Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-01-13
The story OF an old Trapper.

The Story OF an Old Trapper.
''It would be difficult to find, at least
in the Eastern and Middle States, a bet
ter representative of this class than Mr..
John Hutchins, now resident of Lam
Illus, New York. e3
''Born in Portland, Somerset county,
Maine, November 10th, 1901, he is
consequently nearly sixty-four years of
age; but he is still eager for the chase,
and is at the present time planning a
trapping expedition into G NADIA for the
coming autumn. For more than half a
century he has spent a portion of each
year in trapping and hunting. In his
tenth year he caught and shot seventy
three squirrels. six blue-jays, one mink,
one weasel and six cartridges. When
fourteen years of age he caught bear
which had killed COW in the neigh
borhood where he lived in Maine; aid
he estimates the number of animals
which he has caught in traps or other
wise destroyed, as follows: 100 moose,
| 1000 deer, 10 caribou, 100 bears, 80
wolves. 600 foxes, 100 raccoons, % wild
cats, 100 lynx, $50 otter, 600 beaver,
400 fisher, mink and martin by the
thousands, muskrats by the ten thou
sands.
2 son meeting Mr.. Hutchins few
evenings since, in company with his
son, Intercepted BIN in true Yankee
style as follows:
I'm what part of the country have
you trapped and hunted?'
Mostly in Maine, Lower Canada,
New Brunswick and New York, but some
in Vermont and Michigan.
:" AT what seasons Of the year do you
generally trap p
81 generally commence about the
1st of November, aud trap till the 1st Of
April There is no certainty of secur-
ing prime fur before the 1st of Novem-
Der, and but few kinds are good after
the LIST of April The three kinds,
beaver, otter and muskrat. are, how
ever, good till the LIST of May, and the
fur of the otter iSgood even as late in
the season as June
a" Do You generally go alone, or with
companions p ?.
90 Il have trapped alone about one.
fourth of the time. IG is generally more
pleasant, but less profitable, to have
companions. When game is plenty il
answers well to have partners, bnt ]
would recommend never to have more
than two, and think it nearly alway.
better to have only one companion
How many animals have you gen
orally taken ON a winters trip !?
"rhat depends, of course, entirely
upon my fortune in securing good trap
ping ground. My son Samuel and
trapped one season in Canada, anC
caught one hundred and fifty beaver
ard the furs OF other animals which WI
caught at the same time would bring al
much money as that of the beaver. The
best specimen of luck ever had was il
setting twenty-seven traps and finding
a mink, fisher or martin in TWENTY-FIVE
of them. That was on my second trir
to Canada f
!" How much money did you gener
ally make?'
/ That is another difficult question.
1 have made from five dollars to seventy
five dollars month.
| "'Well, then, how much did you
make in your best trip p
I The oest trip ever made was
forty years ago. went out on Dead
river in the State of Maine. was alb
sent from home just one month-starteG
December 3D. and returned January 81
sold my fur for ninety-sesen dollars
and fnr was then very cheap. The
same fur would now bring several hun.
dred dollars. Two of us have otter
made 800 month, or $50 apiece
What do you take for an outfit.
" "A double-barrel gun, Ratchet, q
used to carry an axe, but now prefer
the hatchet,) a hutcher-knife, a pocket
knife, a camp kettle holding six quarts,
a frying pan, pint dipper or cup and
a spoon. l go lightly clad, never tax.
ing an overcoat and Only small wooden
blanket. For winters campaign I
take forty pounds -four, ten pounds
pork, six quarts beans, five pounds
| sugar and one pound of tea. / have
| lived a week at time in the woods,
eating nothing but moose-meat, and
Reuben Howard, trapper from Connec-
ticut, says he has lived for two months
at time on deer's meat alone
III you were starting now wouldn't
you take some little conveniences for
cooking and camping, besides those you
have mentioned.
No; the longer one lives the life OF
hunter and trapper, the better he
learns to get along with few convenien-
ces, and the more DESTROYS he becomes
of avoiding luggage
"'How many traps do you take
alongY
When I first went trapping I
thought that six or eight traps would
be enough; but steel traps are so much
better, and more easily tended than
wooden. traps and dead-falls, that / now
take one hundred muskrat or mink
traps-sometimes even one hundred
and fifty-besides few otter traps, and
If | am going into beaver country, a
dozen beaver traps.
But you can't take all these into
the woods at once 2
No; / first select my trapping
ground. aud then make a line, as trap
pers say; that is, carry into the woods
three or four back-loads of traps, and
deposit them in safe places along the
line ON which L intend to trap, which
sometimes extends from twenty to forty
miles, from one stream to another.
"'How many traps can one man
tend p
"'That depends, of course, upon cir
cumstances. Where the game is plenty,
fifty traps will keep you skinuing and
stretching; but in other places you
might tend one hundred and fifty or
even two hundred traps
CHOW did you camp at night p
There Is a good deal to be learned