The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-11-13
Season Opening Friday
Expected to Bring in
S25O,OOO to $3.50, 900.
RJ Times Special

NOBLESVILLE, Ind, Nov. 13.-
An industry little known to the
average Hoosier will reap its annual
harvest within the next few weeks
the trapperS' season is on and al
though ur-bearing animals in the
state are becoming scarce, there is
still profit in the business.
The season will open Friday and
continues until Jan. IS, which is a
month shorter than previous years
by reason of an act of the 1929
legislature.
Experienced fur buyers estimate
that between $250,000 and $350,000
will be paid for pelts in Indiana
during the season.
The public probably does not
think of this industry as one that
yields much profit and much less
does it know that the bulk of this
money goes to the schoolboys of In
diana.
Most of Trappers Are Boys
at is largely a boys job" says
Jet Hinshaw, who has bought furs
in all parts of Indiana during the
past twenty-five years. Of course
there are older people engaged in
trapping as business, but as a rule
most of the fur-bearing animals of
Indiana are caught by boys under
20-Schoolboys, who live in the
country and adopt this plan to get
a little extra spending money.
There are men who make a living
by devOting all of their time to
trapping, and, as rule, they make
good money, but I insist that it is
largely boys game. I feel like
when a man becomes 81 years of
age he should quit the business and
turn 1t over to the boys. I know of
many instances where boys obtained
money in this way and it helped
them to get through school,"
Most of the best catches are ex-
pected to be made during the first
two or three weeks after the season
opens. There will be the usual Iull
during the extreme cold weather be-
cause the animals do not venture
out then.
There will be more muskrat, rae
coon and mink furs available than
any other kind, experienced trap
perS say. and the skins of raccoons
are likely to bring best price be-
cause they are not as plentiful as
the others.
Shipments to Detroit
Perhaps three-fourths of the
skins purchased in Indiana are
shipped to Detroit. A few of them
go to New York, st. Louis and Chi
cago, where they are made into
garments, kid gloves and various
other wearing apparel and sold at
fancy prices. Out-of- Interstate buy
ers. it is estimated, will pay $3.50, 900
during the next thirty days for furs
that are caught in Indiana notwith-
standing the fact that the hides are
worth only about half as much as
they were at the close of the World
war.
Indiana buyers not only handle
nearly all of the skins which are
marketed in the state, but they also
buy from trapperS in northern Ken
L frrn
Michigan. Some Indiana buyers
handle as much as 100000 worth of
hides during a season. They con-
slider the skunk one of the most
valuable fur-bearing animals in In
diana. Muskrat fur is made into
what is known to the trade as Hud-
son seal. This is the principal rea-
son why muSkrat skins are valuable.
Until this process was discovered a
muskrat hide was not worth more
than 10 or Is cents. z
Plentiful in Parke County
Most Indiana trappers regard
Parke county as one of the best fur
bearing districts in the state for the
ro son that the animals natural
habitations still exist around Tlr-
key Run. There are many mink,
opoSsum and skunkS, and occasion
ally a fox and wolf are found in
that locality. Most of the muskratS
are. found in the smaller streams
and the Kankakee swamps.
Several Indiana firms have begun
breeding fur-bearing animals for
profit. There are several silver fox
farms in the state. Another firm
raises skunks, muskrats and rae
ccons. One of the largest skunk
farms in the central west is located
at Centerville.