CHAPTER XXX. 

 Southern Experiences on the Trap Line. 



OMRADES of the trap line, I am not able to report a large 

 catch of furs the past season, 1910. I did not catch much 

 fur, but say, boys, I had a good deal of experience never- 

 theless. I will try to tell of conditions as I found them in 

 North Carolina. 



I first stopped in Lee County, where I met Mr. A. L. Law- 

 rence, one of the Hunter-Trader-Trapper's most ardent friends. 

 After stopping here a few days and seeing some of the sights 

 in Lee and Moore Counties, Mr. Lawrence, now my friend and 

 partner, a gentleman whom I had never known before, started 

 for Bladen Co., N. C., where we expected to be kept up a good 

 portion of the night in order to keep up with the skinning and 

 stretching of the numerous furbearing animals caught during the 

 day. Well boys, I will say that we were not troubled in this mat- 

 ter at least. 



While there is more fur in that section than in the north, there 

 are also more disadvantages to be met with, than we have here. 

 The majority of people that one meets with in the South are 

 very kind and obliging. Nevertheless you will find it somewhat 

 difficult to find suitable grounds to set your camp, providing the 

 parties are aware that your intentions are to put out a line of 

 traps. Remember that nearly every farmer has a drove of hogs 

 that run in the woods, and the feeding grounds of the razorback 

 is in the bottoms along the creeks and rivers. Naturally the farmer 

 is a little fearful of his pigs being caught, so he says that the 

 better way is to keep "shet" of the trappers, especially those that 

 are strangers to the neighborhood. This is not the only way that 

 the razorback gets in his work, and a good bit of work they get 

 in tco. The razorback is a powerful hunter, and it does not require 



274 



