Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1871-11-14
Sslftt Storp.
A FIGHT IN THE WOODS.

Some Years ago. while in the northern
part OF Name. spent the month OF Sep
tember and a portion of October at 4
"hay. farm on the borders OF Chamber
lain Lake,-Lakc Apmoogenegamook,
the Indians used to call il. The whole
region was almost an unbroken wildeI-
ness. Game WAS plenty. and by way of
recreation from my duties as an assistant
engineer, | had set up "line of traps
for mink and sable-''saple, as old trap
perS say.-along small but very rapid.
noisy stream called Bear Brook. which
comes down into the lake through n
gorge between two high, spruce-clad
mountains
Huge boulders bad rolled down the
sides. and lay piled along the bed OF the
gorge. The brook, which was the out
let of 4 small pond, pent up among the
ridges above. loaned, and roared. and
gurgled down among rocks shaded by
thick. black spruces. which leaned out
from the sides of the ravine
II WAS wild place. had stumbled
upon il, one afternoon while hunting
caribou "a kind OF deer some weeks be
tore, and knew il must be good trapping
ground; for the rocks, and clear, black
pools. in short the whole place had that
peculiar, fiShy smell which bespoke an
abundance OF trout; and where trout
abound there are sure TO be mink.
Ny traps were of that sort which hnn-
ters call "fgure-four traps, made OF
stakes and poles, with a fgure-tour
spring Perhaps some OF our boy read
ers may have caught squirrels in that
way. For bait / used trout from the
brook carried my hook and line with
me. and after setting trap. threw IN my
hook and pulled out trout enough 10 bait
it, My line extended about II mile up
the gorge. and comprised some twenty
five or thirty traps.
After setting them. shot number oi
red squirrels tor drag" and thus con,
nec,ed the traps together. Perhaps |
should explain that drag is bundle OF
squirrels or partridges newly killed and
from which the blood is dripping. which
are dragged along by withe from trap
to trap, to make trail and scent, SO that
the mink and sable will follow it
1t is customary to visit mink traps once
in two or three days But as had plen-
,y of time just then, went to mine every
forenoon.
During the first week after setting
them / had excellent luck. | caught
eleven mink and three sable-about fifty
dollars worth, as | reckOned it. My
hopes of making small fortune in the
iur business, were very sanguine, until
one morning found every trap torn up
The poles and stakes were scattered over
the ground, spindles were broken to
pieces, and at one or two places where
there had been a mink in the trap, the
head and bits of fur were lying about AS
if it had been devoured.
At first thought that perhaps some
fellow who had intended to trap there
had done the mischief, to drive me away
"a very common trick among rival trap
pers) but wher | saw that the minks
had been torn to pieces. ] knew the des-
truction was the work of some animai--a
fisher, most likely, or as some call it, a
"blaekcat.n
had never yet seen one OF these
creatures, but had often heard hunters
and trappers tell what pests they were
following them on their rounds, robbing
and tearing up their traps almost as rap
idly as they could set them. Indeed
had read in Baird's-I believe 1t was
Baird's-Works on Natural History, that
the fisher cat, or xaustela eanadenstS, Is Il
very carniyerous animal Of the weasei