BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 11, 2022
When hunting season is over and the woods are soft and quiet with snow and when you struggle to get outside during the dark, cold, winter days, that is the perfect time to trap beavers. I trapped my first beaver three years ago. My friend Jeff lost a few apple trees to the creatures, so I volunteered to try trapping them. I prefer to keep the furs for myself. I have a hat and mittens and a neck gaiter. There are a couple of hooped beaver furs hanging on my wall. I split and fleshed the beaver tails and had them tanned into leather so I can make a wallet, knife sheath or coasters. I appreciated fresh meat in the middle of winter and beaver, unlike most wild game, is fatty, which makes it more delicious. The nostalgia of trapping appeals to me. You don’t use anything “fancy” or “techy.” Just go out to the woods, with your wits and your steel, like the mountain men of the 19th century. ~ Christi Holmes