an addition to the
trapper's job, for he will be out as late as 9 or 10 o'clock before
going to bed to run the trot lines, take off the fish and rebait the
lines. It is also necessary to put in any spare time that happens
your way in digging wigglers, hunting crawfish and other bait.

[Illustration: E.N. WOODCOCK AND SOME OF HIS 1912 CATCH OF ALABAMA
FURS.]

The boat is an absolute necessity in trapping in the South, as the
most of the fur-bearers are found along the rivers and large streams.
It is next to an impossibility to make a successful set for mink and
coon along the soft, slippery and sloping banks without the boat. And
boys, the conditions on the trap line in the South are altogether
different from what it is in the North on the clear, gravelly and
rocky streams of the North and East sections. It requires a trap one
size larger in the South in successful trapping than it does in the
North and East. This is owing to the soft, muddy, clay banks and
streams. Another thing that is a necessity along the rivers and
streams of the South is the trap stake, while on most streams of the
North the clog or drag is far better than a stake.

I did not find the fur-bearers in Georgia as plentiful as I expected,
from what I had been told and trappers were numerous, many of them in
house boats. I expected to find some beaver on Pumpkin Vine Creek, a
branch of the Etowah River, but they failed to show up on
investigation. There is but very few otter in northern and central
Georgia and in Georgia, as in Alabama, many trappers began trapping
in September. The best catch in one night at our camp was while we
were camping at Coosa, on the Coosa River, but it was nothing in
comparison to what we did in Alabama last season in a single night's
catch. The catch at Coosa in one night was two mink, three coon,
three rats and two opossum. This was done with about 20 traps. It was
raining at this time, so we kept this bunch of furs three days and
until there had been several more pieces added to the bunch. We
wanted to get a picture of this bunch of furs and the camp at this
place but it continued to rain and we were compelled to skin the
animals and let the pictures go.

The steamboats are a serious drawback to the trappers on the river in
the South. The average trapper plans to get out on his line and fix
up as many of his traps as he can after the steamboat passes. On most
rivers there is not more than one or two boats passing da