881, this complete illustrated guide reveals how to catch everything from squirrels and mice to tigers and bears, and offers general advice on camping and hiking in the woods. Among the treasures within are easy-to-follow plans for building dozens of traps; comprehensive directions for the building of shanties and log cabins, and boats and canoes; hints on food and cooking utensils; instructions for the curing and tanning of hides; and much, much more, including these indispensable tidbits of advice: Smear oil of cumin on the trail of a wolf to lure him to the trap. - Repel mosquitoes with oil from a pennyroyal plant’s leaves. - Do not “calculate very confidently on securing a fox on the first attempt.” - Combat a skunk’s odor with chloride of lime. - Use a rabbit’s special fondness for salt to entice it into a trap. - Make homemade flypaper out of molasses or spruce gum. This is a reprint of an excellent 1881 book that gives real insight into 19th Century woods living and trapping.The book is written for the trapper intending to stay in the woods through trapping season. The construction of the trapper’s base camp cabin and line cabins is covered as is how to make a birch bark canoe, dugout canoe, a scow, and a wooden boat as well as more mundane items like snowshoes and the Indian sledge for traversing the snow... We have come a long way since 1881 and it is worth knowing how they did things back then and how much they could do with very little and the things that nature provides. This is information worth knowing that has largely been forgotten to the detriment of today’s outdoorsman. Knowing how these men went into the woods and stayed for a trapping season can be vital for the backwoodsman intent on staying deep in the woods. I can highly recommend this book. ― thegunmag.com A captivating, timeless classic for the libraries of all hikers, campers, and lovers of the outdoors First published in 1881, this complete illustrated guide reveals how to catch everything from squirrels and mice to tigers and bears, and offers general advice on camping and hiking in the woods. Among the treasures within are easy-to-follow plans for building dozens of traps; comprehensive directions for the building of shanties and log cabins, and boats and canoes; hints on food and cooking utensils; instructions for the curing and tanning of hides; and much, much more, including these indispensable tidbits of advice: - Smear oil of cumin on the trail of a wolf to lure him to the trap. - Repel mosquitoes with oil from a pennyroyal plant's leaves. - Do not "calculate very confidently on securing a fox on the first attempt." - Combat a skunk's odor with chloride of lime. - Use a rabbit's special fondness for salt to entice it into a trap. - Make homemade flypaper out of molasses or spruce gum. W. Hamilton Gibson (1850–1896) was an illustrator, author, and naturalist who illustrated for Harper's Monthly and for around a dozen books, most of them his own, including Pastoral Days , Highways and Byways , and Happy Hunting Grounds .