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RABBIT TRAPPING
Not a Soft Job
CONSTANT CARE AND TOIL
(By L.O.)
During a holiday last week I had
the opportunity of watching and as-
sisting in the daily round of a rabbit
trapper, who was working about 50
miles south of Adelaide. This man
has been making between £10 and £12
a week from the bunnies' recently, but,
of course, that average cannot be main-
tained throughout the year.
City people are inclined to the opinion
that the rabbiter has an easy time, and
that his is a 'real holiday of a job,' but
I discovered in direct association with
this specialist that he has more strenuous
work than the average unionist, be he
laborer or artisan. My friend was work-
ing about 80 traps, and on good mornings
from these he collected between 40 and
50 rabbits. Occasionally he found a trap
missing, although they were all staked
into the ground. In rare instances, when
a fox gets caught, he will escape with the
trap, but usually Reynard if gripped by
one leg will gnaw off the captive limb and
get away on three legs.
Going through the morning traps and
placing the victims in a bran bag is no
soft job. When the bag is full of rab-
bits it is a tidy weight, and when I
offered to carry the sack to the dray, a
distance of a few hundred yards, I was
sorry I took it on. Something over a
cwt. of rabbits on one's back is worse
than lumping wheat. Often the trapper
has to carry the bag long distances
through the scrub.
If the catching is good it is a big morn-
ing's work making the collection. Then
there is the task of setting the traps in
the afternoon. If certain traps are not
getting results they have to be removed,
and walking round with a few dozen gin
traps over the shoulder is toil.
For the information of those intending
to take on this work, I might mention
that the traps are placed about two feet
from the opening to the burrow, which
at the entrance usually has a three feet
ramp. Perhaps I am giving away a pro-
fessional secret, but the amateur thinks
that if he conceals his gin trap at the
opening of a rabbit's home the latter is
sure to get caught. Experience proves,
however, that the proper method is to
set the trap two feet from the opening.
Bunny comes out with a rush, but when
his head gets on a level with the ground
(two feet up the ramp from the mouth of
the borrow) he stops dead to inspect the
country, on the look-out for enemeis. prior
to venturing further afield. The trap
should be screened on the spot where
the rabbit 'props' — then he is firmly cap-
tured.
WASTED FOOD
When the rabbits were taken to the
shack my rabbiter amazed me with the
lightning manner in which he divested the
carcases of their hides. I timed him
and he averaged five every two minutes—
50 rabbits were skinned in 20 minutes
I enquired whether there would not be
a ready market for the rabbit flesh, in
Adelaide, but, he informed me, it was too
much work for one man to look after the
skins and also rail the carcases. It was
necessary to have regular customers in
Adelaide, who had to be kept going with
regular supplies, and that meant nothing
but work. He found it more profitable
to concentrate on the skins.
These rabbit trappers are conservative
and don't believe in introducing anyone
else into their business, although it ap-
peared to me that this man should take
in a partner and let him take on the
rabbit meat as a side line.
Rabbit trapping is a fine heatlhy life,
and in the vicinity we were working, a
few miles west of Lake Alexandrina, there
was any amount of sport, shooting in the
swamps and scrub. Indications are
numerous that foxes are plentiful in this
district, but it is not very often a gunner
gets one. Reynard seems to disappear sud-
denly in open country, and unlike the
native game, he will hide and let the
sportsman pass close to him. However,
he takes bait readily if strychnine is placed
in a tasty bird or something he particu-
larly likes. His appetite is such that
even his native cunning does not prevent
his gluttony governing his actions.
NOT AN EASY JOB
Despite the attractions of the country
and the healthy, invigorating open-air life.
I could not stand the strain of rabbit
trapping more than about one day a
month. Trapping animals is sickening
work at times, as the victims, caught by
the legs, frequently have to remain alive
in the traps for lengthy periods. Of
course, it is the only method by which
the rabbiter could make money, as shoot-
ing would be too haphazard and expen-
sive.
Landowners welcome the trapper in
order to clean out the pest from their
properties. It is often asked when the
number of unemployed is particularly large
in the cities — 'Why don't they go and
trap rabbits in the country?' A brief
experience has been sufficient for many a
man who is not afraid of hard work.
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