The Lamar register., 1894-07-21
LIVINGSTON COUNrY'S HAR-
VEST OF 5000 PELT5.
The Best season Ever Known to Trap
psrs of the Frisky and o""r"er"us
Little ..Crtttsr''-rhe "figure fouf
or Deadfau scheme


New York, is the largest one ever
gathered. and Livingston county
never has a small skunk crop at that.
Avon has a merchant who makes
specially OF buying skunk skins, and
when the season closed he had pur-
chased from the skunk har-
vesters 2,7S2 pelts OF that
odoriferous little beast There
are half dozen places in the county
that are skunk skin buying ceuters,
and their tributary districts have
always yielded large crops The
Avon dealer estimates that If those
districts have done as well in proper
tion as the Avon fields have the total
skunk-skin crop OF the county this
season will not fall short of 5000
pelts. As these pelts will average
in value so cents apiece the gather
ers OF the crop make a very comfort
able thing out OF the work. SAYS the
Chicago Times. for the most of It is
done by comparatively few profess
sional harvesters. the blood OF the
average citizen not being sufficiently
sporting TO prompt him to follow the
trail of game Sc amply qualified to
make its presence known as the
skunk IS
when deep snow covers the
ground the skunk lays low in his
burrow and we can't get at him
The animal wants bare ground to do
his foraging on He hunts worms
and larvae. and when a fow Of them
get to work they will root up acres
OF ground in a single night, and
lot of pigs couldn't do 1t any better.
A good place to look for 'em Is in
old graveyards. They will travel
good ways to root up an old grave
yard. ! don't know why 1t is. but
suppose the food they are after must
be. for some reason. more abundant
In such spookish places The eel
lars OF deserted or tumble down
houses are also favorite resorts for
the skunk, and they have great
fun hopping and skipping
about in the shadows of stone walls
around pasture lots ! have seen at
such places as many as dozen
skunks. on moonlight nights, play
ing among themselves like so many
romping dogs They seem to have
regular hours for this pastime of
theirs, but they never seem to waste
more than ten or fifteen minutes at
it Then they scatter in all direc-
tions and go to skirmishing for food.
At such times IL is well to keep your
eye on your chicken coop. II you
have one. for the skunk's playful ex-
ercise seems to give him an appetite
for poultry and he will make the
rounds OF the poultry yards before
morning.
Like all weasels-for the skunk
belongs to that stealthy tribe-he
does not care so much for the flesh
of the chicken as he does for its
blood II he gets inside of we'll
filled hen house he will kill and suck
the blood of its inmates one after
another until he can't hold any more.
have gathered in the pelt of many
a skunk that had filed himself so
full OF chicken blood that he couldn't
move away from the scene OF his
depreciation. One bodied and
blood thirsty skunk will think moth
ing of killing a couple OF dozen
chickens in one visit to a coop.
''H you are setting traps for
skunks place them in old cellars or
along the pasture lot walls or in and
about hen houses The old fash
Toned figure four deadfall trap is the
best The fall should be a heavy
Hat stone. so that when It falls on
the skunk it will crush the life out
of him before he has time to kick. |
get most of my Pelts through the in