HANDLING RAW FURS AND OTHER NOTES. 253 



The skin was large for a female fox, and had it been caught 

 any time from November to the last of January, it would have 

 brought five or six dollars ; but the best that he could get for the 

 skin was three dollars. This is only one case of many, which came 

 under my observation, and especially in the case of taking skunks 

 after they are so badly rubbed that they will not bring more 

 than half the price of prime skins. 



Now in the case mentioned above, of the female fox, the 

 loss in the price of the skin was small compared to that of the 

 young foxes whose skins would have been worth, next November, 

 or December, in the neighborhood of twenty dollars. In this 

 particular case, my friend would have got the most of those young 

 foxes if not all of them, for the fox den was on his premises, and 

 not far from his house. 



Now, comrades, let us stop this .catching of unprime furs 

 it is our bread and butter. Let us stop wasting it, for there are 

 but few trappers, who have any more of this world's goods than 

 he needs. Let every trapper do all that he can to put a stop to this 

 waste of fur by catching the fur bearers, when their skins are 

 not more than one-half their value and many are taken that are 

 practically worthless. We must do all that is in our power to 

 stop a wasteful slaughter of the fur bearing animals, for they are 

 already becoming far too scarce ; both for the trappers' benefit, 

 as well as those who wear the finished goods. 



Comrades, instead of slaughtering the fur bearers during the 

 season of unprime furs, let us look up our trapping grounds, for the 

 coming season, and have all preparations made, and our plans 

 well laid. Then when the season of prime furs arrives, let us 

 take to the trap line and follow it diligently for two or three 

 months, then drop the fox, skunk, mink, coon and opossum and 

 put in more time on beavers, otters, and muskrats. 



This applies to the middle, northern and southern states, while 

 those in the far north, can, of course, continue to take the fox, 

 mink, etc., longer, but it is not good policy for the northern trapper, 

 even to keep up the good work so long as to "kill the goose that 



lays the golden egg." 



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