(Not like that, Granpa! Up close like THIS...)
An American Marten
and a Fisher.
Martens are like Minks, and they nest in trees like squirrels. The Fisher is two to three times larger than the Marten and doesn't have the light patch on his chin and chest.
Granpa's picture does show their size difference better than my pictures, huh. Maybe his way is better ... maybe.
There was also the beaver:
Beaver were big dudes weighing in at 30-40 pounds, but could be monster dudes weighing up to 70 pounds! See his furless flat tail? When there was danger around he would slap the water with his tail to alert his buddies. It was also good (along with his webbed feet) for swimming. His teeth were like chisels and set deep into the jaw bone so they didn't get pulled loose by all the gnawing. I think I read somewhere that they also grew continuously so they never wore down.
Now, how many of those furs would it take to fill these packs?
First you set the traps, then you run the traps, then you skin the critters, tan the hides (or at least prep them), then you take them to the trading post in Pembina. THIS is what is known as back-breaking work!
In one of my way-back-when earlier posts (November 14, 2011), I related the museum-learned fact that to buy a handmade Quaker-style hat in the 1840's, hunters could trade 100 rabbit hides. Like I said, they used hides like money.
No comments:
Post a Comment