The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-25
OTTER TRAPPING IN MAINE.
Other Fur Rearing Animals Taken Dy s'he
Trappef.

MAINE Letter in New York sum-
OWING 10 the sudden drop in the price
or slunt nelts and other coarser kinds of
furs. the buyers are offering high figures
fo, nri,ne otter skins. The Maine woods,
consequently, are full of men who are
making COED living by trapping. A
half dozen men went in from South Twin
Lake few days ago, carrying ton OF
steel aps,all of which will be used along
the west branch of the Penobscot and its
tributaries. Most of the traps were
equipped with stout springs and had
wide, fiat jaws, suitable for holding
offers, though there were few traps
with teeth for catching lynx and black
cats.
Though an otter is not q hard animal
TO catch, it is very difficult creature TO
hold. Consequently special traps nave
to ne made for the business. Ths traps,
which are toothless, having wide jaws
that pinch without cutting, are set along
streams near the blowholes, where the
small fish congregate. If possible, trap
is set ut the entrance to bloWhoie anu
concealed with covering OF light prusn
or snow. A long chain is made Iast 10
the ice, so the animal cannot get away
with the trap, and l0-pound stone is Az
tached to the trap for the purpose ol
drowning the otter when it plunges into
the water after getting caught. otner
traps are set in swamps and balteu WIN
fresh fish Here the traps are attacheo
to spring poles that lift the otter anu
trap high in the air. These precauIions
are taken because an otter Will eat on ms
leg and set himself free IN I'VE nlnot s,s
after he is caught unless he is placeQ III
u position where he is unable 10 DUE
Traps are also set upon the sides OF supep,
snowy banks that lead down TO uhe lakes,
"a offers may slide into them when at
play. d fors at,e
.ere is always good demand ior saple
FIR. and though these little animals are
never plentiful in Maine, they are easily
caugbu. and no fur hunter ever goes 10
the woods without carrying few sable
traps. The fayorite way OF catching SADIE
is to bore two-inch auger hole in the
INK of a growing tree and place honey
in he further end of the hole. When
8 pie, attracted by the smell OF the money /,
D IFS its head into the hole, the points OF
{ 2 nails catch him by the neck and hold
an until the trapper comes. After the
sable is killed the nails are drawn out
with claw hammer, and when they are
reipserted the trap is set. Stables are ais
caught in small steel traps such as are
used for muskrats.
The unprecedented demand for poieca1
and LYNX skins is due to a bounty OF ~,
which the state offered last winter.
Hitherto nobody would waste powder on
the polecat as their pelts We're not
worth taking off, but now that the state
has made them valuable, large number
of hunters are earning good wages at
catching polecats for the bounty. The
DO ecat is an unuspecting. needless AMI
Il that may be caught as easily as a
nix. Though this law was not passed
IN IL last March the state has already
Id out more than $4,000 in polecat boun-
lies. If the supply holds out good num-
Der of bounty hunters will get rich before
spring. =,
The blackcat or fisher, as it is called IN
Maine. wears coat that is worth from
SO to s5, according to size and quality,
and is caught in fox traps. Inc traps
are not made fast to any stationary Cd
iect. but have toggles of wood attached
that leave wide marks in the snow and
t:J-d the progress OF the animals caught.
Il is estimated that $4,000 worth OF
furs are taken in Maine every year, or
which offers and foxes furnish Sl5,0oO
each. and muskrats $4,000, the other
$4,000 being divided among sable, mink,
blnckcatS and lynx,