Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-01-29
5000 FUR BEARING ANIMALS.
Great Number of Musk Rats Speared
Through Ice Near McGregor
This Winter.

over three thousand fur bearing
animals have already this season
been killed within a few miles of Nc
Gregor and their pelts shipped from
here to minneapolis and other points.
OF the three thousand 30 have been
skunks, SO mink, 65 coons, 20 civets,
10 white weasels or ermine, and Z
fox. The rest or $500 have been
musk rats. Last year due to tie UNI
usual high water late in the fall, al
most no musk rats were found That
they were not destroyed, but merely
migrated to inland streams where
they were less molested by hunters,
seems to have been the case, for they
are back on the river again this win
ter in greater numbers than for many
seasons. Nearly all the fishermen
and clammers have been maxi
ing good money catching them the
past two months. NJ Delphi of Har-
pers Ferry has trapped 500. Mr.. Pull
len, several weeks ago, went up to
Mudhen Lake and in a twenty day
hunt there caught enough of the rats
to net him $157.50. That is prob
ably a return that many of the trap
pers in the north would consider ex-
cellent.
With the ice thin on the sloughs
and ponds as it has been most of the
time until very recently, the hunters
instead of setting traps for the musk
rats have been hunting them with
spears. 1t is the habit of the little
creatures in building their homes of
mud and weeds in the shallow waters
near the islands, to construct run
ways from the bottom of them to the
deeper waters, where they go to find
lily and other Aquatic roots for food.
The fishermen can plainly see these
runways through the ice They
watch for the musk rats to come in
to them from the houses and as soon
as they spy one, stick long, slender
sharp pointed rod down through the
ice into it. Then chop a hole and
drag the victim up through. A re-
markable thing about the little ami
nal is the length of time the hunters
say they can remain under water
without rising for air. One trapper
states that he saw a musk rat stay
quiet in runway for fifteen min
utes without coming up. When he
uiu hhaliy oWlm " Luc lie
merely for moment pressed his nose
against the ice, seeming in that way
to get enough oxygen to satisfy him.
The rats caught along the upper
Mississippi from here on up to st.
Paul bring higher price than those
found farther south. In fact no musk
rats found anywhere are considered
superior to those that inhabit the
sloughs around here. In furrier lang
uage they are known by the Indian
name 'MuQuash." Much the great
er number, however appear on the
market not as muquash, but as imi-
tation seal and other costly short
furs.
The great popularity of white fur
this winter has given added value to
skunk pelts. The white portions are
cut from the skins and sold under
other names. The black that is left
gets onto the market as marten. 1t
is reported that a Waukon man has
started a skunk farm on the Upper
Iowa this year and already has it
stocked with one hundred skunks. He
is keeping them in field he has set
apart for them by unique fencing
scheme of his own devising. The field
is surrounded by three foot wire net
ting. Inside, close up against the
fence other wire netting is laid fiat
on the ground. When a skunk is
inclined to wander from the farm
he, because of this device, soon finds
himself merely paving away at a
hopeless stretch of wire netting. A
musk rat farm has been operated in
Winnecoone county, Wisconsin, for
several years at great profit. Why
not skunk farm on one of the hills
near McGregor, or a musk rat farm
on one of the islands? With fur
bearing animals becoming so scarce
everywhere, the fur farm is new
kind of institution which is being
started in many places. With so
many valuable fur bearing animals in
this vicinity it would seem that such
farm could be operated here If
anywhere with success.-Times.
O-
Did you ever see a "rounder" that
a,ac