Muskrat Trapping in Maine ~An Outdoors, Maine Post!

(Warning:  This blog post contains pictures of dead animals & the processing of those dead animals.)

I have always been attracted to & interested in long-held professions.  
The farming I grew up surrounded by.
Watching lobster boats on the Maine coast.
Gold mine in Lead, South Dakota.
It's intriguing to think of the generations who have worked in very similar ways of previous generations.

Trapping.  The fur trade.

It seems timely, as Kevin & Micah just received their paycheck back from the furs they sold & as this was just in our local paper:

http://bangordailynews.com/2015/03/14/outdoors/a-tradition-worth-savoring-trapping-helps-bring-carmel-family-closer/ 

..to talk about trapping!  We don't claim to be experts.  (Especially me!  I am merely the storyteller!)  We certainly aren't paying the mortgage with it.  We like to dabble in a bit of this & a bit of that and enjoy the journey & see if anything sticks.  But even if nothing 'sticks' the adventure is always well worth it!  Primarily Kevin & Micah have trapped muskrats, but they have also got a couple of beavers.

This is the 3rd season that my son, Micah, has been trapping.  He started when he was 9 years old.  As a taxidermist, my husband has enormous experience with furs, obviously.  He had a bit of experience with trapping, both in Maine as a kid and also in Alaska.  

3 years ago furs were going for a very good price.  Due to the conflict in the Ukraine, the price has gone down, as muskrat furs primarily are sold to China and Ukraine.  Even so, trapping muskrat has been a way for Micah to make a bit of money.  He used his trapping earnings plus birthday money from his parents to buy an ipad mini a couple of years ago!  

Even this change in prices has proven a learning experience in the global economy & how conflicts, even half way around the world, can affect us.  Micah has been able to learn through reading about trapping - the 'how-to's' and history and regulations.  He has learned through doing- the time spent in the outdoors, observing how animals live and observing weather conditions.  He has learned through skinning and stretching the animals.  Anatomy, certainly!  He has learned many more lessons than just the obvious ones.  

One of the biggest benefits of trapping is being in the Great Outdoors.  Glorious.  "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made..." -Romans 1:20.  The universe is singing all His glory!  "Everywhere I look you are.  Deep & wide, near & far..." -Phil Keaggy.  Glorious but also just so good for us.  We are happier & healthier when we spent time outside.

I have to be honest.  I wasn't sure that Micah would have an interest in trapping.  When he was 8 years old we celebrated Leap Day on February 29, in part, by dissecting frogs.  He had a bit of a hard time with this experience.  

I try to be careful about  pushing things on Micah.  I believe that he needs to have a say in what he does.  If it were up to me he would still be taking piano lessons!  I really wanted him to continue ballet this year.  However, this year would have required ballet classes during the week and also on Saturday and he really just didn't want to take classes on Saturday.  So we didn't push it.  No ballet then.  We have never, ever pushed hunting on any of the kids.  I personally did not grow up in a hunting family.  We got our meat through farming.  My step-daughter did grow up with both of her parents hunting.  However, she showed little interest and was scared of guns when she was younger.  She did get a moose permit and she did shoot the moose- by her choice- and I think that was a wonderful experience for her.  Noelle has zero interest in hunting & frankly I don't blame her!  Micah likes learning about different types of guns but he really doesn't want to shoot them.  It truly makes no difference to us.  He did go bear hunting this past fall with a cross-bow and shot a bear this way, since he wanted to hunt but didn't want to use a gun.  

So we did not push trapping on him.  We informed him and let him decide if he wanted to try it.  

It is a lot of work!

I liken some of the trapping experiences, (from my observation point), Kevin & Micah have had to my experiences with tapping trees last year!  I learned a ton.  It got me outdoors, exercising, learning.  It got me a bit of syrup!  However, there were a lot of frustrations!  I learned by doing the wrong things sometimes!  It was a lot of work for a little profit!  

Kevin & Micah have by no means been trapping a lot!  It's been a 'dabble.'  Kevin needs to work and Micah needs to go to school and the conditions need to be right and the desire there!  The trapped the least in the 2013-2014 season.  They began that season very excited about trapping.  Then they had some traps stolen and/or relocated.  That was pretty discouraging after the hard work they had put in.  Plus, life was just kinda more challenging that year, and there wasn't a lot of extra energy for trapping!  

