The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-29
GETTING ANIMALS OUT OF HOLES
Ingenious Methods of Country Boys
in Invading BurrOws-The Mud
Turtle and the Fire-BalI.

ingenious meInOOs OF country BOys
in Invading BurrOws-The Mud
Turtle and the Fire-BalI.
zone thing which gives an interest in
life to the boys on farm said the man
from the country, "are the attempts to
capture the various wild animals hidden
beneath its surface. In any good-sized
farm there are usually quite number Of
these-mostly foxes and skunks and wood
chucks, the rabbits combining their bur-
rowing operations more to the woods.
The problem how to secure these crea-
lures, so aggravatingly near, but so very
completely out of reach,- has from time
immemorial perplexed the juvenile rustic
understanding and brought out various
solutions. The most common methods of
operation are, of course, drowning and
smoking the animals out, but after one
has carried to a Woodchuck hole the small
reservoir of water necessary to I'LL it, he
loses his enthusiasm for the former
methods while the latter can only be used
other on a side hill, so that there is a
dranght to allow the passage of the
smoke.
For this reason the commonest and sur
est way of getting the animals is simply
to dig them out, having first, of course,
made sure they are at home. While foxes
and skunks appear more tempting prize
in the end, the prince OF game in this kind
of sport is the woodchuck. He is more
thoroughly at home in the ground than
either of the other animals and is ex-
tremely shifty in his ways of avoiding
pursuit. A Woodchuck hole, in the first
place, is quite a marvel of subterranean
architecture, running along under the
ground thirty or forty feet and often fur
fher and being divided into ali sorts OF
may turns and blind alleys. To get at
the owner of the burroW you often have
to dig out all these turns and may even
then lose him, because all the time you
are unearthing him he is digging away in
the opposite direction and filing his tun-
mel after him, so completely that you may
miss him entirely. He can dig at a rate
of speed, too, which may tax you to keep
up with him. His last trick, just before
you reach him, is to dig straight down and
then cover up his body entirely. In this
way many a woodchuck already won has
been lost.
"A trick worth knowing when dealing
with. animals in holes, when you have
nearly reached them, is a way of taking
them out with a stick, which, in the long
run, affords large saving in human
hands A fair-siZed stick is cut and a
end is then thrust into the animals fur
and twisted around until a wad of hair
and hide, catching on the prongs, is wound
up around the stick. The animal can then
be hauled out While not calculated to
add to the happiness of the last hours of
the game, this is found to be a popular
substitute for hands among hunters in
securing animals which are blessed with
any fair number of teeth.
AN Improvement on smoking out ami
mails in use in some parts of the country
is to lay a loose train of gunpowder as
far into the burrow as possible and touch
it off. In this way the hole may be filed
with a smudge which no lungs can resist,
and in a short time sneeZing, half-suffo-
Gated animal will come popping out into
the hands of its prosecutors.
THE meanest method of getting out
game, however, is an improvised method
OF ferTeting, which is sometimes employed.
Compared to this fefreting is an act Of
piety. A fair-sized mud turtle Is secured
and a piece of cloth or cotton waste is
tied behind him close up TO the base of his
tail This is saturated with kerosene, the
turtle headed into the hole and a match
applied Under these circumstance il is
surprising what speed can be gotten out
OF a turtle. He starts out on a brisk gal
lOp and in a few moments has reached
the private bOudoir Of the woOdchuck.
When the latter sees this imprOmptu
torchllght procession ia the way he moves
on: the half-fryed turtle comes hurrying
after him, and preferring the society Of
mankind 10 brOiiing the unfortunate ami
NAL comes out 10 be murdered with a club
There isn't any specific law on this sort
Of thing, but there ought 10 be-
--congio aman Mozely OF Missouri -
but y years Oh, but De- ought 20 ~ Droaa