Trapping and Bee Hunting.
Comrades of the trap line and trail, as every trapper and hunter
likes to know what other trappers and hunters are doing, I will tell
of some of my last season's (1908) doings. Having been somewhat
relieved from my old enemy--rheumatism--I concluded to take a trip
south and see if I could not find a place suitable to my liking where
I might escape some of the rigorous cold of the Northern Pennsylvania
winters.
I went first into Southeastern Missouri. Here I found land cheap,
unimproved lands ranging from $3.00 to $15.00 per acre; also plenty
of timber for fuel and building purposes; plenty of fish of various
kinds, some deer, a few wild turkeys, no bear, some mink, plenty of
raccoon, a few otter and fox; with minor other fur-bearers, which was
all quite satisfactory to me, but I did not like the water.
From Poplar Bluff, Missouri, I went to Kenset, Arkansas, where I
found the conditions as to the price of lands satisfactory, although
the country was much less broken than Southern Missouri. As to water,
well, there was water almost anywhere; in fact, you could hardly
cross the streets without wading in water. The people who were
natives of that country informed me that the water in the streets was
not always so plenty, as they said that there had been very heavy
rains of late. Here I found game of all kinds quite scarce, although
I was told that southeast of Kenset game was quite plenty, including
bear, deer, turkeys, quail, etc., and that mink, otter, coon,
opossum, also a few wolves, were to be found. The water gave me the
chills in three days, so I concluded to move to other parts of the
lower St. Francis River, in Lee County. There appeared to be quite a
plenty of mink, otter, coon and some bear, but the cane brakes were
pretty thick in the bottoms.
I think that if one was well prepared for trapping, they could do
fairly well in either St. Francis or Lee County. I went from Hanes in
Lee County, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee. From Memphis I went to a
town by the name of Shepard, on the Hatchie River, in Haywood County,
Tennessee. Along the Hatchie River there were signs of otter, mink
and coon quite plenty, and in some places the cane brakes were quite
open. I liked the lay of the land here very well. It was just rolling
enough to suit my fancy, but again I failed to find our cold,
Pennsylvania spring water. From Shepard I went to Pickens, in Pickens
County, South Carolina. Here I found fairly good water, but other
conditions were not entirely to my liking.
While I did not have time to look up the game or rather the
fur-bearers as thoroughly as I would have liked to, yet I saw
considerable signs of mink and coon and was told that there were
quite a number of otter in that section on some of the streams. From
Pickens I bought a ticket to Columbus, Ohio, where I intended to stop
over a day and call on the editor of the greatest of sporting
magazines, _Hunter-Trader-Trapper,_ but when I got to Columbus my
courage failed. I was afraid that the editor would be too busy
pushing the quill to bother with a lone trapper, so concluded to
hasten back to old Potter, where chills, jiggers, ticks, fleas and
poisonous snakes are unknown, and where the cold, sparkling spring
water flows from the mountain side to your very door. Say, boys, you
may think that I am stuck on the water question. Well, I am, and I
have good cause to me. Only for spring water, I should not have been
able to have made the journey which I am writing of.
For the past two years, barring the time I was south, I have drank
from four to six quarts of cold spring water every twenty-four hours.
I have got more relief from rheumatism than I ever did from all the
rheumatism remedies that I ever knew of, and I have tried the most of
them. I used all the salt in my food that I could to aid the desire
for water, and took six drops of oil of wintergreen three times a
day. Now, if any of the old trappers have rheumatism and the good
spring water, I ask you to try it.
Well, after getting back home and resting a few days and the frost
began to hit the pumpkin vine, I began to feel as I imagined that the
wild goose does about their migratory time. At least I felt as though
I should fly if I did not get into the woods. We were having splendid
weather for camping, and the warm, dry, sunny days afforded splendid
weather for bee hunting, and after the trap and gun then my delight
is to trail the honey bee to his den tree.
