Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-12-18
lANrs skuNks ON a BICYCLE.
i-s>p~ Mar Has Move, Wa. of captur-
Ing tho Pcrfumed Animals.

l-ap~ Mar Has q Move, Wa. OF Captur
Ing tho Perrumed Animals.
The wide meadows which stretcl
from the Penobscot riyey east to Clifton
make Bradley. Me, one of the bes,
skunk pastures in Maine. IT. ortlinhr,
years tLere are ut least o dozen fa,
skunks tc every acre OF land nntl us
land Is counted by the SQUIRE mile &c
township tbereobouts there in nc enc
10 the number of skunks. H. average
seasons, When the grnsshoplers are
plenty, skunJks are fit 70 Kill. during the
full moon Of September. Owing to the
.sc;lrcity OF insects and the general de-
preston caused by hard times the little
animals have not fattcned up rs early
ms usual III 1876, and the general round
up ami slaughter has been postponed
fos week o, more.
The few hunters who hnve been ont
report game plenty and the fur in cx-
ccllent condition. james Sinclairc. of
Ehdtngton. who killed II skunks il,
ihr'e nights. says the peIte are heavier
onu darker colored than, they have been
for years. Gus Anderson, of North
l'rewer. who has caught about 90 in
traps near his henhouscs, went on n
skunk hun. the other night and brought
IL is large ones before daylight. Be-
lore this year Anderson has always
used u dog to help him find the tni-
MATS. On Friday night, having no dog,
he lighted lantern and rode through
the moved grass fields on his bicycle.
whenever he saw n skunk he dis
mounted and III
Ekes the new method very much, and
says good cushion-tircd bicycle is
away ahead of any dog he ever saw. lie
oilers to bet five dollars that he and his
bicycle can capture 20 skunks any fair
night
Boys who want to earn money with
which to buy guns and winter clothing
are the chief skunk hunters. Two wide
awake boys. accompanied by II yolping
dog, go along the SIDES of fences ard
brooks, killing all the slunkSs they c:ia,
lind. If the dog is greenhorn he shakes
the animals TO death and is sorry after
MsirNl. If he is IN old hand mt the sport.
lc barks about his prey until the hunt
crs come up and do the killing with
club. The animals are carried home.
and after the skin has been taken Off
AMI stretched on Il board the carcass
IS put over Il slow fire and roasted for
the OIL. a skunk will yiuld from one
TO three Pmts of CD, averaging about
ono quart, This has always sold for
four dollars q gnllon 10 the local drug
gusts until the present hard times re-
onccd the rate to 40 cents n pint, or $500
gallon. The price of skins varies from
- cents for small ones than are ncnrly
white. to Sl.25 for large, black ones;
- cents is about un average From the
foregoing figures il can be seem that
every skunk nets the hunter about 81. 80.
AS Two boys and dog Frequently kill
ID ar 20 skunks "a night it is a profitable
business while il lasts. Boys and bach
elors are the chief patrons Of the sport.
Few msi nrietl IEcn have tried 10 get II liv-
ing by killing skunks. Last year Ham
cock county judge decided that the
woman who WIS welded TO chronic
skunk hunter Ind good grounds for
divorce. This plsasad the boys 80 much
ihnt they say they are going to elect
tha; Judge governor when they get big
enough TO vote.
Though cnterprising men in New
York and Connecticut have started
skunk farms of late. and are said to bc
getting rich selling oil and furs. no
Maine man has yet made IL fortune ut
the business. Three or four years ago
IA farmer in Pittston, en- the Kennebcc
liver, fenced in some land and began to
grow siunks for the market. Though
be fel his pets on liver and ofral from
The siaughterhouscs and tomcods
caught from the river. lie found Tint the
animals did not thrive we'll in confine-
Inent. More than half of them cmi-
grated TO other towns. Those that re-
manned have picked up wonderfully
ana produced large number of young
skunks, which will be big enough to kill
in another yur. Last yerr Capt. Per
klns, of Blue hill, fenced in three fe-
males and two male skunks and fed
them through the winter. In the spring
lie found himself the proud owner of
n baby skunks, nearly half of which
were almost pure black. Fortune
seemed about to come and make her
home with him when he went out one
day and found that the father skunks
had eaten. up all their offspring. The
captain changcr the diet OF his ca ptives.
and, feeding them on the best the mar
Ret afforded, waited for the next l;tters.
which came along in August, There
We're 20 young ones that time. They
got big enough to play like kittens
when they all disappeared. dying from
the same cause that had killed Tho
former BROOKS. After this the captain
used his fence for restraining hens, and
let the skunlls Shift for themselvcs.-N.
y. Sun.