By Fletcher Scott

My first experience catching a wild animal took place in the seventh grade when a friend and I made a simple box trap, held up on one side with three sticks. One stick was for support, one for holding the bait and the other for holding the bait stick in place. We left the trap set all day. That evening we noticed the trap was sprung, meaning the box had fallen down. Since we couldn’t see inside, we were curious about what, if anything, was trapped. Suddenly we heard fluttering and knew it was a bird. I slowly raised the box up just enough to slide my hand inside and grabbed what turned out to be a Brown Thrasher. We examined the bird, noticing its big yellow eyes and sharp curved beak. I now know why it is called a thrasher, since that was what it was doing to my hand. I had to let it go. I’ve never forgotten that experience and always believed that trapping was an excellent way to explore the outdoors.