One day when a young man called on me and said that he would give me
an interest in a "goose pasture" to go out in the woods and camp, I
was interested. Smoky Jim (that is his nickname) although his name is
Charles Earl, and there is nothing smoky about Charley except his
pipe, which he is very fond of, too much so, I think, for so young a
man. Well, when Charley said that he would like to go and camp out in
the woods, I was practically as good as gone. I knew Smoky to be a
lively kid and all right, although he had never put in any time as a
trapper or a bee hunter. I said, "Smoky, can you see a bee fly?"
Smoky said that he thought he could, for he knew that he could tell
when one stung him, but he had never watched to see how far he could
see one fly.
I found that Smoky was given to making comical remarks as well as to
smoking. I said, "Smoky, what day can you go?" He replied, "Any day."
This was on Tuesday, so I said, "Alright, Smoky, be here Thursday and
we will start early Friday morning."
Smoky said, "Alright, but we will not get a darn thing while we are
gone if we go on Friday unless we get drowned, and there will have to
be more water in the creek than there is now or we won't get that
much."
I had already made application to the State Tourist Commissioner for
a permit to camp on state lands. It may be well to state here for the
benefit of those who wish to so camp in this state (Pennsylvania) that
the authorities will not give a permit to camp for a longer time than
14 days. In my case they were very obliging and made out the papers
for several applicants of 14 days each, so that it would only have
been necessary to have signed one of the applications and send it on
a few days before the previous application had expired.
[Illustration: WOODCOCK FISHING ON THE SINNAMAHONING.]
We were all ready to start Friday morning. Our route lay over the
mountains a distance of about 20 miles from the head waters of the
Allegheny to the head water of the west branch of the Susquehana
waters, known as the East Fork of the Sinnamahoning. We pitched our
tent just at the point where the Buffalo and Susquehana Railroad
begins to cross the divide, known as the Hogback, by means of several
switch backs. It is a splendid sight to see two or three trains
working their way up the mountain's side on a clear, frosty morning,
when the steam and smoke show so plain.
We did not get the tent in good shape for the first night, nor did we
get our bunk up, owing to its being so late when we got to our
camping ground. The first night in camp we had a sharp frost and in
the morning Smoky Jim's fever for camping had dropped fully one-half.
He complained that any one that would go into such a country to camp
should be reported for trespassing on the rights of the porcupine.
It took until the third day to get our camp in good shape. We built a
skeleton frame of small poles all over the tent, leaving a space of
about 18 inches between tent and frame, and thatched it good with
hemlock boughs. While we were working at the camp we had our bee bait
out, and the second day after we put out the bait no bees came to it.
Smoky laughed at me and said that a honey bee was too intelligent to
stop in a place like that, but Smoky was wrong. The next morning
after the sun had got well above the top of the hills, so as to warm
up things down in the valley, I heated a large stone quite hot and
burned some honey comb on it. It was not long before Smoky called out
to me and said that there was one fool of a bee. It was not long
before we had bees a-plenty. We paid no attention to them farther
than to keep plenty of bait out for them. Every bee hunter knows how
much steadier a bee flies after they have the bait well located.
After the camp was well completed and a good pile of wood cut we gave
our attention to the bees. We soon located two lines, one going
nearly east while the other went nearly south. I told Smoky to take
his hatchet and go across the creek some 50 rods and make an opening
or a stand about half way between the two lines, or about southeast
from the stand, and when he had it ready, to call to me and I would
bring the bees over and we could get a cross line and locate nearly
the tree that the bees were in.
We soon got the direction in which the bees flew. I then told Smoky
to take the line that now flew in a westerly course from the stand
and in the direction of two or three large maple trees. The other
line now flew nearly north from the stand and back toward the creek
where there was considerable large timber still standing.
Leaving the bait on the stand, I took the course of the bees that
were now flying north and went to a large birch tree that was
standing on the bank of the creek. I was still several rods from the
tree when the bees began coming to me and I knew that the tree was
close by. I was looking the different trees over to see which tree
the bees were in when Smoky began to halloo as though something
terrible had happened him.
Guessing at the cause of Smoky's shouting, I continued on in the
direction in which the line led and soon saw the bees going into the
large birch tree. I took my knife and cut the letters B T on the tree
and then went to Smoky, who was still making the woods ring with his
shouts.
