The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-06
GOOD OUTLOOK FOR TRAPpERS
NORTH WOODS HUNTERS Ex-
PECr TO MAKE MONEY.
Prices Made New Records Last Year nnd
sidFair 60 MsidThis season ssusi<rsf
Net Now Despased- Poseupine bait
for Fishers Anru Fighting otter.

bi0 FAR To Hold T01s seas om-Mu3Akru'
Net Now Despis<sl- Poscupine Bsi'
for Fishers Hard Fighting Otter
LITTLE FALLS. y. Y. Nov. S.-Trappers
expect 20 catch plenty OF fur in the Adj
rondacks this winter. and because prices
paid for furs sre likely TO be but little
less than last winters record prices. il
looks a. though the season would be a
profitable one Two trappsrs who ran
a line from Fulton Chain past Raquefte
Lake 20 Indian Lake. winding through
the wilderness for 10 miles, csught l07
rum a longer line.
There are perhaps dozen trappers
in the Adirondacks who have lines more
than one hundred miles long, French
Louie. located At the West Canada Creek
lakes. 10 IN" dean OF the Adirondack
trappers. He lie - years OF age. and IA.
follows his line in deep snow n dozen or
fifteen miles day. No one knows how
many marten. mink. otter. foxes. fishers
and ermirs he catches in n winter. He
selis his f,irs in half a dozen markets
and IL not infrsquently comes 60 pass
that In n week ne spends 500 at Specu-
lRfor OF At wilmurt or at tho Fulton
Chain. He IL said 20 have seventeen
camps in the woods. and one OF these
camps is hidden in mountain ravine
with tn. approaches guarded by forty
pound bear traps
The Adirondack wilderness trappers
ALWAYS scorned the musk rat till last
winter Rats were W orth only few cents
each and generally they We're let alone
or az most used for bait Now with musk =
! ra Is worth from 10 to so cents some great
hauis have been made on Adirondack
beaver meadows and around boggv lakes
. The trappers discovered suddenly that
! u was more profitable to catch from ten
/ to twenty rats in night than to catch a
7 mink or two weeS. Extensive prepa-
ratIons are being made by the frsppers
IN catch rats during III" open season.
which begins on November !. before the
I freeze up which comes about the first of
! December
/ Miskrats are caught bv setting traps
steel nr copper wiz. IN the mouths OF
the under water burrows or in the run
WAYS Of the animals. Sometimes a rock
ar log or grass hummock which is used
bv a mnskrat as a feeding place is COW
cred with a trap but bait 10 seldom used
! The best set is where "A runway leads
! from one cove or pool To smother either
up a narrow stream or overland through
: the grass A trap set in such a RUNWAY
catches not only muskrats. hut very
often mink al we'll Instance have
been known when foxes and otter have
stumbled into trans IN such places
/ Mink ar" caught under log bridges.
along trout streams and even far up
B mountain sides In. common set - TO
build Il little house Of chips and chunks
II rOtI0n wood. 4 piece Of a large sucker
IL put in the house and n trap set in the
narrow DOORWAY When the mink comes
along IL scents che fish and lands in the
trap A. the mink will bite its own leg
OF II precautions are not taken the trap
per drives a forked stake in the ground
tive or six feet from tho cubby aud in the
fork he hangs a sapling twenty feet long.
The small end OF the sapling he fastens
70 the trap chain and hooks the chain
ring under little root or hooked stick.
When the mink tries to- jerk loose IL
swings the sapIing loose and the mink
10 lifted clear Of everything. This Ia
called the well sweep and il 10 used
for mink marten and fishers.
Df all Adirondack animals the marten
IL the hardest tighter pound for pound.
Caught in a trap. il will bite the steel with
its teeth. and all traps that have caught
marten show dents made by the marten
teeth. swung M NV the well sweep. a
marten has been known 80 climb the
chain ri the trap that held It's foot and
gain the top of'rhs pole. There. using all
its strength. the animal has pulled loose
and made its escape. Failing TO pull
- ~haxra -ha
pol. half on befor. falling from tho top
and becoming too weak TO regain its place
on the pole
Fishers and mar en- are caught on
mount ain ridges and in the gaps bot ween
hills covered with green timber confer
Gus trees.
The fisher. a fierce. black brute The size
Of n red fox or larg has n country" Of
iis own The animal follows a course
rhro,I Ch the woods over mount airs across
valleys and among rocks ana steep SIDE
hills The course - circular and trarn"rs
who read ths animal trails say that they
find h. same fishpr'strachs always follow
ing no same line The fisher leaves its run
wav to chase a rabbit. Tnarten. squirrel.
or o climb tree after porcupines. The
runway - commonly forty or fiffy miles
i'm circumference and leads always
through the ro,ighes'. widest, least ac-
ce-sible country.
The hes, bait for fishers il porctpine.
and some ,rapp~rs never use anyth
else for fishers and martens. The fisher
is -h. only Adirondack animal that feeds
regularly on porcupine~. and irapp"rs
seldom or never cat oh one that hasn't
half hundred quilts in it's fore legs, and
a. many quilts "a whiskers in it, jaws.
The fisher follows a porcupine into its
don and kills 1t there. or follows IL TO
he top 81 hernlock tree. attacks II and
i'm the death graphic the two animals
come bounding down through the
branches s1ualling and screaming. They
land in the snow and when 'he fisher
comes to the surface il wears smile
with q halo 81 bristle~.
Offers and foxes are seldom caught
nv trappers Thew are too alv animals
10 he fooled by halt or lure. Most foxes
which come TO grief are taken by means
Of pills--poison in pellets OF lard thrown
down by sheep head or dad horse. One
Wheelertown trapper few years ago
put some pills by dead horse. He found
next day three foxes. two cats and his
own good dog lying in the snow dead.
The only successful trapper OF offers
known in Herkimer connty sets his traps
in the mouths Of little brooks. He Uses
No. 4 jumps. double spring or old fash