

FOREST AND STREAM. 


[Nov. 30, 1907. 



NATTURALL EUSTOR AY 




The Raccoon. 
Forest and Stream: 
| see that Professor Davis has been experi- 
menting with raccoons, and has found that 
they are very expert at undoing fastenings. If 
he had ever trapped raccoons, he would have 
known this without experimenting. 
A coon seems to be a composite animal, 
made up of parts of bear, fisher and monkey, 
with considerable devil thrown in for luck. 
He can use his forepaws as handily as a mon- 
key, and what he cannot undo with his hands 
he can gnaw off with his teeth. As Miss Mur- 
free—Charles Egbert Craddock—says in one 
of her stories, he has “a great deal of head 
stuffing.” Any one who disbelieves in original 
sin had better keep a raccoon for a pet or try 
trapping them. 
In captivity they are extremely cleanly, often 
washing their hands and always washing every 
kind of food, except eggs, before eating. Rac- 
coons know all about eggs without any teach- 
ing. One will take a hen’s egg, and lying on 
his back will toss it up and catch it, as if it 
were a ball until, becoming tired of this amuse- 
ment, he will hold it in the left hand, and by 
tapping it lightly with one nail will drill a 
small hole in one end and then suck the con- 
tents. Their holding capacity is considerable. 
as I have known a tame one which got loose 
to kill a setting hen and suck thirteen eggs. 
In this case thirteen was an unlucky number 
for the owner of the hen. ‘ 
Some of the things I have seen done with 
traps by raccoons nearly equal what is told 
of the performances of the carcajou in a re- 
cent number of Forest AND STREAM. There is 
no doubt but some raccoons know that a tran 
is dangerous as well as a fox knows it; yet, in- 
stead of avoiding it, as a fox does, they will 
often entirely uncover one by picking off all 
the leaves or moss with which it is covered, 
sometimes even turning the trap entirely 
around. When trapped they seem to know 
just how the trap is fastened. If it is staked, 
they will at once gnaw the stake off. If tied, 
they will cut the fastening. If secured to a 
root they will soon find out what needs cutting. 
If the trap is hitched so that they cannot get 
away with it, they will brace both hindfeet 
against the trap, if caught by a forefoot, and 
if the bone is broken, will pull the foot off. 
If the bone is not broken, they will cut the 
foot off with their teeth. I have had one cut 
off his hindfoot. I have had them do things 
which, like the doings of the carcajou, are 
almost beyond belief. I once had a large two- 
spring otter trap for mink behind a stu» 
on the sea wall of lake. On looking at it 
I found only one spring and the chain. The 
rest of the trap I discovered down on the 
beach near the water, with a part of a weasel 
in it. The raccoon had not been in the trap, 
but in trying to get the weasel, he had taken 
off one nut, and as it was the nut which held 
the chain spring, he had thus got the trap 
clear. Sometimes an animal in a trap, by 
worrying around, may accidentally get a nut 
off, but usually, after being used for years, 
they get so firmly rusted on that it is very 
hard for a man to remove one. 
The same fall that this happened I had a 
very large trap set on an immense pine log. 
The log was partly decayed, and was covered 
with moss on the top, and I cut a shallow 
scarf and covered the trap neatly with moss. 
I sprinkled some muskrat liver on the moss 
and scented it with beaver oil. The log was 
so high that the chain would not reach to the 
ground, and I slipped the ring on to a very 
hard, dry maple pole some six feet long, 
wedged it and withed the other end to -a 
standing bush. The first time I looked at it 
Editor 
pa 

