Footprints of animals. In trailing animals look for footprints in soft earth, sand, or snow. The hind foot of the muskrat will leave a print in the mud like that of a little hand, and with it will be the fore-foot print, showing but four short fingers, and generally the streaks where the hard tail drags behind. Fig. 4 shows what these look like. If you are familiar with the dog track you will know something about the footprints of the fox, wolf, and coyote, for they are much alike. Fig. 9 gives a clean track of the fox, but often there is the imprint of hairs between and around the toes. A wolf track is larger and is like Fig. 8. The footprint of a deer shows the cloven hoof, with a difference between the buck's and the doe's. The doe's toes are pointed and, when not spread, the track is almost heart-shaped (Fig. 7), while the buck has blunter, more rounded toes, like Fig. 10. The two round lobes are at the back of the foot, the other end points in the direction the deer has taken. Sometimes you will find deer tracks with the toes spread wide apart. That means the animal has been running. All animals' toes spread more or less when they run. A bear track is like Fig. 11, but a large bear often leaves other evidences of his presence than his footprints. He will frequently turn a big log over or tear one open in his search for ants. He will stand on his hind legs and gnaw a hole in a dead tree or tall stump, and a bee-tree will bear the marks of his climbing on its trunk. It is interesting to find a tree with the scars of bruin's feet, made prominent by small knobs where his claws have sunk into the bark. Each scar swells and stands out like one of his toes. When you see bark scraped off the trees some distance from the ground, you may be sure that a horned animal has passed that way. Where the trees are not far apart a wide-horned animal, like the bull moose, scrapes the bark with his antlers as he passes.
Footprints of animals.
The cat-like lynx leaves a cat-like track (Fig. 6), which shows no print of the claws, and the mink's track is like Fig. 2. Rabbits' tracks are two large oblongs, then two almost round marks. The oblongs are the print of the large hind feet, which, with the peculiar gait of the rabbit, always come first. The large, hind-feet tracks point the direction the animal has taken. Fig. 1 is the track of the caribou, and shows the print of the dew-claws, which are the two little toes up high at the back of the foot. It is when the earth is soft and the foot sinks in deeply that the dew-claws leave a print, or perhaps when the foot spreads wide in running.
Fig. 3 is the print of the foot of a red squirrel. Fig. 5 is the fisher's track, and Fig. 12 is that of a sheep. Pig tracks are much like those of sheep, but wider. When you have learned to recognize the varying freshness of tracks you will know how far ahead the animal probably is. Other tracks you will learn as you become more familiar with the animals, and you will also be able to identify the tracks of the wild birds.
CHAPTER II
Table of Contents WOODCRAFT
Table of Contents Trees. Practical Use of Compass. Direction of Wind. Star Guiding. What to Do When Lost in the Woods. How to Chop Wood. How to Fell Trees.
Trees
Table of Contents While on the trail you will find a knowledge of trees most useful, and you should be able to recognize different species by their manner of growth, their bark and foliage.
Ink impressions of leaves.
Balsam-Fir
Table of Contents One of the most important trees for the trailer to know is the balsam-fir, for of this the best of outdoor beds are made. In shape the tree is like our Christmas-trees-in fact, many Christmas-trees are balsam-fir.
The sweet, aromatic perfume of the balsam needles is a great aid in identifying it. The branches are flat and the needles appear to grow from the sides of the stem. The little twist at the base of the needle causes it to seem to grow merely in the straight, outstanding row on each side of the stem; look closely and you will see the twist.
The needles are flat and short, hardly one inch in length; they are grooved along the top and the ends are decidedly blunt; in color they are dark bluish-green on the upper side and silvery-white underneath. The bark is gray, and you will find little gummy blisters on the tree-trunk. From these the healing Canada balsam is obtained. The short cones, often not over two inches in length, the longest seldom more than four inches, stand erect on top of the small branches, and when young are of a purplish color.
From Maine to Minnesota the balsam-fir grows in damp woods and mountain bogs, and you will find it southward along the Alleghany Mountains from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.
Spruce
Table of Contents The spruce, red, black, and white, differs in many respects from the balsam-fir: the needles are sharp-pointed, not blunt, and instead of being flat like the balsam-fir, they are four-sided and cover the branchlet on all sides, causing it to appear rounded or bushy and not flat. The spruce-gum sought by many is found in the seams of the bark, which, unlike the smooth balsam-fir, is scaly and of a brown color. Early spring is the time to look for spruce-gum. Spruce is a soft wood, splits readily and is good for the frames and ribs of boats, also for paddles and oars, and the bark makes a covering for temporary shelters.
Hemlock
Table of Contents This tree is good for thatching a lean-to when balsam-fir is not to be found, and its bark can be used in the way of shingles.
The cones are small and hang down from the branches; they do not stand up alert like those of the balsam-fir, nor are they purple in color, being rather of a bright red-brown, and when very young, tan color. The wood is not easy to split-don't try it, or your hatchet will suffer in consequence and the pieces will be twisted as a usual thing. The southern variety, however, often splits straight.
Ink impressions of leaves. Balsam-Fir. Spruce. Hemlock. Pitch-pine and cone. Sycamore leaf and fruit of sycamore.
Pine
Table of Contents The pine-tree accommodates itself to almost any kind of soil, high, low, moist, or dry, often growing along the edge of the water.
The gray pine is sometimes used for making the skeleton of a canoe or other boats, and the white pine for the skin or covering of the skeleton boat; but for you the pine will probably be most useful in furnishing pine-knots, and its soft wood for kindling your outdoor fire.
The trees mentioned abound in our northern forests. The birch in its different varieties is there also, but rarely ventures into the densest woods, preferring to remain near and on its outskirts. However, none of these trees confine themselves strictly to one locality.
Oaks, hickory, chestnut, maples, and sycamore are among the useful woods for campers.
Learn the quality and nature of the different trees. Each variety is distinct from the others: some woods are easy to split, such as spruce, chestnut, balsam-fir, etc.; some very strong, as locust, oak, hickory, sugar-maple, etc.; then there are the hard and soft woods mentioned in fire-making.
When you once understand the characteristics of the different woods, and their special qualifications, becoming familiar with only two or three varieties at a time, the trees will be able to help you according to their special powers. You would not go to a musician to have a portrait painted, for while the musician might give you wonderful music he would be helpless as far as painting a picture was concerned, and so it is with trees. They cannot all give the same thing; if you want soft wood, it is wasting your time to go to hardwood trees; they cannot give you what they do not possess. Know the possibilities of trees and they will not fail you.
How to Chop Wood
Table of Contents How to use the axe. Trailing and camping both mean wood-chopping to some extent for shelters, fires, etc., and the girl of to-day should understand, as did the girls of our pioneer families, how to handle properly a hatchet, or in this case we will make it a belt axe. There is a small hatchet modelled after the Daniel Boone tomahawk, generally known as the "camp axe." It is thicker, narrower, and has a sharper edge than an ordinary hatchet. It comes of a size to wear on the belt and must be securely protected by a well-fitted strong leather sheath; otherwise it will endanger not only the life of the girl who carries it, but also the lives of her companions. With the camp axe (hatchet) you can cut down small trees, chop firewood, blaze trees, drive down pegs or stakes, and chop kindling-wood. Every time you want to use the hatchet take the precaution to examine it thoroughly and reassure yourself that the tool is in good condition and that the head is on firm and tight; be positive of this.
Great caution must be taken when chopping kindling-wood, as often serious accidents occur through ignorance or carelessness. Do not raise one end of a stick up on a log with the other end down on the...
