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DAY, JULY £1, 1941WOODSMEN FIND LOWLY WEASEL IS GOOD MOUSETRAPSteA long, rough but scenic path leads into the heart of the Adirondack wilderness where the world’s best mousetrap is still none other than Mustela cicogani, the weasel. Though chicken farmers have little use for the active, bloodthirsty weasel, lumbermen, trappers and guides have long held him in high esteem. Alvah Dunning, the famous hermit guide of the Adirondacks, had a weasel for a mousetrap.The most famous Adirondack weasel today is known as Silent Slim according to Maurice Bissell, Conservation Department forest ranger at Lake Colden. Silent Slim keeps the camp clean of mice. This is a source of joy to Bissell as he does not have to worry about mice nibbling and spoiling food supplies he has toted several miles on his back. ^Ranger Bissell first discovered j Silent Slim a couple of years ago. T Hot and tired after a day of brush- jTh Lake these Th© hold£ prop* owne prott visor the 1 rupti clain Do hote! histc gues days A1 { Evai pres tice Unit a pr over The they bom000,^er-ed.the:ov-hed31,:er-■ingeeding out hiking trails that radiate through the mountains around Lake Colden, he had returned to camp and | was pulling off his boots. A mouse j ran across the floor. Bissell merely glanced at it. Then, suddenly, from the log wall at his back a shadow streaked like lightning to the floor. ore | At first it looked like a giant mouse, almost a foot long. The weary ranger blinked in amazement. Before i he realized what was happening, the j little mouse gave a desperate squeak j and, almost as quickly, was devoured by the weasel.Bissell discovered a tiny hole between the logs where the weasel had j made his entrance. He left it unchinked and Silent Slim uses it reg-six I ularly. He does his job cleanly and jar- j so efficiently as to put a cat to shame, of Known to a generation of Adirondack mountaineers and fishermen, Clint West, former forest ranger at | Lake Colden, also had a weasel for ired J a mousetrap. He knew this swift I predator as Wandering Willie. Wan-old- ! dering W’illie was comparatively be | tame. He would sit around the cabin, iard paying no attention to his chores, eet, Wandering Willie boarded at the ' cabin for several days at a time and would then disappear for a week or ten days only to reappear again. In winter he showed up with a white I coat instead of his summer brown, sent j Wandering Wrillie had an untimely 15, j death. After a day of work on thebeateofVSihsire- j trails, Clint West found his son Har-t old, who was in camp with him atm-dur-*iod,3.7veretherandin-.son-isonvol-nentwithandthethe time, proudly skinning Wandering Willie. Knowing, nothing of the animal’s mouse - catching prowess, Harold had caught him in a steel trap. It was the first time the youngster came near to getting a licking from his father.After Wandering Willie’s demise, Ranger West found another forest mousetrap in a mink. If anything the mink was more efficient than i Wandering Willie, but he was also less sociable. The slightest sudden motion scared him out of sight. Much to West's sorrow, after several years of service, he, too, had a sudden and inglorious end. He was caught in a rat trap.
Newspaper Details
The Adirondack Record - Elizabethtown Post
Au Sable Forks, New York, US
Thu, Jul 31, 1941
Page 6
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 22 Oct 2024
Other Publications Near Au Sable Forks, New York
The Adirondack Record
The Adirondack Record - Elizabethtown Post
