Your most important task will be to locate areas of high game activity, generally by "reading" the landscape. Usually (the backwoods always produces exceptions to human rules) the most productive areas to scout will be those around sources of water . . . and those in edge environments, where forest meets field, field meets meadow, and so forth.
In such a location, you may well be able to spot specific trails, runs, day beds, lays, and feeding areas. By doing so, you can place your trap in such a way that it'll have the best possible chance of being encountered by the animal you're after.
Trails are heavily used tunnels or paths. When following such a wildlife "freeway", you should be able to note animal scat, hair, and such that will indicate the type of creature most often using the path. Remember, though, that even if deer tracks-for instance-have all but eliminated any other signs from a trail, odds are that a number of smaller animals are using it, too. Wild creatures will follow the easiest route available unless they're either pursuing or being pursued.
Runs are the smaller arteries that connect established trails to feeding, bedding, and watering sites . . . and are subject to change as food and water supplies come and go. Since each run's use is typically limited to one species, its size will often provide some clue to the type of animal using it. (Traces of scat and fur, again, will help you make a positive identification.) By following runs-carefully, causing as little disturbance as possible to these potential trap locations-you may be able to find the areas of animal concentration to which they'll usually lead.
Day beds and lays are spots in which animals seek cover and/or sleep. Beds are generally used quite frequently (though one animal might well have several of them), and usually appear as well-worn depressions in the grass or ground. Lays, on the other hand, are less obvious-often showing up as areas of partially crushed weeds or brush-and are typically found near feeding sites. The pattern of beds and lays surrounding a known food source can help you predict routes of animal travel, and thus choose good locations for your traps this is especially true when setting snares, as your quarry will actually have to run into such a trap to be caught.
Feeding areas-which can be located by careful observance of the signs described already-will, for herbivorous animals, likely be locations rich in grasses, clover, and tender new growth . . . or, especially in winter months, young trees and brush with edible bark, twigs, and buds.
By examining the food plants in such an area, it's often possible to determine what sort of animals are feeding there. A diagonal bite that cuts off a plant stalk at about a 45° angle is typical of such rodents as rabbits and woodchucks. Straight, finely serrated bites will often indicate that members of the deer family have been dining . . . while obviously chewed-upon greenery is usually a sign that predators have been rounding out their diets-with a little plant foraging.
You will, of course, want to take special note of exactly what food seems to be preferred by the species you hope to catch. Furthermore, it's best to try to locate a favorite snack that, because it has been pretty much finished off, has been temporarily abandoned for a second-choice edible. If, for instance, you note that all of the red clover around a group of woodchuck dens has been eaten, and that the animals are now resorting to a diet of grasses, it may be worth your while to scout beyond the 'chucks' range and-if you can-bring back a batch of that rare clover to use as bait.
"Naturalizing" your traps, in order to lessen the chance that animals will steer clear of them, will improve your chances of making a catch. Leave bark on the trigger assemblies, and rub dirt on any cut surfaces to prevent them from attracting unwanted attention. When working on a trap, be sure that your hands are well rubbed with mint, leek, or some aromatic weed to disguise the human scent. In the winter, it's sometimes possible to accomplish the same result by smoking a finished trigger assembly over a fire, and then handling it with gloves that have also been well scented with wood smoke. Some trappers will smear their hands with scat, or with scent from the glands of an animal caught earlier. The notion may sound unpleasant to you now, but there's little room for niceties in a true backwoods survival situation!
Once your traps are naturalized and set, be sure to check them at least once a day . . . to prevent your quarry from being stolen by a predator or (in hot weather) decomposing, and to minimize the suffering of any creature that might have been caught but not killed. Carry your throwing stick when visiting the traps. A hard blow to the back of the head will, for most of the small animals that you'll be likely to catch, result in a quick and relatively painless death.
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