HANDLING RAW FURS AND OTHER NOTES. 



255 



hunter are all money-mad, made so by the high prices of fur. 

 But unlike our ancestors, the trapper, dig'em-out and dog-hunter 

 should be able to see the folly in taking the furbearers when in 

 an unprime condition, because we all know the difference in the 

 value of a fox, a skunk, a mink, or the skin of any other fur- 

 bearing animal taken in September or late in the spring when un- 

 prime, than the same skins would be worth if taken in November 

 or any month during the winter. 



I trapped in three different states in the South last season 

 (1912) and I met with trappers and dog-hunters who admitted 

 that they trapped and hunted in September. We saw one trapper 

 who had four large mink also quite a bunch of other furs, con- 

 sisting of coon, muskrats, civet and skunk; the trapper said that 

 the mink were caught last September or the first of October. He 

 wanted six dollars for the four mink. Just think of those four 

 large mink being offered for six dollars* and he could not get a 

 buyer at that price. The rest of his early caught furs ranked 

 with the same grade as the mink. Comrades, just think that over 

 and see how foolish we are to begin trapping so early in the 

 season. These same mink, had they been caught the last of No- 

 vember or in December, would have been worth, easily, six or 

 seven dollars apiece. This same party had two mink that he had 

 caught the first of November and he asked five dollars apiece for 

 them and they were not near as large as those caught in Sep- 

 tember. 



Now, brothers of the trap line, the most of us will admit 

 that we are not overstocked with worldly goods and we are not 

 to be blamed for getting a little money-mad; but when we get so 

 money-mad that it makes us so blind that we not only destroy our 

 pleasure but we throw away from twenty-five cents on a muskrat 

 and four to six dollars on a fox or mink we should stop and 

 think ! 



While out in camp on our fishing trips this summer, let us 

 invite all of the boys of the neighborhood to come and let us 

 talk this matter over with them and show them how lame we are 

 to indulge in this early and late trapping and hunting of the fur- 

 bearing animals. Let us induce the boys to become readers of the 



