284 FUR FACTS 



kicked me across the back of the hand, cutting two ugly gashes, which 

 caused me to loosen my hold on his jaws. Thus liberated, he gave 

 a quick snap and caught my hand between his teeth, biting clear 

 through to the bone. Then he gave a final lurch and jumped to the 

 ground. I caught him again and this time delivered a herculean 

 blow, burying my hatchet in his skull. He was the largest coon I 

 have ever seen. My hand, by this time, was bleeding profusely 

 and giving me severe pain. I hurriedly washed away the blood, 

 applied a handful of mud and bound it up with my handkerchief. 



When I had finished with my trap line that morning I had two 

 coon, nine muskrat, four mink and one red fox and Tom had seven 

 muskrats, one coon, five mink and one civet cat. 



Our catch for the next few weeks was extremely heavy and by 

 the last of January we had 350 muskrats, 54 otter, 76 coon, 65 mink, 

 40 opossum and 24 red and grey fox, the whole of which we sold to 

 a road buyer for the paltry sum of $165.00. 



At this time I received word that my uncle was in very poor 

 health and we decided to do no more trapping that season, but it was 

 mutually agreed that we would be on the line early the following 

 season. 



On the 18th day of October, 1889, having heard no further word 

 from my friend, Tom Hicks, I resolved to set out upon my annual 

 hunting tour, alone, if necessary. So far my efforts had been directed 

 toward the trapping of small game, but this season I was going to 

 undertake bigger things. I had now been trapping for several years 

 and I felt that with my ripened experience and the confidence which 

 came with it, that I could safely tackle any fur-bearing animal from 

 a rabbit to an African lion. 



Accordingly, I bought traps and equipment for the larger sized 

 animals, taking, of course, my usual supply of small traps. I bought 

 ten No. 4>^2 Newhouse Special Wolf Traps and three No. 150 New- 

 house Bear Traps. My next move was to construct a new boat, as 

 my boat from the previous season was in very bad condition. In 

 this new boat and with a full three week's provisions, I decided to 

 leave on the 23rd of October. Late in the evening of the 22nd, 

 however, Bud Hailey, one of the neighbor boys strode up to the shed 

 where I was putting the final touches on my rigging and asked if I 

 would consider taking him with me as a partner. 



4 'Bud", as everyone called him, had always been a good fellow and 

 as I was not averse to company on my trip, I readily accepted his 



