Mike was giving a training seminar in MAINE and someone brought in a wolf pelt, enjoy the picture and the haircuts.

Good Lord what year is that? I know at least two of those guys. Wow.

sweet!

I called up my friend that is shown sitting on the right side of the picture. He is probably one of the very best fox and coyote trappers to ever walk in the great state of Maine. He made some amazing catches back in the fur boom. He has less hair now but the old boy still gets it done.
He was the first man that I am aware of to put up huge canine catches. He was and is an expert lure and bait maker. I remember visiting him when he was in business. Made some good lures. Good beaver man too.



The man with his hands on his hips was the first fur buyer I ever dealt with. OH, he was not much fun to deal with either. LOL Talk about a hard grader.

Glad you all enjoyed the picture.

Thanks for posting it. Mac, the fur buyer in the middle, what part of Maine was he from? Looks familiar....

The fur buyers was Merrit Kimball. He was a big fur buyer at one time. He bought and sold a lot of cattle over the years. Bought deer hides and fur. Back then you could take a deer hide to him and trade for a nice pair of deer skin chopper mitts or deer skin gloves. His business was based out of Waterford Maine. I went with Merrit on his line one day. The line was primarily foxes back then. He used relatively short chains, four or five feet and a fox drag in lieu of staking. Pretty old school in some ways but did all his setting bare handed. claimed he had very dry hands so did not really need gloves. I remember I had fun and heard a ton of stories. Merrit was good friends with Cronk and I took it he had known Walter Arnold a bit. He was quite a wealthy business man but you would not really know it to see him on the line or in the fur shed. Shrewd, would be a pretty good description.

The last year I tried to sell him some, fur this is how it went. He was quite used to being the only game in town. Good Deal Neal Olson had started buying fur and that changed the game around here. One winter I sold some pretty nice beaver. The next fall I heard that Neil Olson in Bethel was buying fur and paying pretty darn good money. I called up and asked Merrit what some items were going for. He told me "I buy fur, I don't price fur" or something very close to that. That was I think in the fall of 1974. I thanked him for his time. Then sold my fur to Olson. I ran into Merrit a few times over the years and he would say that he would like to have a chance to buy my fur. I always told him that I was a small timer and never did much. He always said, bring it over. I never forgot that first phone conversation on how he bought fur not priced fur. Olson going into business made for a nice competitive market in our small corner of the world.

Mac

Mac what is the mans name? I think I bought some lure from him back in the day.. Great stuff

Great story Mac. Different guy than I was thinking of but thought it just might be when he was younger. The fur buyer I used to take my pelts to as a kid was a farmer, a man of few words until you got to know him, and I remember as a 12 year old reading fur fish and game thinking I'd make a bundle on my pelts, only to learn that's not the real world in a fur buyers basement, lol. He was a kind man though and took a liking to me, taught me how to skin, and we'd talk for hours in the basement of his house through the years when I would periodically show up with a few pelts. It was guys like them that created the excitement and romance of trapping as a young person learning and trying to figure it all out. He's gone now, but your story made me think of him and that's pretty cool. thanks

Mac what is the mans name? I think I bought some lure from him back in the day.. Great stuff


Mr. Alvin Yates. He has been a friend for many years. One heck of a trapper. He has lead a most interesting life. Very very knowledgeable on a lot of things. He is another older trapper that really knows trapping history. He had some very good lures in his line of products. I believe the brand was White Mountain lures. He sold them to a real nice guy from New York I believe. I just cannot recall his name. I met the buyer a couple of times. Not sure if the lures have moved to another maker or not. Alvin has got to be near 70. He smoked the canines again last year. When he was a young man I doubt many could out work him.

Mac

Yep, Alvin advertised his White Mountain lures for a short time in TPC back in the 80s. good stuff. Glad to hear he is still a hammer.