316 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



In Plaquemines Parish the sworn affidavits from trap- 

 pers range collective higher both in take, acreage and per- 

 centage per acre. The individual high take in Plaquemines 

 parish is furnished by Alex Ruiz, who claims that on 80 

 acres he secured 6,000 rats, which was an average of 75 

 rats to an acre, and the lowest catch reported is that of 

 Roy Mellerine, who reports that on his 60 acres he took 

 597 muskrats, an average of 9 to an acre. 



The following reports are indicative of what was taken 

 on some of the acres : 



Stephen Molero, who trapped 180 acres, reports secur- 

 ing 5,060 muskrats, which is an average of 28.11 to the 

 acre. This man is an excellent trapper and a hard worker 

 and as he had a very good piece of territory, I am prepared 

 to believe that his report is quite in line with what he 

 actually did. 



The reports of the Roberts brothers is, in my estimation, 

 indicative of what was actually done on this area. Harvey 

 E. Roberts, who had 1,340^ acres, secured 22,504 musk- 

 rats, which is an average of 16 to an acre. Roberts did 

 not trap himself, but engaged three or four trappers, and 

 his affidavit was on the pooled interest of what these men 

 did. 



The report of P. J. Roberts, who trapped 125 acres and 

 secured 2,863 muskrats, an average of 23 to an acre, is in 

 my estimation a very accurate report on what was done on 

 his area, as the Roberts boys had a very good piece of 

 ground. 



Mitchell St. Germaine trapped 102 acres and secured 

 2,754 muskrats, or an average of 11.70 per acre. Consider- 

 ing the type of land that St. Germaine trapped, this would 

 be nearer to an under-statement than an over-statement. 



In pointing out these individual efforts on the part of 

 trappers, in the face of sworn affidavits by those most di- 

 rectly concerned, it is not an exaggeration of what was 

 really done on this land the past winter to say that 25 

 muskrats or more was the average production of these 

 very excellent trapping lands. 



