Removing the skins from the stretching 

 boards where they have been for two weeks 



THREE youngsters are making enough 

 by trapping muskrats in the Hacken- 

 sack marshes of Jersey to equip 

 themselves with bicycles, baseballs, bats, 

 gloves, and all the other 

 things that a boy yearns 

 for. They are Charles 

 Curtis, aged 1 1 

 Harold Freet, 

 aged 15, and 

 George Halk, 

 aged 16. All 

 are of Hack- 

 e n s a c k , 

 N. J., and all 

 attend school. 

 Harold 

 Freet is the 

 chief trapper, 

 and the one from 

 whom the other 

 two obtained 

 their instructions. 

 During Freet's 

 spare time he 

 hob-nobbed with 

 the bridge-tender on the Court Street 

 Bridge, over the Hackensack River. This 

 bridge-tender was a trapper himself and 

 knew the habits of muskrats, the laws gov- 

 erning their trapping, and the market value 

 of the pelts. He imparted all his informa- 

 tion to Freet, and Freet in turn told his 

 two pals. When the season opened, the 

 three of them went at it with a will. 



Muskrats cannot be shot under the New 

 Jersey law; nor can they be hunted at 

 night with searchlights. They must be 



Trapping Muskrats 



A new industry for the ambitious boy 

 By Charles Curtis 



caught in traps, and in no other way. The 

 youngsters therefore purchased about four- 

 teen "jump traps" and set them out in the 

 Hackensack Meadows. These traps cost 

 about twenty cents each, and are the best 

 for the purpose. When the rat springs a 

 jump trap, he is caught firmly by the leg. 

 The traps are always set and emptied 

 when the tide is out; for that is the only 

 time they may be reached. And whether 

 the tide is out early in the morning, or late 

 at night, the boys have to be there. If the 

 tide is out early in the morning, young 

 Curtis and Halk each ties a string to his 

 big toe when retiring the night before and 

 drops the string out of the window. Freet 

 delivers papers in the morning, and is 

 j^ therefore, always the first 



r ^ to be up. When he has 



delivered his pa- 

 pers he goes to 

 the houses of 

 his co-work- 

 ers and pulls 

 away on the 

 string. In a 

 very few 

 minutes his 



The trap catches the rat 

 tide does not drown it 



by the leg. If the rising 

 the boys kill it humanely 



companions 

 are with 

 him.- 

 The traps are 

 generally set 

 near the muskrat 

 lodges. The 

 lodges are capaci- 

 ous dwelling 

 places for the 

 muskrats, built 



of grass, leaves, and rushes, about three 

 or four feet in height and they are always 

 situated so that they will be above tide 

 water. The traps are placed in the runs 

 that lead in and out of the entrances. The 

 law governing such trapping, however, 

 states that the traps must not be set closer 

 than two feet to the entrance. This gives 

 the rat a chance for his life. If this law is 

 violated by a trapper, he may be fined 

 twenty dollars. 



When the traps are cleared, the muskrat 



5iQ4, 