Smoky began guying me, saying that I was an old bee hunter but it
took Smoky to find the first bee tree. I did not tell him that I had
found the tree that the other line of bees went to, but agreed with
him. I told him to mark the tree that he had located and then he
could go and locate the other tree if he wished while I would go to
camp and be getting grub ready.
In about three-quarters of an hour Smoky came to camp and began
washing for dinner and said not a word. When I saw that Smoky would
not talk, I said, "Well, Smoky, did you find the other bee tree?" He
said, "Oh! you keep right on baking flapjacks." Well, after Smoky
regained his speech and told how blamed bright I was, he was going to
go right to work and take out the honey from one of the trees at
once. I told him that as we had no screen to put over his face, the
bees would sting him to death, and that he had better wait until
early the next morning when it was frosty.
Smoky said that he would not go without honey for the flapjacks when
we had two bee trees so close to the camp. So he took an old burlap
and removed every other thread in a space of about ten inches square,
making a sort of an open-work to cover his face, then pulling the
sack over his head and buttoning his coat close up about his throat
Smoky was ready for the fray.
He cut the birch tree, the one that I had located, that tree being a
little closer to camp. There was over a hundred pounds of honey in
the tree and we had only one large pail in the camp, and that we had
to have to use as a water pail. The tree did not break in falling so
as to break up the honey and waste it. While we cut a large beech
tree and took a block of about four feet long and split it in half
and dug out two large troughs to hold the honey, which was very nice,
being nearly all white honey, and Smoky said, "Old Golden, won't we
live high now, rabbit, partridge, baked potatoes, buckwheat flapjacks
and honey to swim in."
It was now the 20th of October. I told Smoky that we would go up the
creek a mile above camp and put out the bee bait, burn more honey
comb, and leave the bee box on the stand and await results. In the
meantime we would take a couple of bear traps and go on to a ridge
and set them. It might be possible that we would get a bear, although
we had not seen any bear signs on what ground we had been over. We
took the traps, Smoky carrying them, while I carried the bait. The
hill was high and rough and I found it about all that I was able to
do to climb although I went very slow and rested often. I did not
complain, for Smoky was doing all the complaining necessary for both
of us. He said that we would not catch a darn thing unless it was a
cold, and he didn't think that we would get that much. It proved
later that Smoky was wrong in his reckonings.
We set the two bear traps in as likely places as we could find for
bear to travel, and put in the balance of the day traveling through
the woods in search of bear signs. Not a track or sign could we find,
and when we reached camp at night I was seemingly more dead than
alive.
The next morning after we had left the bee bait on the old road bed
and then climbed the hill to set the two bear traps, Smoky said that
we would go down to Hull's, a distance of about three miles, and see
if he could get cans to put the extracted honey in. We had made a
sack from two towels and had begun to strain or extract the honey
from the comb and had the water pail nearly full of strained honey,
and were sorely in need of the pail to carry water in.
When I got to where we had left the bee bait, on the old road bed, I
found plenty of bees at work. I soon got the line which went up the
stream and a little to the left of the road and directly toward two
large soft maple trees, the only trees of any size in that direction
for a long distance. I said to myself, a quick job for you must be in
one or the other of those maples. I left the bait and went to look
for the bees in one of the two trees.
When I came to the trees, bees came to me in great numbers, but I
could not see a bee going in or out in either. I was satisfied that
the bees were in one of the trees, but after looking for a long time
I thought that I must be mistaken, that the bees were farther on and
up on the side of the hill. I gave it up and moved the bait up the
road to a point about opposite where the line would strike the
hillside and where several trees were left standing, making a good
opening by cutting away the brush. I then released the bees from the
box. After they had done much circling I was quite sure I saw two or
three of them swing back in the direction of the soft maple trees.
I left the box and went along the creek in search of mink or coon
signs, so as to give the bees time to get the bait well located, as
they will then fly so much steadier and without doing so much
circling. When I returned to the bait, the bees were flying steadily
in the direction of the two soft maples and there could be no mistake
this time. I took the bait down and placed it in the road opposite
the two soft maples and began the second time to search the trees.
