The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-03
HUNTING BEAVER AND BEAR.
OLD TRADERS STORIES or MUD
SON BAY COUNTRY.

~-NrcRklnS Up n Beaver settlement
How a squnw Killed = Bear-MOOso
Hunters snKeRuIty-Trachlng Reindeer.
We were touring through Ontario and .
happy fate put me at dinner next TO MIR.
Lennon. q trader OF Sudbury who spent
the early days OF his venturssome life In
the service Of the Hudson Bay Company.
writes W. X. Holt in the London Tribune.
In his time be was At eight or min posts In
the wild and woody north buying skinsfrom
the trappers and hunters for t-ranssbipment
TO London. His first charge was on Lake
Temagami. and there with a Highland at
tendant and an Indian servant he camped
for years in the territory Of the Algonquins.
I was curious to know nov the Indians
looked to the naked eye without the war
paint Inc feathers OF romance, and Lem
non was good enough to tell me.
A grim, taciturn person the Indian APP
pears TO have been, marvellOusly skilful
in the hunt. but a trfe lazy. leaving all the
hard work to the squaws. and cold and
ungenerous. Here and there one was dis
covered who became "A good servant, but
as a rule the Indian was frigidly Indifferent
to the personal concerns OF his master;
would dart on like a shot whel the woods
began to call him, and did not care two
straws whether he ever saw his master
again. War being denied him, the chase
was the passion OF his life, and he lac
refined il to the subtlety of an art.
There remains in my mind" said the
director Of the trappers. "a picture very
typical Of the times. In those days the
free traders. as we called them, fiourished
in the north. and they were always trying
TO buy up skins under our noses. The
Indian did not mind, OF course. He was
always willing TO sell to anybody. providing
the price was good and the sale entaiied
no trouble to himself. We had to go out
looking for the big hunters to get in first.
There was a follow named MukakOs. other
wise The Keg,' h was the best hunter
l ever knew.
-One winter 1 followed him for days.
in snOwshoes. TO get his furB. IL was
the middle Of the night. and bright moon
light. when / crossed a low hill and came
to the shore of a lake. h snow and the
birches shone like silver and the balsams
were a vivid green. On the shore was
a painted wigwsm, and in front Of IL stood
MukakOs, his wife, his two children and
three dogs. The squaw held a blazing
bark hambeau over her head. Mukakos.
peering into a hole in the ice, was shouting
'Kustcha, Kustcha!' which means Catch
himl' 10 his dog. I stopped where ] was.
bewitched by the picture. e Muka-
kos's arm shot into the water. He dragged
out two beavers, and the hunt was over.
His stock was eighty beaver skins. six
bear skins. twenty mink skins. and four
otters, and | took them all. Some were
useless. for il was hard TO persuade the
Indian not to catch out Of season. but all
the same the haul was a good one.
ITO my mind beaver catching In the nnest
sport on earth. IL is lone in winter, for
summer skins are useless. You look about
| for a small lake with a running stream.
and there. near the outlet. you may find a
beavers hotse, shaped like a haycock
and wonderfully built Of wood n mud
and stones. Being a clean and tidy animal.
the beaver will only build near a stream.
! 30 that the refuse and waste fOOd--he feeds
| only on bark-wll be carried away from
the neizhborhOod Of his house. Across
! stream he builds a dam to regulate the
height Of water in the lake. so that when
the frost comes the entrance to his house
will be under water and not blocked up by
ice. He is a tender creature and does not
like cold. IN case his house IL destroyed
ne cuts about half a dozen tunnels OF refuge
from the borders Of the lake. In each
/ colony there may be half a dozen beavers.
The father and mother occupy the lower
floor OF the house; the young ones are In
the uppe story. Touch the dan and the
beavers become alarmed immediately.
The first thing We do IN finding the
settlement is TO smash the house with
axes. At the first blow the beaver disap-
pear and swim under the ice. Their only
refuge is the tunnels. and IL Ii then that
the finesse Of the game begins. Our sp-
paratus is an ice chisel. a crescent stick
and an Indian dog. We tap the edge of
the ice with the chisel. and where it sounds
hollow there is a tunnel. We break the
ice, feel for the walls Of tha tunnel with
the crescent stick. and having fOund them
set a piece OF brushwOod at the mouth of
the opening and dam the escape to the
lake. The moment the brushwo0d is
shifted We know that the beaver is in.
We put the dog on the trail and he scents
the ANNA through the snow and earth
and sits down above him. An Indian taps
on Inc surface. The frightened animal
darts for the water and an Indian catches
him with his hand. taking care to grip
one OF the hind legs. He cracks the head
with a tomahawk-and then we go on TO
another tunnel. The expert can tell what
bark the beaver has been feeding on by
the favor Of the meat. Occasionally we
trap the beaver by s9tting a baited snare
in the water before his house, taking care
that the bait is a delicate bark which does
not grow In the neighborhood Of the house.
but trenching is the better sport.
"Rears? On. We caught the black bear
either with q snare or a deahfall. That il
| comparatively easy. After his winter hi
| bernatiOn the black bear seeks tie streams
where the suckers go lp TO spawn. He
steps into the river and throws the fsh
ashore. To let II become nice and ripe before
he eats IL. His runway. or trail, becomes
| al we'll marked a. the kings highway and
along that we lay a snare, weighted with
heavy logs and furnished with a hidden
moose. which catches the animal by the neck
and suIrocates him. Onoe | saw a bear which
had been caught In the middle OF the body.
The skin was cut right In two.
1T 10 only during the ruttinR season.
about June. that the bear 10 dangerous to
man. Mukakos. the great bunter. once
told me Of a remarkable sight he saw in that
month. Coming up &c the post in his canoe
he heard a great roaring and snarlinH and
creeping WI a mound he saw thirteen bears
engaged In a baltic royal on the other side =
the males Sighting for the females. Why
1 lsavnek Won ahOOt Ona1t 4 aalxaA snk -