During our grade school years, brother bill and I were animal trapper's. More specifically, muskrats. Rarely were there any animals whose fur was worth the trouble along the allegheney, like mink, for instance. Looking back, I will never trap for animals again, at least not using steel jaw traps. Members of my extended family are sportsman hunters; i agree with what my mother always said: don't kill it, unless you need it for food." Besides, wild game taste crappy, whether deer, rabbit or pheasant and even squirrel's, which are nothing more than rat's with cute tails who mess on your car.
My dad was a trapper and gave us his old, rusty, steel traps plus the one's we bought They all got rusted from being in water so much). The new one's were boiled in water with tree bark to take off the shine. Used Grandma's copper pot since she no longer boiled clothes and finally got a modern washer and dryer. It went like this: we would arise about 4 AM get warmly dressed(it was wintertime, and carried a burlap bag or two filled with traps and some extra wire. Plus we would have a 2 oz. bottle of muskrat scent and a few old apples for bait. We also had a heavy pair of mittens that were dipped in some kind of water proofing since we would be setting traps at the river edge in frigid and sometimes frozen water. Tree branches about half" in diameter were placed in a semi circle a couple inches apart and opened facing the river, not shore. right inside was a slightly taller stick with scent on it and a piece of apple on the end . The steel, spring-loaded steel jaw trap was set in front of the baited stick, under a little water, and the trap had a chain on it which went around a thick stick stuck in the river shore mud, or if needed a piece of wire was attached to the ring on the end of the chain and this was twisted around a sturdy tree limb. After we set all our traps we had along the shoreline(looking for signs of life such as chewed off tender tree bark or foot prints, we went home, washed up, got a little sleep then went to school. It was suppose to work like this: the muskrat would smell the scent or want the apple and there was only one way to get to it: swim over the set trap. when the poor animal stepped on the trap's round trigger-set, usually with a hind leg, the had to stand on two legs to reach up for the apple, the trap would spring tight on his lower leg. Frightened and no doubt in great pain, it would swim out into deeper water when the chain would stop it and the weight of the trap drown him. The next day, we would check our traps, re-bait, if necessary, and if we caught any muskrats, we would loosen the jaws of the trap and put the dead animal in a 50# burlap bag, leave it in the garage, and when we came home from school remove the pelt, put it on a specially designed stretcher, scrap off excess fat and hang up to dry until we had enough to sell or it was the end of the trapping season which was usually mid November through January. The colder it got, the longer the fur the animal would grow, with the thickest about the front shoulder blades. Most people think that the entire fur of one animal is used for a coat or wrap: not so. The best coats were made from 100's and 100's of small pieces cut in sections from the heaviest part of the animal and skillfully sewn together.
Let me say right up front I do not like PETA because of their tactics, but the steel jaw trap(ours did not have "teeth" like you see in cartoon's or movies), is the most cruel way to trap an animal, such as a muskrat. By the way, with all our work, I don't think we ever made more than $10.00. This is not for the faint of heart: many times, the animal was still alive and frightened so we would have to kill it without damaging the fur. I won't get into how that was done. If you really want to know, e-mail me.It was just important to avoid those long front teeth of a animal in pain. Other times, we would find just part of a foot in the trap. The poor animal's desire to live was so strong, it would chew off it's foot to escape. How terrible cruel and sad. I would never think of trapping again or encourage my children or grandchildren to do so. You don't need the fur to keep warm or have to cook the meat and eat it to survive.
Those who made some money from it, had a boat and worked the opposite shoreline,away from the towns,usually before the season legally began, thereby getting ahead start on us kids.
Side note: Grandma told of a time my dad, when he was younger and trapped, caught a skunk and, of course he skinned the animals in the basement. The most skillful trappers are able to cut as close to the pelt without putting a hole in it with their knife, which lowered it's value. Well, my dad cut too deep in the wrong place and punctured the skunk's scent bag, which they spray on enemies to get them to leave, and, since there were no modern spray deodorant sprays, she heated a skillet on the stove and burned cinnamon so the aroma would fill the house and mask the skunk-which was quickly taken outside, far from the house.
Also, consider this: the cost of equipment, fees like guns, rifles, traps and fishing gear-that animal you shot or fish you caught is really quite expensive. Cheaper to just go to the grocery store, I know and hear what your saying: it's the love and fun of the sport. "Yes, I would like a double cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake, please."..............
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