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
an otter dives, an observant hunter can judge fairly well as to where
the animal is heading for, by simply noting the twist of the tail, a
point that helps the hunter to gauge the place where it may rise. The
same applies to whales when they sound, though I found--while whale
hunting--that few whalers realized it, and fewer still took advantage
of it, for much time was lost while waiting for the whale to rise
before the boat could be headed in the right direction. But then the
average Indian is much more observant than the average white man.

If a beaver is caught in a steel trap, he will do his utmost to plunge
into water and remain there even though he should drown, yet his house
may not be in that river or pond; but if he is wounded, he will either
try to reach his house or take to the woods.

When in pursuit of beavers it is advisable to watch for them on
moonlight nights about eight or nine o'clock, and it is best to be in a
canoe, as then there is less danger of the beaver sinking before he can
be removed from the water. The hunter, while waiting for a shot, makes
a noise with the handle of his knife against a stick in imita