view raw text
TRAPPING DECLINES IN SOUTH Story of a Veteran Who Has Roamed Fields of Many States Season IH Short Animals Getting GettingScarce Scarce and Conditions ConditionsI I ess Fair We frequently road in the trapping publications interesting articles giving detailed information con ¬ cerning trapping conditions in sections other than the south While the south is not a trapping ground to compare with more northern sections yet This is not an attempt to fill the lack for an exhaustive article on southern trapping conditions but I shall give my observations as gleaned from ten years trapning experience in various parts of the south southIt It is natural that natives do not accurately de ¬ scribe the surroundings but endeavor to theorize on conditions which they have heard about somewhere else For illustration no tourist passes up the opportunity to visit Lookout Mountain and the famous battle grounds of the Civil War in the vicinity of Chattanooga For four years I lived in that vicinity and know that hundreds of people living thereabout have never been to the top of tins famous mountain although a state road trolley line and an incline offers the possibility and the scenery is the most inspiring in the Alleghenies if indeed surpassed anywhere It takes the out ¬ sider to observe the details that give local color to localityIf a locality If every trapper should describe the conditions and environment in his own locality giving inci ¬ dents of the traplinc and details that seem common ¬ place to him we have in the aggregate a veritable encyclopedia informationThe of authentic information The writer knows of many whitehaired veterans of the trapline who have lived all their lives in the Smoky Mountains and could tell wonderful tales of limiting and trapping from actual ex ¬ perience Then there are the Everglade travelers and where are the Louisiana otter trappers and shanty boaters of the Mississippi who used to drop down into a cove coming from nowhere in particular and after it was trapped out disappear as mysteriously Many tales are yet to be told of early life in the Arkansas bottoms and the Ozarks There in time past was a trappers paradise paradiseSOUTHERN SOUTHERN TRAPPING LESS PROFITABLE PROFITABLETrapping Trapping in the south sad to say like the old gray mare is not what it used to he The last few years have seen rapid progress in most south ¬ ern states narticularly along the agricultural lines which has brought about a condition detrimental to the welfare of furbearers and they are slowly but surely diminishing Muskrat and skunk are the money makers to the northern trappers but are not the principal animals indigenous to the south Per ¬ haps Louisiana and portions of the eastern coast line may be said to harbor the muskrat in abun ¬ dance but their pelts are vastly inferior in quality Mink raccoon and otter are the animals depended upon by the southern trapper to net him the profit for his short winters work Wildcats are abun ¬ dant in some sections and may or may not be good for bounty money moneyThe The expert southern trarmer has it over the north ¬ ern trapper like a tent as a rule when it comes to reading signs and mastering the finer arts of woodcraft This is because he does not have the telltale tablet of snow to inform him in plain un ¬ mistakable signs the whereabouts of the furbear ¬ ers The northern trapper lias come to depend upon this aid from nature so that he is almost at loss outside the snowy country On the other hand the northern trapper surpasses in endurance and knowl ¬ edge of selfpreservation in the wilds wildsThe The trapping season only lasts about two months in the south from the middle of November to the middle of January Just at the time the northern trapper is setting his marten traps up higher out of the drifting snow the southern trapper is out in an incessant rain pulling trap stakes ere they are covered with oceans of water In Tennessee Virginia the Carolinas Alabama and adjacent states where I have trapped the rainy season begins in January and the streams are soon raging torrents and remain so until furs arc unprime and shedded If the trapper does not take care to get his traps up in good time many of them will be washed into the Gulf of Mexico others buried under six feet of mud and debris Sometimes a fellow can snatch a few nights of rat trapping during the rainy period and catch land animals until the season is over with withHORE HORE HARDSHIP THAN FUN IN GAME GAMEMany Many northern trappers have heard or read tales calculated to imply portions of the south as a hunt ¬ ers and trappers paradise and they dream of taking a winter off to enjoy a profitable trip to the south shanty boating hunting and trapping These exploited spots ire generally the property of land agents plied as sucker bait and will scarcely produce vegetationTwo semitropical vegetation Two of these muchlauded hunting fields are the cypress swamps of Arkansas and the Everglades of Florida FloridaThe The Arkansas bottoms in time past were actually filled with bear coon wild turkeys and other game An uncle of the writer who was an early settler in the state said com could hardly be raised faster than the coons ate it that he had seen trails in the corn fields as thick as hog paths in the east and he further related that lie had started a goodsized poultry yard by robbing the nests of wild turkeys which were plentiful in the clearings Since these conditions existed much of the game has been killed out and furbearers hard trapped yet there are doubtless many places along the Mississippi where trapping would pay The Ozarks harbor a few bear wolves wildcats turkeys coon and lesser furbearers and bass fishing is not surpassed anywhere However the laws of the state are now such that none but residents are al ¬ lowed to trap or hunt a narrow and selfish law it seenis to me meThe The Everglades is a wonderful place in which to get lost a miserable place for camping and an ex ¬ cellent place for an emulator of Crusoe Wild life is abundant in the Everglades and consists princi ¬ pally of mosquitoes alligators various and sundry poisonous reptiles brilliantly plumaged birds and more mosquitoes Florida certainly holds the record on