BADGERS AND WOLVERENES 



111 



feed by night, there being from two to several individ- 

 uals in the party. They have been known to be caught 

 in a steel trap, the latter fastened to a big log, the animal 

 dragging this for half a mile or more before being over- 

 taken and shot. 



In a good article on the Glutton is presented, dialogue 

 fashion, the following experience of two American trap- 

 pers in the forest about Chelan, Washington ; I quote 

 a part of it : "And now commenced the last act in the play, 

 the final wind-up of the most curious and exciting, if 

 unlucky, day's hunt that I have ever enjoyed ; this was 

 to find out the whereabouts of the trap and the animal 

 that had made such a wreck of our carefully built pen, 

 and we were soon back on the trap-line and commencing 

 an examination of the scene. 'There's been a regular 

 circus here,' observed Andy, as he looked over the dirty, 

 plowed-up snow before us. 'However, there's one in 

 the trap yet, and there's the direction he has gone ; should 

 you see him first, fire instantly, for the trap is only a 

 single spring No. V/2, and he will do his best at pulling 

 when he sees us. Look at what he's done here.' 



"A clump of willows stood near, and the heavy drag- 

 pole attached to the trap had evidently caught fast in 

 them. But that did not seem to matter, for they were 

 now mostly lying on the snow, mown down by the brute's 

 teeth. The trail of the log was clearly marked, and led 

 down a small ravine, which ran to the bottom of the 

 canyon below, and for nearly a hundred yards we fol- 

 lowed it. At last I saw another bunch of willows shaking 

 violently, and there, held fast by the toes, in our steel 

 trap, was a big wolverene, struggling desperately to de- 

 tach the pole from the bush in which it had become en- 

 tangled ; but on our approach it stopped a moment, 

 showed its teeth, and then recommenced its attack on the 

 willows. For a little while I was unable to get a chance to 

 fire, owing to its rapid movements, but one soon came, 

 and a 255-grain hardened ball entered its head near the 

 ear, passing out at its lower jaw, and the wolverene fell 

 dead without so much as a single kick. I dragged the 

 body up the hill again no easy task, for it was four feet 

 three inches in length, weighed all of fifty pounds, and 

 the climbing was steep. Andy followed with the trap and 

 pole; and, while I was engaged in taking off the thick, 

 dark skin, he went on to see the next trap, which was half 

 a mile distant, where he found a marten for his trouble. 

 The wolverene's body shared the same fate as the Fisher's 

 had earlier in the day ; the pen was rebuilt, and the trnp 

 carefully set." It may be added that these men used the 

 flayed body of the wolverene to bait the trap ; and they 

 claim that a skinned Fisher is the very best bait in the 

 world for this purpose. During the next month they 

 took five more of these animals, and that seemed to clear 

 out all that was left of them in that neighborhood. 



As an instance of the boldness of a Glutton when 

 pressed by hunger, the following is presented. It hap- 

 pened in the middle of winter at Victoria Harbor, where 

 the animal came over the snow wall surrounding a ves- 

 sel. Notwithstanding there was over a dozen of the crew 

 on deck, the wolverene made for a cannister of meat that 



had been opened and partly used. The ravenous brute 

 at once commenced to devour this meat ; and so eager 

 was he in doing this that one of the men had no difficulty 

 in passing a rope slipper-noose over its head, drawing it 

 tight and strangling it. 



In those days the skin of a wolverene was held to be 

 of considerable value in Kamchatka, and the women 

 there used to wear in their hair, by way of ornament, 

 the white claws of this species. It has been claimed by 

 the older describers of this species that the pelt of the 

 Old World specimens showed a finer and glossier coat of 

 black hair than did the ones taken on the American con- 

 tinent, in which the hair more closely resembled the fur 

 of a black bear. 



In some regions, the wolverene is known as the Indian 

 Devil, or as the North Shore Devil, and is most heartily 

 hated by the Indian trappers, where Indians still engage 

 in such pursuits. Great is their satisfaction when a speci- 

 men is slain or trapped, and no mercy is shown it in the 

 latter instance. 



A burrow is selected by the carcajou as its home, and 

 here the female brings forth some half a dozen young 

 in midsummer time. These little fellows are not so very 

 unattractive, being lighter colored than the mother, who 

 will, in times of danger, fight for them like a tiger; 

 indeed, her fearlessness on such occasions is something 

 truly remarkable. During the warmer months of the 

 year the wolverene feeds largely upon the smaller rod- 

 ents, upon certain reptiles and many insects. He is also 

 said to kill and devour young fox cubs, running them into 

 the parental den to capture them, the tragedy usually tak- 

 ing place in the innermost recesses. This insatiable prow- 

 ler will also feed upon birds' eggs or on the young 

 indeed, he will feed on the young of anything that he 

 can get his paws upon. It is said that if a wolverene, in 

 the winter time, captures an animal larger than he can 

 consume at one meal, he will bury the remainder in the 

 snow, and then take the precaution to scent it over so 

 thoroughly with the perfume of his own that he keeps 

 ever on hand, that no other creature will eat it, even if 

 on the very verge of starvation. 



The wolverene does not hibernate during the winter 

 months, and in this it agrees with other representatives 

 of the family to which it belongs. It does not climb 

 trees, although there are many stories afloat that this 

 animal is a tree climber. 



Nothing new seems to have been added to the life his- 

 tory of this remarkable animal during late years. It is, 

 and always will be, dreaded by its enemies throughout 

 the forests it inhabits, and by the smaller mammals it 

 preys upon. Among our own kind it is heartily hated by 

 any man with whose interests it interferes, and this re- 

 fers especially to those who hunt and trap the fur-bearing 

 mammals for their pelts. It has always been man's na- 

 ture to hate and destroy any of the creatures below him 

 that in any way interfere with his means of making 

 money. He only pets and cares for those which are use- 

 ful to him and contribute to his comfort, and he does 

 not hesitate to deprive of life millions of those he subse- 