set 

the trap had been turned entirely round and 
the covering removed. This was what I 
should not have liked to do myself, as the trap 
was set to spring easily. The next time I 
looked at it, the same thing had been re- 
peated. The next time I looked, my line the 
trap was gone. The withe at the further end 
had been cut and then the end of the seasoned 
hardwood pole had been gnawed off and the 
trap and coon were gone. After searching 
some time, I found him dead in a bunch of 
brush, where he had become entangled. He 
proved to be one whose left fore-leg I had 
taken in a trap a month or more before. It 
seemed almost incredible that he could lift that 
heavy trap and turn it around without spring- 
ing it, with only one hand to do it with; but 
he was taken in the act, so there was no doubt 
but it was done by him. 
Raccoons love the vicinity of water, where 
they catch frogs and pick up some dead fish. 
In their habits they greatly resemble bears, 
and, like bears, they eat any kind of flesh or 
fish and most sorts of berries, nuts and grain; 
but, unlike bears, they do not remain steadily 
in their dens, but often, at any time in winter 
when there is a warm spell or a thaw, they will 
come out and travel for miles, sometimes going 
into open water to dig for frogs. A number 
of times when there were several feet of snow, 
I have caught them in traps set for otter, both 
in springs and in water too swift to freeze. 
Although I never trapped coon purposely, be- 
cause they are not worth it, I have caught 
them in traps set for nearly everything else. 
One of the most comical sights I ever saw was 
a large coon caught by both forefeet in a 
beaver trap. He was standing on his hind- 
feet, turning the trap first one way and then 
another, seeming to be studying what it was 
that had caught him. 
I see that Prof. Davis intends trying the 
capability of the coons to distinguish color 
and shape by putting food in boxes of various 
shapes and colors. I would suggest that rac- 
coons have noses, and that if one were blind- 
folded. he would find anything he wished to 
eat, no matter in what colored or shaped box 
it was put. What he knows about color or 
shape may be a question, but what he does not 
now about getting anything he wants to eat 
is not worth knowing. MaAnty Harpy. 

Oberlander’s Buffalo Hunt. 
Last week we published a note from a cor- 
respondent, telling of the authorized killing of 
two buffalo bulls in the pasture near Fort 
Yellowstone, Wyo., by a foreigner. In the 
same issue with that note we had hoped to 
print an authoritative account of the details 
of the occurrence, but the receipt of this ac- 
count was delayed, and it is now given below: 
“The buffalo herd, excepting two bulls, was 
moved from the pasture at Mammoth Hot 
Springs on Oct. 12, to the larger and better 
pasture at Rose Creek, in the Lamar valley, 
about thirty-five miles from Mammoth. The 
two bulls were those originally brought into 
the park by Buffalo Jones. They were old, 
had become fierce, dangerous and unmanage- 
able, and prevented other bulls from serving 
the cows. They were eliminated from the 
herd with much difficulty, and left in the 
Mammoth pasture, to be sold or otherwise dis- 
posed of. They were duly advertised for sale 
or trade for heifers. Mr. Howard Eaton’s 
bid was two heifers in exchange for the bulls, 
provided an educated German who desired 
one to be mounted as a specimen for a Ger- 
man museum should be permitted to kill them 
in the pasture. The head and robe of the 
other he desired for his own home. In case 


Mr. Eaton failed to secure the heifers, a pri} 
was fixed which was three-fold that of al 
other bid offered. 
“The buffalo were killed under the supe| 
vision of Mr. Eaton, who is known to be the 
oughly reliable. The German is said to ha} 
made a poor showing at marksmanship, |, 
that three deliberate shots at close range we} 
required to kill the first animal and two 
kill the second. 
“Criticisms are said to have been made 
some ladies about cruelty to animals, and 
was reported that a certain gentleman thre: 
ened to write up a romance about a ‘foreign 
being granted the privilege of killing buffa} 
in the Yellowstone National Park. I 
“Lieut. Cunningham, t 



















































































of the Eighth Cavalli) 
was present and witnessed the killing of t! 
first buffalo. What he said of it agrees wi 
the statement made by Mr. Howard Eatc! 
The German stood on a knoll, the buffalo | 
a depression. The German had a large doub” 
barreled rifle with hair trigger, and throu), 
nervousness fired both barrels simultaneous © 
The buffalo walked about twenty paces and a) 
other shot was fired. The buffalo then walk’ 
about five paces, when the final shot kill | 
him. Lieut. Cunningham was not present i 
the killing of the second buffalo. 
“The meat was saved for the 
are kept in the park for the extermination 
mountain lions.” 
hounds tk 
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AC 
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is to be sold at the Andi) 
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of Audubon’s monumen | 
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