After looking a long time without seeing bees going to or from the
trees, I was again compelled to give it up. I began searching among
the old timber, old stumps and stubs, as it was in the midst of an
old bark slashing. I would search among the old down trees a while
and then look over the two soft maples.
I had kept up this search from 9 o'clock in the morning until 2
o'clock in the afternoon. When I was approaching the two maple trees
from the southwest side I readily discovered bees going into the tree
close to and just above a large branch or prong of the tree which
made it impossible to see them until the sun was just in the right
position to shine square on the place where the bees entered the
tree.
In my younger days I always carried a pair of climbers and a rope, so
that when I found it difficult to locate the particular tree that the
bees were in, when they were in thick timber, I could climb any tree
no difference how large and locate the bees. This would often save
much time in finding a bee tree. I would often climb a tree that
stood in a favorable place on the bee line and cut off the top of the
tree and make the bee stand up 30 or 40 feet from the ground. This I
found a great advantage in lining bees in a thick, bushy section.
That day is past with me for I am too clumsy to climb any more.
When I got to camp, I found Smoky at work putting the honey that was
strained into cans and he said that he had concluded to change his
name from Smoky Jim to Sticky Jim. We concluded to let bee hunting go
for a day or two and set two more bear traps south of camp, although
we had seen no signs of bear. Hear I will mention one of Smoky's dry
remarks.
We took two bear traps and bait for them following up a hollow south
from camp to the top of a ridge where there was quite a large clump
of green timber still standing. When we came to the head of the
hollow and near the top of the ridge where we thought would be a good
place to set a bear trap, I pointed to a small scraggly beech sapling
and told Smoky to cut it. Then to cut off a piece six or eight feet
long for a clog. Also to measure the size of the ring in the trap
chain and cut the clog off so that when the ring was put down over
the end of the clog, sixteen or eighteen inches to a prong, it would
fit the ring fairly close. This would make the ring or chain secure
to the clog, as it would give the ring no chance to work about, while
I would make a bed to set the trap in and have the trap set by the
time that he got the clog ready.
It was now that I found that Smoky had brought a small hatchet
weighing less than one-half pound instead of the larger belt axe, but
there was nothing to do only to cut the clog with the little hatchet.
So Smoky went to work cutting the clog while I went to setting the
traps. After a while Smoky came with the clog and he had cut it off
where it was considerably too large for the ring in the chain. I
said, "Smoky, I guess you did not size that ring or the clog very
much for you have got it much too large." Smoky replied readily, "Yes
I did too, the tree has grown that much since I began to chop it."
After a time we managed to get the two traps set and got back to
camp. That night about 10 o'clock, Smoky woke me with a punch in the
ribs and at the same time saying, "Get your gun, the whole Siwash
tribe of Indians are on us." On the impulse of the moment I though
Smoky was right for I could hear many voices and the barking and
snarling of dogs. In a moment all that had ever happened to me and
many things that never did, nor can happen, passed through my mind
but it was only for a moment when some one called out at the tent
door saying, "Get up, you have visitors."
We asked who was there and the reply was, "Oh get up, two sleeps is
better than one any time." I got up and put on my pants and unbuckled
the tent door and there stood a half dozen men and as many more dogs.
Two of the men had a large demijohn strung on a pole and they were
carrying it on their shoulders, two more of the men had coons slung
over their shoulders. The boys said that they were out coon hunting
and by chance ran into our camp and thought that they would call on
us and learn what we were doing. The demijohn contained cider, and
the barking of the dogs was caused by getting into trouble over
scraps that had been thrown about camp.
We invited the boy in and asked them to tell what luck they had had
hunting coon. They said that they had only got the two coons on their
way up, but thought that they would do better on their way back down
the creek. The boys lived about six miles down the stream. The creek
ran close along the wagon road nearly all the way so the boys would
follow along the road allowing the dogs to hunt along the creek for
coon. The boys concluded to stay and eat their lunch before starting
back. We made them a cup of hot coffee and set out a plate of honey
and the boys ate their lunch, drank cider, and told stories until
nearly 1 o'clock.
