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WOLVERINE ALASKA He Is Remorseless Unscrupulous and a Cowardly Thief of Action Uncanny Precautions Taken to 1ro 1rotcet tcet HiiiiNelf AKrtiiust Mis 31 any Foes If there is any furbearing animal that the trap ¬ per at once despises and respects it is a wolver ¬ ine The fisher is sometimes annoying when he finds good picking along a trap line but for sheer downright cussedness and superhuman sagacity the wolverine of Alaska makes the fisher look like a groundhog While all fishers are not systematic trap rubbers all wolverines are once they get a taste of a trapped animal be it anything from a rabbit to a sable Some wolverines are easily caught but occasional ¬ ly i trapper encounters one that makes him feel stupid It looks so easy the big track that follows your snowslioe trail will surely end at your next large steel trap Obviously a dumb brute that de ¬ liberately walks up to all your traps and follows your path will sooner or later be the victim of his own rashness And yet after robbing one trap of a fine mink another of an insignificant ermine and still another of a martin youll find that his trail is still ahead leading to no man knows where Pshaw just Injfore reaching your first big trap on that part of the line a number four set for lynx the robber lias left your trail and plumlied off through the woods wallowing and lum ¬ bering along through the soft light snow that fell since the preceding storm Just when you had your minds eve framed for a picture of the pirate in your next trap he reneges Well after all youre rid of him for the rest of the trip The rest of the days catch belongs to you But whats this Another wolverine track coming into and following your trail trailCUNNING CUNNING AND CAUTION OF HIS WAY WAYlust lust in time to be taken in by your big trap which you had set in the middle of the trail and allowed to snow under for the big lynx that has liitely cultivated a habit of using the good traveling of your well packed snowslioe track You strain jiiur eyes for a glimpse of the shaggy outlaw at bay at last but instead of him you find the car ¬ cass of a big lynx the pelt hopelessly torn and ruined That nettles it From now on you make it your business to eliminate this unscrupulous qom jwtitor who sows not what he reaps Youll show him whos who on the trail trailYou You iRgin by hanging the carcass of the torn lynx in plain sight on a small spruce beside the I mil You leave the trap and chain on the lynx for the puri ose i f making the wolverine think that the trap being already sprung on the lynx is harm ¬ less You are delighted to note that it is snowing again anil you set three or four large traps in the trail and under the suspended lynx and leave it to the snowstorm to obliterate your tracks and cover the newly set traps Then you go on to your next trap and to the next and find what the wolverine found nothing You reach your cabin long after dark with perhaps a mink in your pack Never mini the next time that wolverine follows your trail notably where the big lynx hangs youll have the satisfaction of setting him caught at last and at the end of his infamous career careerBut But when a week later you again sally forlh on that line you are maddened by the discovery that while the wolverines track preceded you to the banging lynx the lynx is still banging just as you left it and the wolverine after noticing where your concealed traps were flippantly turned them over unsprung and then slouched along up the trail to see what was doing at the next trap You begin to doubt the theory that man is the only animal that is endowed with reasoning powers You are con ¬ firmed in this new belief when you find that the mocking maddening track that is always just aliea1 detoured around the cleverly concealed trail sets that were designed especially for the purpose of bringing griefPoison its author to grief Poison Why hadnt you thought of that before Your antagonist is as familiar with traps as you are He has left no doubt of that in your mind A few grains of strychnine carefully inserted into the chest of a trapped mink its a cinch You tell yourself that you will not sell the pelt of this wolverine You will have a rug made of it and tell your credulous grandchildren how this ferocious l east nearly killed you when you were a young man in the remote wilds of subarctic Alaska AlaskaWhat What After stealing and devouring two mink and a marten the uncanny night walker of the trail fastidiously refused to touch the poisoned mink Perhaps he has already had his fill But no the next mink has been oaten by the relentless marauder A weird beast youll say to your childrens off ¬ spring more than a match for the cleverest trap ¬ per perIt It was early in November when you first crossed trails with this forest pariah Even after he de ¬ clined the poisoned mink and later the poisoned moose meat you looked forward to celebrating your lonely Christmas by stretching his shaggy pelt in the shape of a rug But on New Years ilav you made a new resolution You gave yourself until April first to bring him to justice And here it is the middle of March and his trail still appears after each new fall of snow snowHABITS HABITS AND APPEARANCE IN WOODS WOODSAh Ah the cache set You will try this with modi ¬ fications as the last resort In a bundle containing bacon coffee and canned good suspended from a small tree you insert several number four traps well smeared with bacon to obliterate the scent of your mittens You are careful to see that the outer covering of the bundle is made of rotten muslin or other cloth that will tear easily instead of canvas and that the trap chains are all securely stapled to the tree behind the bundle In tearing the bundle open the robber will surely put his foot into a trap And you are indeed a proud trapper when on your next visit you find him awaiting you there as if he were really curious to see what yon looked like It would have been tough on the grand ¬ children if this last set had failed failedThe The rough foothill country is the favorite habitat of the Alaskan wolverine though he sometimes makes a raid to the lower bench lands 1 never found a track following a creek for any distance Usually the trail followed a rim of bench laud overlooking a deep ravino Sometimes it would descend the steep decline to the crefk bed below only to cross over find climb to the Iwnch land on the other side of the creek I attribute this habit if the wolverine to the fact that he is not fleet of foot and would rather be on top of the encli hind looking down at his prey or enemy than be forced to climb the high steep sides of the ravine in hasty pursuit or re ¬ treat treatHis His great strength and lough clubby feet make him a hatil customer to hold in a trap He believes in Darwins survival of the fittest idea All trapped furbcarers look alike to him he is no re ¬ specter of individuals To him the trapper is an interloper not a victim From the tip of his nose to the end of his tail he will often measure five feet Somewhat like those of a skunk two broad crtamy yellowish stripes run from the top of his face along his sides to the root of his tail The rest of the fur which is three to four inchos long varies in individuals from a light to a rich dark brown His eyes about the size of a raccoons spit bayHe defiance when at bay He is a remorseless unscrupulous cowardly thief and yet heres my respects J W Stolle in UuutcrTraaerTrapper
