The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-23
FOR FUR.


SOUTH TwIN LAKE, Me-. Jan. Glowing to
the sudden drop in the price of skunk pelts and
other coarser kinds Of furs the buyers are
Offering high figures for prime otter skins. The
Maine woods, consequently. are full OF men who
are making a good living by trapping. A half
dozen men went In from this place a few days
ago carrying q ton of steel traps. all of which will
be used along the west branch of the Penob-
scot and its tributaries. Most of the traps were
equipped with stout springs and had wide fiat
jaws suitable for holding offers, though there
were a few traps with teeth for catching lynx
and black cats.
Though an otter is not a hard animal to catch,
it is a very difficult creature to hold. Conse-
quently special traps have to be made for the
business. The traps. which are toothless, hay
ing wide jaws that pinch without cutting. are
set along streams near the blowholes, where
the small fish congregate. II possible a trap is
set at the entrance to Il blowhole and concealed
with a covering of light brush or snow. A long
chain Ia made fast to the Ice SO the animal can.
not get away, with the trap. and a ten-pound
stone Ia attached to the trap for tho purpose of
drowning the otter when it pluhges into the
set in s wan and ba daafW With S fresh fish llnps Here are
ne traps are attached to spring poles that lift
cautions are taken because an otter will eat
Off his leg and set himself free in FIVE minutes
after he Is caught unless he is PLACED in a
DobltiOn WuBEc uG 10 udU 70 Dllt. lTHDB are
also set upon the sides OF steep snowy banks
that lead down to the lakes. SO the offers may
slide into them whom at play.
There Is always a good demand for sable fur,
and though these little animals arc never plen.
tiful, in Maine. they are easily caught, and no
fur hunter. ever goes to the woods without
carrying q few sable traps. The favorite way OF
catching sable. Is to bore a twO-inch auger hole
In the trunk of a growing tree and place honey
in the further end of the hole. Horseshoe nails
are driven in from the outside SO that their
points converge on the inside of the hole.
When q sable. attracted by the smell OF tho
honey, puts its head into the hole, the points of
the nails catch him by the neck and hold him
killed the nails are drawn out with q claw
hammer, and when they are reinserted the trap is
set, Sables are also caught in small steel traps
such as are used for muskrats.
lynx skins is due to a bounty, Of So, which the
State offered last winter. Hitherto nobody
would waste powder on the polecats, MS their
pelts werc not worth taking of, but now that
tho State has made them valuable, a large
number of hunters. are earning good wages at
catching polecats for the bounty. The polecat
Is an unsuspccting, needless animal that may
be caught as easily as a skunk. Though this
law was not passed until last March tho State
has already paid out more than 50. 900 In pole.
number OF bounty hunters will get rich before
spring.
The blnckcat or fisher. as 1t Is called in Maine,
wears a coat that is worth from SO to So, accord
traps. The traps are not made fast to any
stationary object. but have toggles of wood
attached that leave wide marks In the snow,
and retard tho progress of the animals caught.
taken in Maine every year, Of which offers and
foxes furnish Sl5 600 each, and muskrats
10000 the other $40, 900 being divided among
sable, mink, blackcats, and lynx.