Where's the Maine wildlife at?

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Fort Lauderdale mermaid

I forgot a couple... beaver and fox! Although I guess most people would TRAP beaver. I wonder if there are that many trappers left? Anyone know?

There is a guy that runs a trap line around here. I have seen his trap markers in the woods while hunting deer. I guess he concentrates on 'coon, muskrat and beaver by where he sets up. There is also a couple of guys that trap for municipalities. You call the amimal control people in your town for a skunk or beaver screwing up your stream or eating your poplars and they call these guys to come trap it out. They caught two big beavers just down the road from here last winter.

[island mermaid]

I wonder what pelts go for nowadays. I can't imagine there's much of a market for them in this day and age. I also wonder if there are any coon hunters left? Back in the day - 25 yrs ago- Bowdoin and Litchfield were full of them. Everyone including myself, owned Blue Ticks and made a pretty decent living hunting them. About 3 years ago I did see a truck in Brunswick with a strike cage mounted on it. I guess there must still be a few out there.

[7th generation]

They're only getting $20 for coyote. The bigger trappers wait till the end of the season and send their pelts to Canada, where the furs are auctioned, most going to Russia or China.
Fisher cats are sparse this year, due to the lack of mature softwood stands.
They have a radius of 20 miles but will move to find food which includes mice and squirrels. Cats don't reproduce until the age of 2 and usually have only one kit.

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by 7th generation

They're only getting $20 for coyote. The bigger trappers wait till the end of the season and send their pelts to Canada, where the furs are auctioned, most going to Russia or China.
Fisher cats are sparse this year, due to the lack of mature softwood stands.
They have a radius of 20 miles but will move to find food which includes mice and squirrels. Cats don't reproduce until the age of 2 and usually have only one kit.

Oh...Russia and China make sense. I guess they aren't as anti-fur there. Is there a large population of trappers in your area? I wasn't aware that cats were trapped. Our dogs were trained to run coon, cat or bear. Occasionally they would strike on a fox which resulted in us reprimanding them. Are there any coon hunters that hunt with strike cages in your area? Just wondering if that had gone by the wayside. We had some amazing nights back then. We bought a Grand Night Champion out of Kentucky, he was top of the line. Best in our area, we out-hunted everyone in our area. I think our best night resulted in almost 40 coon. Again, 25 yrs ago. Back then hides were going anywhere from $30 - $60 for the nice ones. Not a bad nights pay. Working the graveyard shift and sleeping during the day.

[Kracer]

Hot market for Maine pelts (http://business.mainetoday.com/news/070211pelts.html - broken link)

Want to lose weight, run a small trapline. It be hard work.

Friends in Bangor had 2 moose visits in their backyard. Live 3 blocks from Eastern Maine Med Center.

Saw a fox carrying a rabbit alongside 1-95 near Sydney. Coyote sitting up on cliffs along the same road. Eagle and osprey nests in the median near mile marker 148. Hard to believe there are moose in Maine but I keep getting photos of large gatherings of moose up near Caribou. Figure the photos are 'photo shopped'.