Woodcraft

Woodcraft

As a boy I used to enjoy wandering in the woods alone, studying the birds and animals and learning woodcraft, for instance if you hear a Jay calling, you can be sure there is someone about, and whichever way the Jay is going, so the person he is watching is going. The horse too, if you are in a wood with a horse watch his ears, they will soon tell you if there is anybody about. I also studied the footprints of different animals and birds and learned to tell what they were. I learned how to walk in the woods, always walk quietly walk a few paces, then stop, look, and listen it is possible to walk up quite close up to most animals and birds this way. Watch a cat or a fox when they are hunting they are never in a hurry. I learned how to set snares and how to set them up to catch rabbits. About this time my Dad made me a catapult and showed me how to use it, my Dad was the best shot I ever saw with a catapult, he could shoot up a two inch drain pipe at twenty yards nine times out of ten, I could never attain that standard. I think that there is nothing nicer than to quietly into a wood on a nice day, and sit down on an old tree stump, relax and keep still, in a few minutes the wood will come to life all around you, the animals and birds all going about their business in there own little way, and they will take no notice of you as long keep quiet and still. I know that all game-keepers do not like people walking about in the woods, it is only natural, disturbing the game, and they take a dim view of it, but if you know your woodcraft, and watch the signs the animals and birds will give you, the keeper will not get within a mile of you all day. 

The Mole Catcher

Another man I call to mind who worked in the woods in the winter was old Frank the mole catcher, during the summer he worked on the farms, you could see him any morning in the winter just as it was breaking light going along the road on his way to the woods. He carried a small spade with a long handle, and the blade of the spade was polished like silver, he had knee pads strapped to his knees, and always wore a long thick jacket with large pockets. His method of work when he got to the wood was to go round all his traps and take out all the moles he had caught overnight, then reset all his traps again, he would then skin all the moles he had caught, and then have his breakfast. It was now time to go round all the traps again, take out the moles and skin them, he would then go home arriving at about two o'clock. He would return to the woods the following morning, and proceed as yesterday, after dinner he would get the mole skins and tack them onto boards and rum saltpetre on them. After the pelts were cured he would pack them into parcels and send them to the furriers in London to be made into ladies mole skin coats, very much the fashion in those days. Frank made all his own traps out of wood, the loops being made of horse hair, combed from horses tails, these were much better than the metal traps as the did not damage the pelts. Such was his knowledge of moles that he had only to walk quietly through a wood and he would say there are so many moles in her, and when they were caught he would perhaps be two out. Mole catching today is a lost art, now done by the rodent operator, with their modern methods.