They said that they had had a dandy time hunting coon along the last
of September while coon were working on the corn and they said that
they had killed about 30 and one wildcat. I asked if they did not
think September rather early in the season to kill coon? They said
that they thought that there was as much sport in it in September as
at any other time of the year. I asked if there was any more sport in
coon hunting in September than there was later in the season? They
said that they did not know that there was. I replied that then they
were out at least one-half or more on the price of the skins. They
replied that it would be a queer jay that would put off a coon hunt a
month for the difference that there might be in the price of a coon
skin. I saw that I was up against it and that my argument had no
weight in the matter, so I dropped it.
When told that we were putting in our time mostly hunting bees, the
boys said that we were losing the best time of our lives by not
having some good coon dogs along with us, and Smoky quite agreed with
them. However, I could not see it in that light. After the boys left,
Smoky and I had to laugh over the boys' jolly time until near
daybreak before we could get to sleep again and we quite agreed with
the boys that the second sleep was better than the first.
It was now the first of November and we had not put out any small
traps, as the weather was still very warm and dry for the season of
the year. Each day we could see away off to the southwest by the
black heavy smoke that the forest fires that had been burning in that
direction were coming nearer and nearer to us. Smoky said that he
thought that a coon skin in October was worth as much as in November.
He said by the time that we could get our traps out the forest fires
would have the whole country burned over and all the game driven out.
Smoky was not far from the mark in his prophesying.
We now began to put out the small traps at as good a "jag" as I was
able to stand the travel. We had, while bee hunting at odd times,
selected and prepared many of the sets so that we were now able to
set out many more traps in a day than we could have done had we not
fixed and selected many places for sets. The fourth day of November
was a very warm day in Potter County, and as we had not tried to get
any bees west of camp, I told Smoky that we had better let the
balance of the traps go for a day and try the bees in that direction
as it was not likely that we would have many more days that bees
would fly during the season.
We went about one-half mile west of camp and put out the bee bait and
burned more comb. It was not long before a bee came to the bait and
then another and another, until we had several at work. As soon as
the first bee that came was loaded up and began to make preparations
to go, I told Smoky to keep a good eye on him to see which way he
went, as the quicker we got a line the quicker we could move on.
When the bee first started from the bait, he jagged off east, then he
circled so that neither Smoky nor I could tell which way he went. I
told Smoky that I was afraid that the bee went back up the creek
toward a tree we had already found. Smoky said that he did not know
what made me think so, for no one could tell which direction that bee
went. I told Smoky that I had always noticed that the way that the
bee first started when leaving the bait was pretty sure to be in the
direction of the tree and to get in position so that he could see
well if the bee should fly back up the creek as we had no time to
spare on bees flying in that direction.
It was not long before we had bees a-plenty and they came from a tree
that we had already found. I told Smoky that we would leave some bait
there so that those bees would not follow us, and we would move down
the creek some distance before we would try for more. We moved nearly
a mile, and while I was fixing a stand--there was no stump or good
place to set the box--so I cut a stick about four feet long, an inch
in diameter and split the top end into four parts, or in other words
quartered the stick, then with two small sticks the size of a lead
pencil, pressed down in between these quarters. It spread them so as
to form plenty of space to set the box on. The other end of the stick
is sharpened to drive firmly into the ground. As I was about to say,
while I was fixing the stand, Smoky discovered a bee working on a
witch-hazel bush close by the stand. Smoky said that he thought that
the bee must have the rheumatism and was gathering Pond's Extract to
bathe his joints in (it is with this shrub that Pond's Extract is
made) and this was the cause of Smoky making the remark, I suppose.
It was necessary to burn comb here as we soon had three or four bees
at work on the bait and in a short time we had bees a-plenty. They
flew just to the right of the wagon road in a westerly direction and
on to the side of a very steep hill where there was considerable
standing timber. We soon got the course of the bees' flight, but
there seemed to be two lines, as some of the bees would fly to the
left of a large tree that stood Just on the bank of the road, while
others would fly to the right of the tree. This caused Smoky to
remark that we had another sticky job on our hands, saying that there
was two different lines. I told Smoky that I thought not. It was all
the same bees and that the bees would soon all be flying to the left
or lower side of the tree.
