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Cabin Country
Dyke Hendrickson and Cabin Country have moved to Exploring Maine. He will continue to share his experiences there.

Blog Index
April 23, 2007
Notes from trappers, Realtors

Cabin Country is not a hotbed of interactive chatter, but I've encountered several cool responders in recent weeks.

One group is the trappers, who might be fun guys at the local bean supper but were pretty negative about a few brief comments I uttered about their sport.

Some were offended that I wasn't impressed by their booth at the Sportsman's Show. Almost a dozen wrote to challenge my suppositions - or worse, suggest I am an amateur tenderfoot from the flat country (not an inaccurate assessment).

But I learned several things.

One - There must be a lot of trappers online. Granted, dissident outdoorsmen could have contacted each other to orchestrate a "mass mailing" against innocent little Cabin Country.

But even so, their remarks came from email addresses.

(An aside: I always thought former Gov. Angus King was right about stressing that every Maine family should get ready for the age of technology. Who knew I would get hammered as a result of his wisdom?)

I called up one trapper who wrote, John Carville. He lives in Richmond, and spends time trapping in the Sugarloaf area.

"Trapping is a generational thing for us," he said. "My family before me trapped and it seems natural. I like the exercise, being outdoors and matching wits with the animals."

He said he traps mostly for beaver and muskrat. He usually gets about $28 for a beaver pelt but once got $160.

He added, "We feel we do a service, too. In some areas there are too many animals," which in the case of beaver can dam up useful land.

Also, he said, "By removing excess animals, you don't have to have the state do it. In Massachusetts, you see some animals but you can't remove them yourself. You've got to get the state or some private company involved."

Good enough . . .

And Your Scribe received a nice note from Betty Pomerleau of North Country Properties in Abbot. We met at her booth at the Sportsman's Show, and she sent me a listing of camps and land in the Sangerville area (or that region 45 minutes south of Moosehead).

She's offering a camp in Abbot with 126 feet on the Piscataquis River with two bedrooms, a porch and a kitchen. $89,000.

She's also got a 30 acre lot in Sangerville, with 269 feet of frontage on Center Pond. It looks great in the photo, with power, septic and spring water available. Cost: $148,000.

"People really do purchase log home kits with or without being set up with a project manager," she said, in question to my unending query if folks really buy a kit and build it themselves.

If other real-estate people think they have good deals, put them into the Comments section of Cabin Country below.

My sense is a lot of people are looking for a camp for fishing, boating and swimming before the cost of land gets REALLY out of reach.

They might even want to trap on it.

Posted by Dyke Hendrickson at 09:58 PM

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Comments

Give the guy a break, he may be a flatlander, but at least he is putting this information out to everyone and has created this nice format for discussion.

Thanks Dyke

Posted by Steve
April 24, 2007 08:55 AM

I read all the comments from the trappers. And I found them fascinating. It seems like trapping is among the most hard core sports in the Maine outdoors.

By hard core I mean that it isn't too glamourous, but the sportsmen really match wits with the animals in a natural way that doesn't rely on fish finders or fancy technology (although I don't know much about the traps themselves).

My question is which sport is the most hard core? Something like bow and arrow hunting or fishing without barbed hooks.

Or maybe the better question is which Maine outdoor sport is the most difficult? Trapping sounds like it would be right up at the top. Moose hunting on the other hand does not.

Any ideas on this are welcome.

Drew

Posted by Drew
April 25, 2007 05:34 AM

Trapping has helped to feed and cloth my family since the French & Indians War days. We have been at it a long time. Both my grandfathers and my dad and uncle trapped. And yes, some women in my family have trapped also. Yes it is now called a sport of sorts by many people, but I still rely on it to add money every year to my military retirement check. I will tell you this, I have never met a trapper who didn't love the animals and wild places a million times more than any urban sportsmen. Nor will a biology degree give you a pense of the knowledge of animals that a real trapper has forgotten. I can assure you we love the animals and our hertage with sense of reverance and pride.

Posted by D. Miller
April 27, 2007 02:19 PM

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