Here is a bit of the process:

~Buy traps.  Prepare tags for your traps. 

~Prepare your traps!

 They dyed the traps so that they wouldn't rust but also so that they would 'smell like the woods.'  They used tree bark & leaves to dye the traps.

 They waxed the traps so that they wouldn't rust and so they would work smoothly.  This may be an unnecessary step for underwater traps.  But as I mentioned earlier, we learn!

 
~Get food for your traps!

 

 

 The first year they didn't start trapping until there was already ice.  The second and third years they tried some open water trapping.  They scouted out properties & asked for landowner permission.  They looked for evidence that muskrats lived there.  It is a good idea before there the ice is covered with snow to map out the muskrat runs so that you know where to set your traps. 

 They set their traps by first drilling a hole.  Set the trap, put the carrot on it and put it down the hole.  They use foothold traps & conibear traps

 They learned that it was a lot more work chipping out the traps when we have really cold weather.

 ~Success!  These pictures were taken in early 2013 & capture the first time Micah got a muskrat!

 

 Micah had prepared a lot & in the excitement he was the first to remember that he needed to rub the wet muskrat in the snow in order to dry it out!

 

 I guess I will admit right here that I don't think I was even aware that there was such a thing as a muskrat before they started trapping!  (Sad, I know!)  I am sure I must have seen the muskrat houses, which now I notice right away, but I guess I just never payed attention before!  I have learned that they are prolific animals.  Mink and coyote prey on them as well as birds of prey.  Muskrats are herbivores. 

 Sometimes The Boy gets tired.  And eats snow.  And rests!

 Basically, the muskrats must be skinned.  Quick work for a taxidermist, a bit for a boy to learn!

 We throw the meat out in the woods so that coyotes, bobcats & fishers can eat it.  After skinning the muskrats, they need to be fleshed.  This is what Kevin does for a career, so again, it's pretty easy for him.  It takes some practice for Micah to flesh the muskrat without putting holes in it.

 We found that a spoon works well too!

 After skinning the muskrats, they must be stretched & dried.  Then they are ready for sale.

 As mentioned in the newspaper article, I did insist that we try eating muskrat!  Now, I have to say that the Lord has provided plenty of food for our family through berry picking & our garden & yummy, raw goat milk & our chicken eggs & mostly through moose hunting & bear & deer hunting!  Now, should we need to, we know that we could handle eating muskrat.  However, since we do not need to, I would rather not!  There were a surprisingly few number of muskrat recipes I was able to find (!).  The meat is very dark and has an odor that is quite off-putting.  (Not because we punctured the scent glands!)

 While on his moose hunt this year, Micah also did some trapping and got a few muskrats in northern Maine.

3 years ago muskrats were selling for about $11 each.  This year they are about $6 each.  They sell primarily to China where they line hats & vests with them.

This year we are donating most of our earnings to help refugees in Syria. 

Maybe someday Micah will trap on his own.  

Maybe he will make some money for college.

Maybe he won't.

But without a doubt it has been & will continue to be an adventure! 

WHCF~ radio~ music~ broadcasts~

I remember my parents listening to WHCF, FM88.5 a lot when I was young.  A lot.
Born in 1975, growing up in East Hodgdon, Maine, less than a mile from the Canadian border, nearly on 'top' of Henderson Hill...

At the very beginning, (as I remember it!), my mom considered WHCF to basically be a gift from God. Some homes on both ends of our small, dead-end, dirt road weren't able to pick up the station.  But our home, on the hill, with its view of beautiful Mt. Katahdin, could get the station.  And so my parents made heavy use of it!

Consequently I know all the words to 'Heaven must be a happy place, my grandpa's going there' and to 'Excuses, excuses.'  !!  Dr. Jeremiah, Chuck Swindoll, and Dr. Dobson were, and are, familiar voices.  The background noise of the radio, tuned to WHCF, seemed constant.  It was just kind-of always there.  I remember playing on our living room floor, sort-of passively listening to these programs that my parents were more actively listening to.  

I remember the fund-raising times!  Hearing that 'Maine' accent, (the one that, later, others thought I 'should' have, but no one I knew growing up ever talked like that!), 'Good old Washington county!'  Hearing all the names called out of those who were supporting WHCF as 'minutemen.'  My parents have supported WHCF all these years.