Smoky wished to know how I made that out. I explained that I thought
the bees were around the point of the hill and up a side draft that
came into the main hollow some sixty rods below where we were and
that the bees that were flying to the right of the tree flew in a
direct line to the tree by flying up over the point of the hill then
down into the hollow; those that flew to the left of the tree flew
around the point of the hill and up the hollow to their tree. Smoky
laughed at my idea and said that bees always flew in a straight
line--does not everybody say as straight as a bee-line?
I told Smoky that was all very well in a level and open country. That
a bee knew that it was no farther around the rim of a kettle than up
over the bail; that a bee was far too wise to carry a load up over a
hill when he could get there in the same distance on a level; that
bees in their flight would often vary their course and fly along the
side of a hill to keep out of a strong wind until they were nearly
opposite the tree, when they would make nearly a square turn to the
tree. That they would also vary their flight from a straight line to
follow an opening as a road cut out through the thick woods.
The flight of the bees, as I suspected, was soon all to the left of
the tree standing on the bank of the road. We moved the bait down to
the mouth of the side draft and soon had a line flying nearly up the
hollow. I told Smoky to take the bees some forty rods up the hollow
and make a stand while I would follow and inspect the trees that
looked favorable. Soon Smoky halloed to me and said that the bees had
nearly all left him. I told him to make the stand where he was. As he
had passed the tree that was the cause of the bees dropping off all
at once.
Just below where Smoky was and a little up on the bank from the
hollow stood a large maple tree. I started to inspect the tree. Bees
were flying all about me and as soon as I was near enough to the tree
to see, I could see bees flying all about the tree, some forty feet
from the ground. I called to Smoky and told him that the bees were
treed in a large maple.
This was on the fourth day of November and was a very rare thing for
bees to be working at that time of the year in this section of the
country. This tree made the sixth bee tree that we had found while in
camp.
This ended our bee hunting and we now put in the balance of the time,
while in camp, with the traps. It will now be necessary to go back to
the 20th of October to a time that Smoky said was the biggest day of
his life.
On the 20th of October we started out to look at the bear traps with
little hopes of getting anything more than a porcupine. Up to this
time we had not seen any signs of bear, only what had been made
during the summer, where the bear had dug out woodchucks and torn old
logs to pieces in search of grubs, and where they had dug wild
turnips. These signs were so old that we had but little hopes of
getting a bear while in camp and Smoky was continually condemning the
country.
We went up along a hollow that led to the top of a high ridge where
we had a bear trap setting and where I thought was the most likely
place to catch a bear, but found the trap undisturbed.
We next crossed a narrow ridge where we had another trap. The trap
was set in a spring run and the banks on either side of the run were
quite thickly grown up with low brush. Smoky was in advance a few
steps so that when he came to the edge of the thick brush that grew
on the bank of the run, parted the brush and looked through at the
trap, he caught a glimpse of some black object moving in the run. He
quickly stepped back and held up his hand, his eyes sparkling with
excitement and he whispered to me, "By Moses, we have got him." Smoky
being given to much joking, I asked, "What have we got?" for I had
not heard any noise of any kind. Smoky said, "A bear, by long horn
spoon-handle." I stepped past Smoky and looked through the brush and
there was a large black porcupine moving about a little in the trap.
I stepped back and said to Smoky, "Well, shoot him." Smoky said, "No,
I will miss him. You shoot him," at the same time handing me the gun.
I now saw that Smoky was in earnest and surely thought we had a bear
and I burst out with laughter. Smoky was amazed and said, "You
blooming simpleton, what is the matter with you?" The look of anxiety
and the manner in which Smoky spoke still caused me to laugh the
harder.
When I could cease laughing long enough to tell Smoky what was in the
trap, Smoky's change of looks of excitement and anxiety to one of
disgust was pitiful. Smoky began to condemn the country and tell how
foolish we were to come to such a forsaken place as that was to trap
where there was nothing but porcupines.
After resetting the trap we went on to the third trap, which was
setting about a mile farther north. It was necessary to cross two
narrow ridges in order to reach the trap. Smoky was in a moody state
of mind and lagged along behind, hunting partridges, killing two or
three.
