Ohio trapping season underway this week
Trapping surely isn’t for everybody, though it’s not that it isn’t for anybody.
Some 13,300 fur taker permits were sold in Ohio last year. It’s worth noting that as recently as 2010 more than 20,500 permits were sold, suggesting a decline in an activity that helped build the United States and Canada by spurring exploration tied to the profitable pursuit of pelts.
Pelts are needed more for fashion than for warmth these days, making the demand for fur less acute than in previous times. Prices paid for raw furs falls short of hedge-fund money.
During the Ohio State Trappers Association’s auction in March, for example, minks sold at an average price of $3.11, raccoons also $3.11, muskrats $2.83 and opossums $0.49. A single squirrel wrapper, invaluable to the squirrel, brought two bits.
Some skins did better in the bidding: Skunks averaged $5.50, beavers $8.56, red foxes $9.60, gray foxes $16.14, otters $19.33, bobcats $23.29 and coyotes $23.92. Castor, basically a gland taken from beavers used to scent some high-end perfumes and a type of Swedish schnapps, averaged $105 on four sales.
In all, the 3,532 pelts sold at the March auction brought $14,376.25, an average of $4.07.
Whether profit has something to do with pushing contemporary fur takers to chase pelts stands, it seems, as a fairly shaky premise. While the $15 spent for a permit on top of the $19 purchase of a hunting license adds up to a relative bargain, successful trapping requires a level of expertise and a willingness to work arduously.
Traps are priced from about $9 to $20, depending on precisely what they do and how they do it. What can become burdensome is that, to be legal, trappers must check their traps every day, including storm days and holidays, and be ready to dispatch, skin and stretch what they find for a $4 payoff.
Trappers can commence pursuit of foxes, raccoons, skunks, weasels, minks and muskrats on Nov. 10. Hunting for foxes, raccoons, skunks and weasels also begins Tuesday.
The trapping and hunting seasons for foxes, raccoons, skunks and weasels run through Jan. 31. The trapping season for minks and muskrats runs through Feb. 28.
Deer caution
Chronic wasting disease, known as CWD, has made incursions into Buckeye State deer herds during the past few years in three publicized instances, all connected to captive deer. A fourth site was confirmed in May at a Wayne County farm by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, although few details were made public and no general alert resulted.
More than 130 animals ended up being euthanized at the Wayne County location in three stages during August. Three cases of CWD infection were confirmed among the captive herd, said Mike Tonkovich, deer project leader for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Given the nature of the holding area where the infected animals were kept and considering the nearness of the archery season, the wildlife division decided against establishing a disease surveillance area where special hunting requirements would be in place this fall and beyond.
The chance that wild deer might become infected was deemed remote at the location. Wildlife officials are leaving open the option of establishing a surveillance area that would go into effect next year, Tonkovich said.
CWD is brain-wasting malady caused by a rogue protein known as a prion, a long-lasting pathogen that can be spread by contact and likewise ingested by feeding on plants growing on infected soil. The lethal disease, which can spread widely when it leaks into the wild, affects whitetail deer, mule deer, elk, moose and caribou.
outdoors@dispatch.com