Village Squire, 1975-01, Page 8The Trap Line
Or what happened
to Charlie Adams
on his way
to getting rich
from trapping
by Robert Laidlaw
When Tim Flaherty went away in the year
1918 to study for the priesthood, he left his
trap line to his friend Charlie Adams. Tim had
done rather well trapping. He had saved
enough money for a suit of clothes and
various other articles. The suit which cost
sixteen dollars ready made was a pleasant
brown colour and because Tim was tall and
well built, looked exceedingly well on him.
Charlie was impressed. He resolved to
have a suit himself, as well as other things
long wished for like a 22 rifle and a pair of
skates. The rifle was almost a necessity for
trapping so he persuaded wealthy older
brother Henry to lend him enough to buy the
rifle and some cartridges.,
He already had a single barrel shot gun
with which he blasted squirrels out of trees
and eliminated woodchucks. He used black
powder shells which he loaded himself. As
the gun was well choked using black powder
made it hit viciously both fore and aft.
He had to make the first shot count because
the report was like a cannon and frightened
the game for miles around.
There was also the muzzle loader complete
with bayonet and ramrod weighing twelve
pounds in all. It was an antique weapon
having been converted from a flint lock to a
percussion cap gun. Like many ancients it
was a little vague as to its present purpose in
life. Having been trained perhaps to mow
down a rank of infantry at twenty yards it
never was never quite certain what to do
about a rabbit scooting out of a brush pile.
Charlie used it mostly for amusement and
ceremonial occasions, imaginary Indian wars
for instance.
Trapping was a natural enough occupation
for a boy already obsessed with the woods
and the wild animals therein. He was familiar
with most. Muskrats and mink were the chief
money makers. Then there were raccoon,
skunk, weasels, foxes and occasionaly a wolf
or otter.
Tim turned over three dozen traps, the trap
line and the good will for nine dollars. He also
threw in some advice on trap sets, bait and so
on.
He was very particular about the muskrats
sets. The trap was arranged on a sliding wire
or in some other way that assured drowning
the animal once so it did not suffer unduly
and even more important did not chew off a
foot and escape. Most animals would do this
he said once the part below the jaws of the
trap became numb. He also held forth at
some length on baits.
"You have to use something that smells
good to them and it has to be something they
can see at night at least a little bit. Sliced
parsnip is best for rats because it shows up
white, carrots and apples you can use, but
they dry up quick, so stick mostly to
parsnips."
"For mink" he went on enjoying Charlie's
rapt attention, "You have to be careful with
bait because it has to be fresh meat of some
kind and has to look natural and you pretty
near always have to handle the bait with
gloves or they won't go near it.
"Sometimes it's just as well to set your trap
without bait and cover it very loose with
whatever is handy like leaves or bits of grass
and have the trap where a mink will likely go.
"Don't take a dog with you because they
get scared of dog scent."
"How did you get to know all this Tim?"
"Grandpop told me, he used to trap some.
He says a male mink travels around a lot. He
has a route, a big circle that he makes. It
takes him maybe three or four days, maybe
two weeks, depending on how many
interesting things he finds on the way."
"Grandpop says buck minks would get into
a lot less trouble if they stayed home more.
He say young fellows now a days are just the
same."
"I'll bet he didn't stay home when he was
young/' said Charlie.
"Grandma says not, she says he was hell
on wheels, she says no respectable buck mink
would want to be seen out with Grandpaw
when he was young."
"He does know a lot about trapping
though. He says if a mink sees a hole under a
stump or in a log, he has an •itch to go
through just for the hell of it.
The females stay closer to home, they don't
travel much. You don't catch that many, just
as well because they can raise more young
ones."
Charlie absorbed these words of wisdom
paying more attention than he ever had to
anything at school. He didn't forget anything
because these were the things you didn't
forget. Tim left in early September and
Charlie had to wait until the season opened in
November. He had another year to put in
before he could leave the school like Tim and
he didn't intend to study for anything. He had
already planned a life of dedication to furs.
In October the water courses were Tined
with tangles of high weeds but he forced his
way through looking for signs of game, for
muskrat burrows, hollow logs and 'coon
trees. It was hard travelling and at first he
saw little because he wasn't trained to see.
One could of course walk for miles in the
bush and see only an occasional rabbit or
squirrel. If a dog were alone he would be
likely to stir up some excitement, but the
VILLAGE SQUIRE/JANUARY 1975, 7