When we reached the top of the second ridge and the trap was in the
hollow beyond, I heard some sort of a noise where the trap was
setting, but I was unable to tell what it was. Smoky was behind
somewhere on the line, but while I stood listening he came on in
great haste. He had heard the same noise and was hurrying up to
inquire what it was.
I told him that I was unable to tell just what it was, but was afraid
that some dog had got caught in the trap as the sound came from the
direction in which the trap was. Smoky said that it was a different
noise than he had ever heard a dog make.
I told Smoky that I feared that it was some hound that was in the
trap and was making the pitiful sort of a howl and that we must hurry
on and get him out of the trap. When we were half way down the side
of the hill, the noise ceased, but I could now see that the noise
came from some distance farther down the run than where the trap had
been set and I knew that no dog could move the trap and clog. We now
went a little more quietly. I soon got sight of Bruin rolling and
tumbling in a bunch of small birch saplings where the trap clog was
fast, good and stout.
Smoky had not got his eye onto the bear yet, when I stopped and
pointed in the direction of the bear and said, "Smoky, there is the
gentleman that you have been so anxious to see." Smoky had not yet
got his eye onto the bear and he said, "That's no darned dog that
makes that noise. What is it? I don't see anything." "No, Smoky, it
is no dog; neither is it a porky; it is a bear this time all right."
I pointed at the clump of yellow birches and said, "Don't you see him
down in the gulch there?" When Smoky got his eye on the bear, you
should have seen them sparkle. This was the first bear that Smoky had
ever seen outside of captivity. When I told Smoky that we would go up
close to the bear and he (Smoky) should shoot it, he again reached
the gun to me and again insisted that I should shoot it, saying that
he would surely miss it, the same as he declared in the case of the
porcupine. I told Smoky that he had plenty of cartridges and that it
would be some time before it would be too dark to see to shoot and
that he must shoot the bear. It took a great deal of urging to get
Smoky to shoot, he declaring all the time that he knew he would miss
it.
I said, "Smoky, you must not shoot at the bear but at the base of the
bear's ear," which he finally did and Bruin was out of his trouble
almost before the smoke from the rifle had cleared away.
The bear was a large one, measuring seven feet two inches from end to
end. We were unable to get it out of the woods whole. Smoky insisted
that he would carry it if it was as large as a mountain. He soon gave
up that idea and we cut the carcass into pieces and took part to camp
and returned the next day after the balance. That night after we got
to camp with the bear we had for supper bear steak, partridge, rabbit
and bacon with warm biscuits and honey, baked potatoes, butter and
coffee, with the necessary trimmings, which caused Smoky to remark
that the country was all right for a living, but thought that society
was rather limited.
The day after we had brought in the remainder of the bear, we could
see the smoke from the forest fires that were burning away to the
southwest, loom up thick and black. It was plainly to be seen that
the fire was steadily working in the direction of our camp and was
getting in close proximity to where we had a bear trap setting. I was
afraid that the fire would burn sufficiently hard to spoil the trap
unless it was taken up, so Smoky said that if I would "mix the
muligan" (get supper) that he would go and get the trap, which I
readily consented to do, telling Smoky to bring the trap down to a
small creek and put the trap in the water.
Smoky got back about the time I had supper ready. He came in and put
his gun up and washed ready for supper without saying a word. I saw
that Smoky was looking down-hearted but thought that he was a little
tired and homesick, so I did not say much to him, but after a little
I said, "Charley, did you get anything in the trap?" He answered very
short, saying, "If I had you would be likely to see something of it,
wouldn't you?" so I said no more.
After supper was over and the dishes washed, Smoky took a piece of
paper from his pocket and handed it to me with the remark, "What do
you know about that?" I unfolded the paper and found that it
contained a lock of bear's hair. I said, "Smoky, what is it? Another
one of your jokes?" I thought that Smoky had taken the hair from the
bear that we had caught two days before. Smoky remarked that he
thought that the joke was on him as much as anyone, and then
explained that a bear had been in the trap and he got out.
