MAMMALS OP SAC COUNTY 
277 
Antelope ( Antilocapra americana ) . I found no definite records 
for Sac county. See the previous quotation about game condi- 
tions in Carroll county. 
Otter ( Lutra canadensis). Otter were plentiful. Wall lake 
looked as if sled runners had passed all over it in the winter 
of 1855 so numerous were the otter slides in the snow (3). They 
were most plentiful in 1856 and one man reported trapping five 
in one day. For these he received $2.50 to $3 apiece (4). An 
otter was caught near Sac City in 1912 and it is probable that a 
very few still exist along the Raccoon river (2). 
Raccoon ( Procyon lot or ) . Raccoon were common. Mr. F. M. 
Cory took twelve from an abandoned beaver hole in the bank 
of the Raccoon river in the winter of 1855-56 (3). In 1857 
their pelts were worth 50 to 75 cents apiece. The raccoon is 
now rare but occasionally one is captured. Two were taken 
near Sac City in the winter of 1913-14. One was captured near 
Wall Lake, in a corn shock, about 1910. 
Black Bear ( Ursus americanus ) . One black bear was chased 
by Jim Butler and two other hunters on horseback from south 
of Wall lake to the Boyer river in 1855, but the bear escaped 
(4). “I found a bear skeleton at Pond grove in Buena Vista 
county” (4). 
Mink I Mustela vison letifera Hollister) . Specimen in the 
Smith collection. Mink were more abundant in early days than 
now, according to one man (4) ; and of about the same abun- 
dance as now, according to another man (2). Another observer 
reports mink most common about 1905 (8). They were more 
common at- that time than now (1916) according to my observa- 
tions. One man caught ten mink in one clay along about a 
mile of the Raccoon river in early days (3). 
Fisher ( Mustela pennantii). I found no direct records for 
Sac county. ‘ ‘ I saw a few fisher in the later ’50 ’s and traded for 
two skins” (1). This man’s trading territory was principally 
north of Sac county. “In 1862, I followed a track in Calhoun 
county, which was twice as large as a mink’s and of the same 
style, which I think was a fisher’s” (4). 
Weasel ( Mustela longicauda Tongicanda ) . There are two speci- 
mens in the Smith collection. Weasels are only tolerably com- 
mon now. I have always found individuals trapped after cold 
weather started, to be white in color. I have also found much 