producing healthy mosquitoes Aside from these incidentals the otter and raccoon may be said to be numerous Indeed some of the islands of the Gulf of Mexico are lousy with raccoon which feed on the clams and other saltwater food foodLOCAL LOCAL PREJUDICE AGAINST TRAPPER TRAPPERBy By far the majority of Florida residents are parasites living off the northern tourist If I were going to spend a winter in Florida I should go independent of all hotels and bugbears of civi ¬ lization A small boat with outboard motor and a wall tent or a shanty boat is the best means of transportation The Indian guides as a rule are worthless as they are afraid of getting lost them ¬ selves From the viewpoint of dollars such a trip might not prove profitable but certainly would be a unique one for many northern outdoorsman outdoorsmanThe The largest black bass are taken in Florida waters and while they do not put up the energetic fight the northern fish do the pleasure of not having to fisli a whole day without a strike is worth consideration The best tarpoon fishing in the country is to be experienced off the east coast of Florida and the streams are fairly filled with fresh water fishes fishesThe The greatest hindrance to the northern trapper going into the south or to the southerner taking up trapping for that matter is the prejudice against the occupation Farmers the lower class of white people and thieving negroes will rse UP in oppo ¬ sition against the fellow who goes in for serious trapping This prejudice is the result of trapping being carried on by negroes and the lower class of whites who do not stop at burning a rail fence or stealing chicken On this account the majority of farmers keep their land posted and closely guarded against poaching The southern Sneakum may not be any more detestable than his northern brother but he is found in greater numbers and perhaps is a somewhat lower class of animal animalThe The next greatest obstacle to the southern trapper is the early night hunters and overenthusiastic dogmen who do not hesitate to spring or destroy steel traps when found As they hunt principally for the sport they begin in September so they can be out in pleasantly cool nights and by the time furs are prime the trapper finds only the remnants remnantsMINK MINK FOX AND OTTER IN TENNESSEE TENNESSEEThe The most profitable trapping I ever did in the south was catching mink on a tributary of the Tennessee Uiver Mink were fairly numerous in that section and commanded a price of 5 each at that time but they were certainly as well edu ¬ cated as any Adirondack fox and are much harder to catch than any Adirondack fox or even otter They will not take bait as there is not enough cold winter to force them to do so and their natural food is too abundant The trapper has to depend upon skillfully made blind sets in runways and around places they frequent It takes some skillful trailing to follow a mink any great distance in Tennessee as snow seldom stays on the ground during an entire day I have also had some great sport with the wild hogs of Sand Mouutain and gray and fox squirrels of the Waldens Ridge sec ¬ tion tionOther Other sections in the south that might pay a trapper for his time is the Dismal Swamp in Vir ¬ ginia and North Carolina and the rat and otter grounds of Louisiana Bears are quite numerous in the Smokies around Dismal Swamp and in the canebrakes of Mississippi MississippiFor For those who contemplate becoming a resident of a southern state Ill make a few suggestions concerning equipment and methods employed Om of the best ways to take a trip of this kind is to go in a houseboat with a small boat and outboard motor for side trips up the tributaries and into the sloughs Such a boat is also the proper thing for trapping and fishing To make such a trip pay it would be necessary to not depend upon furbearers alone but do commercial fishing herb gathering and nearling Winter conditions are admirably suited for outdoor work The furbearers found consist of otter mink opposum muskrat civets skunk wildcats and a few black bear Deer are scarce but other game such as turkeys pheasants quail and wild hogs are found in great abundance in many parts of the southern states statesTOOLS TOOLS REQUIRED FOR THE WORK WORKAs As regards equipment invariably provision must be made for water traveling if any extensive trap ¬ ping is to be done A light skiff is the most practical watercraft for trapping on southern streams however some who combine trapping and fishing for the market use a motor boat Where a trapper is traveling down a stream trapping only a night or two at a place and intending to abandon the boat when his destination is reached I would advise building or purchasing a flat bottom boat sucli as is commonly used in fishing then it will be no loss to give it away if it cannot be sold If the trapper is not located on a stream larger than a creek he may find that a pair of hip rubl er boots will suffice his need Waterproofed clothing will be necessary if the trapper objects to frequent wettings wettingsBlind Blind sets are the rule in southern trapping Small game is plentiful the streams never freeze over and it never gets so cold that animals cannot keep moving So the trapper must learn the habits of the animal he is trapning and either make blind trail sets or set to catch the animal while it is in the act of securing its natural food lie must learn to read the most obscure of dim signs or else his sets will be haphazardly made madeAt At the beginning of the season the trapper gener ¬ ally keeps his line of traps on the water course be ¬ cause the water is then at its normal level Here his main catch will be mink coon and rats probably an occasional otter As colder weather sets in enough to freeze a little skim of ice along the bank the coon and mink quit dabbling in the water and rats even seem to have hibernated so the trapper takes up his traps and resets them for skunk and opossum in the hills He may also catcli a few wildcats and foxes and in two or three weeks find that the trapping season is over with So pulling stakes while the water courses are raging torrents lib begins looking about for other employment Richard K Wood in HunterTrader Trapper