I was born a bit too early for the timing to be right for me to have listened to 'Adventures in Odyssey', however we did listen as a family to 'Unshackled' and 'Ranger Bill.'  (I can imitate all the organ sounds.  I can sing the song to Ranger Bill!!)  I don't remember listening to 'Children's Bible Hour' on WHCF, (Was it on there?  Pre-'Down Gilead Lane'?).  Maybe it was WHCF or maybe it's because my dad is from Michigan.  Whatever the reason, we had loads of 'Children's Bible Hour' records & audio tapes & rally tapes & song books & Keys for Kids devotionals.

It truly is amazing what we 'catch' as children growing up.  Stuff that's not 'aimed' at us specifically.  Because my parents listened to WHCF so much, -no doubt- I caught a lot.  I know that I caught a lot of information about parenting & marriage & family life!  Even as a child I truly loved listening to 'Focus on the Family.'  Influenced, I am sure, by the broadcast, my parents also invested in resources from Focus on the Family, as well as the monthly magazine they used to put out.  I read almost every one of those magazines cover to cover!  

WHAT a blessing WHCF was to my childhood, has been to my parents, and has been to my adult life as well!

Now, as an adult, WHCF has continued to be a blessing in my life.  Occasionally I will catch Greg Laurie or Ravi Zacharias, June Hunt or Ministry Spotlight.  9:00 a.m. is not a convenient time for me, or I am certain that I would regularly listen to 'Family Talk' with James Dobson.

My mainstays, my favorites are Focus on the Family and Family Life Today.  They air twice a weekday and I love to listen to them, often listening to the same broadcast more than once if I can.  Now that we have an internet at a higher speed than dial up, I certainly can listen online & often do.  (Still don't have a smartphone or anything that could have an 'app' though!!)   What a blessing!  I have learned so, SO much from these broadcasts!

I may have been a bit too old for the Odyssey craze the "first time 'round", but as a parent I have greatly enjoyed listening to 'Adventures in Odyssey' on WHCF.  We are, sadly, mostly past that point now, but for quite some time, Oh my goodness!- How we loved Odyssey!!  Really, we still love it, it just isn't something we listen to very regularly.  But it used to be that nearly every evening at 7:00, it was ON!  (Truthfully, if we were home, I often fell asleep on the couch during the episode!) NovaCom is probably our favorite set of episodes, but we like the Green Ring Conspiracy & many others as well!  We never heard the new ones because they were on Saturday mornings & we never had the radio on at that time!  Eugene Meltsner is my favorite character!

Adventures in Odyssey episodes and WHCF also served a purpose when my sis-in-law lost her brother in Afghanistan.  Listening to episodes brought some distraction & comfort.  Directing funding toward WHCF served as a way to honor his memory.

Much like in my childhood, my children are gleaning wisdom from the programming that WHCF offers.  I don't personally care for most of the music on WHCF's related station, 'Solution FM', (with the exception of Switchfoot's 'Let it Out!'), however, my kids like it so we listen to that station quite a bit too!

Speaking of music, I have a confession:  I do not like southern Gospel music.
And I remember a lot of southern Gospel being played on the radio!
Now to be fair, I am not a 'music person.'
At all.
As a child & teen I never really sought out music.
In my home my dad played the trumpet and my mom played the piano & accordion.  My extended family included several accordion-players and piano & organ & guitar players.  Through family & church I was exposed to primarily hymns and choruses.

Our record player brought about a lot of listening to the Gaithers & the Blackwood Brothers & children's music & Word of Life musicals.

We had, (and my parents still have), a 'roll piano.'  So I learned songs like 'Midnight Cowboy' and 'Talk to the Animals' because we would play rolls over & over & over, clinging onto the edge of the piano with the ends of our fingers for balance as we pedaled away!

And of course we had music class at school.
And at some point at AWANA Camp someone introduced me to Michael W. Smith & this new thing called 'Contemporary Christian Music' (!!!)
And my brother introduced me to Petra!!

But I never really sought out music.  And even now, I listen to WHCF for the programs, not for the music!  (that was a bit of a bunny trail!)

The basic lesson of Input-Output still holds true.  Exposure to good radio programs!~
*whether as a child when I didn't even realize I was listening, or as an adult when I am taking notes & crying (!),
*whether a true story from Unshackled or a fictional story,
*whether hearing about something happening 1/2 way around the world or learning about ministries in our own community where we can make a difference~ these exposures have been so profitable for me!  Thank you, WHCF!