He described the circumstances, and it was plain to be seen that the
guide or stepping stick had been placed a little too close to the
trap which had caused the bear to step his foot partly over on to the
jaw of the trap and had only been caught by the heel, which was not
sufficient to hold him, although Smoky said that the bear had put up
quite a fight before it had got out. Smoky said that when he came to
where the trap was set and found it gone, he thought he would have
the biggest time of his life. A bear all by himself, and when he
found that the bear had got away, he felt like throwing himself into
the creek along with the trap. I told Charley not to take the matter
to heart so, for if he followed the trap line and the trail very long
that he would have many a slip just at the time that he thought he
had the game bagged.
The next morning the fire was sweeping over the whole country so we
hustled around and pulled all of the traps that were not setting in
the water or that were not out of reach of the fire. The fire put an
end to trapping for everything but a few mink along the stream.
I wish to speak of one of Smoky's dry remarks. Smoky is a strong
Republican. A few days after the Presidential election we were going
up a small draft to look after three or four traps that I had set for
fox. The first trap that we came to was undisturbed. The second one
was lying at the side of the brook all in a bunch, chain and all.
Plain to be seen that it had been dropped there by human hands. As
soon as I saw the trap I said, "Smoky, some one has dropped that trap
there." "There has been some animal in it and it has gotten out, see,
there is blood on the jaws." "Very true, Smoky, there has been some
animal in the trap, but human hands took it out, for no animal leaves
a trap, clog and all, lying free in that way, with the trap chain
slack in that way." It only required a glance about to see that there
had been a coon in the trap and had been fast. Just up on the bank
there lay the club that they had used to kill the coon with. After
giving my opinion of the gentleman that had taken the coon, I began
to reset the trap again where it was before.
Smoky objected to again setting the trap there only for some one else
to get the game again, but I told Smoky that lightning rarely struck
twice in the same place so we would set the trap again. We started up
the hollow and were soon discussing politics again until we came to
where the next trap was setting. Just before we came to the trap,
Smoky picked up an empty cartridge shell. A few yards farther on lay
the second trap which had had a fox in it, as was plain to be seen by
the tooth marks on the small brush and by the fur on the trap. That
the fox had been shot was evident by the amount of fur that was lying
on the ground where the animal had been caught.
This was more than I could stand without giving vent to my feelings.
After trying for some time to find words to give the case justice,
and failing, Smoky remarked with all the coolness imaginable, that
there was one thing certain about it, that it was a Democrat that
took the fox and coon. I was astonished at the remark and asked what
he meant. "Well, if it had been a Republican that had taken them, he
would have taken the traps, too."
We were now getting our trap line down to a few traps along the main
creek, and we now worked those traps to the best of our skill, as we
wished to get our share of the mink. We had not put out any mink
traps until the first of November. The weather had been very dry and
warm but as it had now turned cold and I found that I could not stand
the cold as I once could, I told Smoky that we would take what mink
pelts we could get in a few days and pull stakes. Smoky replied that
that sort of "chin music" suited him. So after ten or twelve days of
mink trapping we pulled the rest of the traps and went home, having
to my idea a pleasant time.
Smoky agreed that the time was all right but he thought that the
society was a little slow for him, saying that if it had not been for
the boys on the coon hunt we would not have seen a half dozen persons
since we had been in camp. We had not made a large catch of furs but
I thought that we had done fairly well, all things considered (one
old played-out trapper and a kid who had never set a trap for
anything greater than a muskrat or a ground hog).
[Illustration: WOODCOCK AND SOME OF HIS CATCH.]
We had caught while in camp one bear, ten mink, eight coon and some
other furs as shown in the accompanying picture. After we left I set
a few traps about home, catching three fox and a few skunk and four
more mink, making fourteen mink in all. We got $4 and $4.50 for the
fox, and $4 to $6 for the mink, and from 80 cents to $2.25 for skunk,
and about the same for coon. We got 30 to 40 cents each for muskrats.
This will about complete the story of my trapping for the season of
1908. I am sorry that I am no artist, as I could have sent some fine
pictures, consisting of the bear in trap, as well as many other
animals in traps, and other pictures that would have been interesting
had I been able to take them at the right time and place.