trapping experience, late 40"s

when i was a young boy we owned the farm where nathan ruonavaara lives on m26 going down to lake linden. i trapped weasel on the farm. would ski down the c&h railroad grade about two miles to the farm property. my favorite sets were in old pine stumps, huge ones, some 6 foot across and rotted out in the middle. just had to set the trap (medal #0) in the hollow, add a chicken head or some other meat kind of bait, maybe a squirrel, chippy or...., and then cover the hollow with branches and leaves to prevent the next snowfall from covering the trap. up to this time i had never seen a live weasel, only dead ones in my traps. but on this one occasion i looked at this set, removed the branches, peered in and there was a live weasel caught by the tail. when i tried to club it with a stick it was too fast and kept missing. finally the weasel broke loose and i got left with a tail. i saved the tail and reset the trap. the next day i caught the same weasel. when i skinned the weasel i sewed the tail back on and was able to sell the pelt as a regular pelt. weasel usually brought about two dollars. you shipped your furs to a fur company, waited for a bid, and if you accepted, they sent a check. if you didn't like the bid they sent the furs back and you tried another company.