The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-02-17


Vanceboro CMe) correspondent Of the
Boston Herald.
During the month Of December in 1906
County Game Warden George W. Ross,
of Washington County, noted more than
500 barrels Of dead and frozen hares pass
ing over the Washington County Railroad
on their way to Boston and New York
markets.
Allowing the December shipments from
Washington County by rail TO have been
one-half in -four barrels and the other
half in sugar barrels, he finds that about
1900 dead hares came from the county
by the railroad, to say nothing of the
much larger number which were sent
away by steamboats, and sailing craft,
which touch at ports all along the coast,
and which carry freight much cheaper
than the railroads.
As the season for sharing hares begins
with the fall Of the forest leaves in Oc-
tOber. and as the number caught in
creases constantly until the snow gets
soft under the sun of March. and as
Washington County is only one, and not
the largest one, among the sixteen cOun-
ties of Maine, all Of which are alive with
lean and muscular hares, which are
good to eat when cooked in stews or
ported in rabbit pies, it is the belief Of
Mr.. Ross that more than 100000 Maine
hares go toward the feeding Of Western
cities and towns every season.
How the HaFes Are Caught.
The strangest part of the hare catch
ing industry lies in the fact that the
rT.f.
for their labors is cents Il head for
every hare that is caught and packed
and delivered at the railroad station
To those who do not know how they
catch hares in Maine this sum seems
hardly enough TO buy powder and shot
for the killing. But Maine hunters are
not so unwise as to pay ont money for
shot and powder when they can set
more hares and secure them more
cheaply by sharing.
A Maine rabbit snare is the most prim-
tive implement of slaughter known to
mankind
In its revised form it consists of a
springy gray birch sapllng with cross
stick tied to the top with a wire. from
which croSs-stick there depends q slim
loop Of copper wre (which is arranged
like a sliD-nOOse.
BY bending the saplinE across the run
ways of the hares and attaching the
crOss-bar slightly To two upright birch
saplingS. so that the copper moose shall
hang directly across the path of the
haTes the hunters can provide a trap
that Will last all winter and perhaps cap
tUre a hundred hares. all at a cost of not
over cents
The men and bows who snare hares for
profit a q rule select some tract of wood
land which was chopped over for spruce
or pine ten years previously, and which
has sprung ~ thichly 10 gray birches and
red cherry trees
In most cases the log camps which
were used by the former iumbermel are
stil standing and may he fixed UP and
made scrviceabIe at a small outlay Hav-
ing brought in fat salt pork and Indian
meal enough TO last a month. the camp
ers spend the first week or two jan learn
ing where the hares run when they roam
abroad at night 10 browse upon the ter
minal twigs OF the birches IL they are
fortunate in finding the runways, "a num-
Der Of hases may be caught before the
snow falls at least enough 10 keep the
campers supplied in fresh meat.
As soon as the snow comes and the
paths of the hares can be picked out
from the number of tracks leading in any
direction, the work begins in earnest
The snares are visited at morning and
night, and after the stransled animals
have been taken out, the spring-pOle is
set again so as to be ready for the next
victim.
Fish, Fur, and Gum.
Meantime the men prepare wood to be
used as fuel, and cut holes in the ice
if not averse to breaking the law, trout,
and land-locked salmon as well
Steel traps are set along the borders
of streams and lakes for the taking Of
mink and otter and by the sides Of aban-
dOned wood roads for foxes and IOup
cerviers; and, while the older and more
experienced members are forwarding the
work in hand. the boys go hunting for
spruce gum, which is worth $50 a pound
at the drug stores. or for black ash hoop
poles, which bring > cents apiece IA the
cooper shops.
BY the tine 1000 or more hares are
taken and the store Of fresh provisions is
running low, one member of the party
goes TO the nearest village to hire
horse and sled for the purpose of taking
the hares to the railroads or steamboats,,
and 10 bring in fresh supplies from the
markets and grocery stores And when
the hunting mechanism IS once started
and the hares are coming in at the rate
of 1000 a week. business goes on at
gaining velocity all through the winter
and until the oncoming sun sends the
sap alofJ IN the rock maple trees. and
warns the workers that il is time to take
IN their snaTes and put out sap buckets
for the making OF maple sirup
The busiest and most profitable time
of the yearis during the holiday season.
beginning ten days before Easter and
lasting three weeks.
It is then that the small French-Cana-
dian boys and their larger Yankee and
Irish associates go TO camp with cheap
guns and mOngrel dogs and hunt and
feast and play and imagine they are wild
Indians and, though they are not so
successful as hunters as their elder and
more sedate kindred, they find far more
enjoyment in the outing than il is pos
sible for any adult to secure.
Chief Article of Diet.
Not only are immense numbers Of hares
shipped from Maine every winter-many
of them going as far West as Chicago and
as far South as New Orleans-but in the
far north woods of Aroostook County.
WucIt there are many Itlcn-Cdnddl3n
squatters whole families make great
part of their winter living ON hare pies
and hare stews, which by using plenty of
fat in the cooking, make healthful and
nourishing diet for several thousand in
dustrious and prolific people. who at no
distant date viii perhaps become the
dominant race In Maine
Another surprising feature in the hare
industry is that, though nearly every
cnrnivnrnrs bird or mammal That runs