ART OF PULLING HEARTS.
I see by inquiries answered and letters from F. Edgar Brown in an
issue of Hunter-Trader-Trapper that my casual mention of pulling the
heart of the fox in "Reynard Outwitted," has struck a chord of
interest with trappers. As the knack of pulling the hearts of the
smaller animals trapped is worth knowing, and will save the hunter
dirty work in the skinning of the pelts, I will describe the process
as plain as I can.
It is bad enough to skin an animal that has been struggling in a
steel trap, and got the imprisoned leg a mass of congealed blood,
without adding to the disagreeableness of the job crushing in his
head or breaking his back with a pole. This at least can be avoided
by pulling down the heart till the cords snap. In no other way do
Indians, or those who have learned trapping from Indians, kill the
small animals they find alive when visiting their line of traps.
Foxes, martens, minks and rabbits are always killed in this way.
Lynx, of course, is a nasty animal to approach in a trap, still the
Indian trapper never thinks of shooting, or hitting him with a pole.
On the contrary they fix a noosed cord to a young sapling cut for the
purpose, and snare him from the length of the pole; once over his
head they stand on the pole and let him struggle till dead. This
prevents blood from being on the skin. A live bear in a steel trap
must be shot to make "a good bear of him."
But the Indian trapper again uses his judgment and waits till the
first violent struggles are over, and the bear somewhat quiet, then
the hunter takes careful aim and puts a bullet into his ear, being
always at pretty close range. The ball passes clear thru the head,
killing the bear instantly and making a wound that bleeds profusely,
so that when the skinning process takes place, there is no blood in
the body. The skin is cut around the throat, skinned towards the body
and the head left as it is. However, this is digressing from the
subject at issue.
The small animals I have mentioned when caught with snow on the
ground, are simply walked on top of by the hunter's snowshoes; once
he is pinned down so that he cannot move, the trapper slips his left
hand under snowshoes and secures the fox or whatever it is by the
neck with a tight grip of the thumb and fingers. Then the snowshoe is
withdrawn until it holds the hind quarters only; the hand with the
head and neck is elevated until the body is extended to its utmost.
The right hand now feels for the heart just below the bottom rib; it
may not be there at once, but it will come. When the animal feels the
grip tightening on his throat the sense of strangulation causes the
heart to jump down and up in the body in the most violent manner.
This the hunter seizes at one of the downward pumps, catches it
between the thumb and fingers of the right hand; then pulling the
body in one direction and the heart in the other, the heart-strings
snap. The animal gives a convulsive quiver and you chuck him down
dead.
Oh yes! it is much better than the brutal way of banging them on the
head with the axe handle or a pole, and much more humane because the
animal is dead at once, almost as quick as if shocked with
electricity. Animals trapped in the late fall, or early snow, cannot
be held by the snowshoe, therefore some other means must be taken. It
does not do to take any risks of being bitten, for animals after
struggling in a trap for some time, become more or less mad,
consequently the venom getting into one's blood might cause a very
bad wound to heal, especially as the man who hunts cannot avoid the
cold getting into the sore, and then should such happen one cannot
foretell what the sequel may be.
To avoid therefore all mishaps the hunter draws his belt axe, and
cuts a forked young birch or alder, the handle part being about four
feet long, at the extremity of which a fork is left with prongs of
five or six inches long.
Presenting this to the trapped beast, he snaps at it; the trapper
watches his chance and deftly slips the fork over his neck and with a
quick downward push, marten, fox or fisher is secured. The left hand
is exchanged for the forked stick, the right foot is placed on his
hind quarters to keep him from clawing, then go for his heart with
the right hand. One trying for the first time may have some little
difficulty, but after a few animals have passed thru his hands he
will as well as I do, know the ART OF PULLING HEARTS.
During my many years as a fur trader, part of the time has been
passed on the frontier where opposition is keen and hunters, both
Indians and whites, are careless in preparing their peltries for
market. As long as they are dried in a way to keep, is all sufficient
for them. Musquash will be simply drawn over a bent willow and dried
in the blazing sun or near the camp fire. The little animal is
hastily skinned and considerable fat is left on the skin, which, by
being subjected to a quick and great heat, penetrates the skin and it
is consequently grease burnt.
The greater number of beaver skins one gets about the Canadian
villages are badly gotten up. This, in a great measure, is due to the
French custom of buying by weights instead of by the skin, the
hunters reasoning that the more meat, grease, flippers, etc., they
can leave on, the greater number of pounds gross.
Mink and otter are the two hardest animals we have to skin clean, and
the majority we get on the frontier go to the London markets in a
shameful state, and must tend towards their decrease in value. I have
seen foxes, minks, martens and musquash as taken crumpled like rags
from the same bag. It was a great wrench for me after handling skins
of every sort positively prime, and as clean as the paper upon which
this is printed, for twenty years to find myself on the frontier
buying such burnt and crumpled skins, as I found was the rule rather
than the exception.
Yes, it was a pleasure to barter the furs hunted by our inland
Indians; every skin was brought to the post hair side in. If the
Indian had a bear, the two flanks were turned in lengthwise of the
skin, then the hide was folded twice, the thick part of the head and
shoulders being brought down on top of all as a protection to the
thinner parts. Large beaver were folded crosswise of the skin twice,
making a kind of portfolio about eighteen inches wide by twenty-eight
to thirty inches long. Small beaver were folded once lengthwise of
the skin, and these came to us as a rule, two placed inside of each
large beaver as they went.
In the interior where the hunters have well defined grounds to trap
on they, by self-interest, protect the beaver and kill comparatively
few young ones. Our average for the whole year would probably be one
small one to two middle or full grown. The martens are tied flat the
whole length of the skins in bundles of ten each, with a thin
splinter of cedar wood on top and bottom to prevent them from being
crumpled in any way. Minks are treated just as carefully. Foxes,
fisher and lynx are folded one crosswise and then placed either
inside of beaver or bear skins. Thus nothing is exposed from an
Indian's pack of furs, either to view or friction, but strong
leather. Musquash, like all other skins except bear and beaver, are
skinned from the head down and each skin is cased, which makes them
clean, flat and nice to handle.
As their hunts are made during the cold months when the animals have
their primest coats, and as every particle of flesh or grease is
frost scraped, the skin lastly washed on the case and then the pelt
dried by the action of frost alone, it can be readily understood with
such care as I have tried to explain, that we get the very finest and
most pleasing skins that go out of the country. The Indian's business
is to hunt and bring the fruits of the chase or traps to his wigwam;
it is his wife and daughters' duty to skin and cure the pelts. The
Indians have the pride and ambition to vie with their sister matrons
of the forest as to who will get up the cleanest, best and "well
prepared skins."