| Show i l' l t y I 1 tAJ Irr 1 E f 1 j t h I i tt tl t T i to f l s JW k t till as r t. t r 1 i nr r o. o hig l i THE GREAT OUTDOORS to I i 4 Trapper Bert Vert Allen was WILS born at Green JUnr WyomIng in 1884 Ills hilt father was waa killed in a railroad Accident eight months later and fort Bert was brought to Morgan to tobe tobe tobo be bo raised by his grandmother and i her husband James Durrant Durrani I And Ive I've been ani animals mals male ever since Ince I wa was big enough to pack a trap Milton Milton- tt Ite tte Bert says laY ay with a twinkle In hi his hi blue eyes eyel When 1 I was waa seven Ienn or eight years yeara old Lynn Phillips would s set Get t my traps for lor or tI toe me e. e Then Id I'd tie em down with a string and head bend up the river or up Fry Pry Holler Hot Hol ler ter to set em Once a set was made Id I'd undo the string If It ono one on of the danged things went off oft accidentally I then Id I'd have to take it back down and find Lynn Phillips Phillips Phil Phil- lips tips again Id trap all fall faB and winter that way-and way maybe get one or two coyotes or a bobcat or some some- til thin In Ive I've During the past C G 61 years trap trapped ed along just ab about ut every creek and trail between Morgan and Park City I dont don't suppose theres there's a 3 canyon in Summit and aDd Morgan counties that I haven't spent some time in I Born To Trap I Bert Berts Bert's Interest In trapping Is Inherited Mrs Allen Alien tells us us I His grandfather John Ager traded a nice place there In Farmington F for an old cow cowa a shotgun and a half halt dozen traps then he came to Mor Mon gan pan One day though John Ager was crossing the river there In South Morgan with Morgan with Noal Hemming and John Fry Fry Fry- and was was was' drowned when their I I boat Loat tur turned ed over I I fI it 1 I Berts Detts fathers father's twin brother haze to death on his way back from tin Ala Alaskan kan I I an trapping expedition tion b I iG rr m nt Predator It 1 t. t Controller ler t I Between 1916 and 1948 Bert BertAllen Allen Alien worked from time to time for tor the they government Owen W. W District Agent for lor the US U.S. Fish Fish and Wildlife Service bas has very kindly provided us with some trapping totals which were ach eTed by Bert during ng lii his liis 19 years yearn years of f ser service to a government nt I 1 Av y A. A I Predators Predator taken 23 bears I 6 bobcats i 1841 coyotes Total predators taken 2024 In 1933 Bert Eert c i turned In 11 bear scalps scalp And nd In 1938 1936 19 6 alone he caught 63 coyotes iM t h i iThe The rhe government t trapper trapp r could mean the difference between success suc sue tees cess and failure to the stockmen H Many Manya ny a man who ra raised ed domestic animals for fora a livelihood was put putout putout putout out of business overnight by marauding coyotes or cougars One Une clever female coyote nearly bankrupt a at not long ago It took trappers trappers and and good ones to ones to cut down this areas area's once-large once population of predators preda preda- tors tore A government trapper had to put In a good days day's work remembers Bert A guy was pretty much his own boss bOIS though though and and the pay was good They're still pay payin me In fact Pets N In the early days Bert trapped m muskrats and sold their hides for tor fora tora a dime apiece Mrs Allen re reo re- re calls Then at one time muskrat pelts brought aa as much as Now they're way down again Badger hides were once worth ten or twelve dollars No Ive I've never been out trapping trapping trap trap- ping with Bert Bert says Mrs Mra Allen I But But Ive I've still had to live Uve with U It H. He Ile on once o kept pet badgers and muskrats In la the front yard ard One day his hh badgers got loose and headed beaded straight Corthe for Cor forthe forthe the chicken coop I got there then just In n time turned the garden hose on them thom and kept it there Those tholo poor badgers were alm almost t drowned Crowned by the time Bert finally came home homo and rounded round d them up Another time i let It Berf little IItti pet coyote Ginger ride rid over town with me mo In the tho back window of 0 our coupe I bought a package of teak steak took It out and nd nd put It In the tho car teat seat then thon returned to the tho store oro to buy the tho rc ret rest t of my grocer groceries When I finished shopping 11 and got back to the car ar Ginger snarl snarl- snarled ed and 01 let me roe e In 1 I had to Ita OD as on the tha street and ancS wait watt until unU the tittle little doril had oaten eaten every everl of bit that meat Along the There used to be to quite a Ii tow few to fox to around here bare lere too B rt Allen Alien u us u.s. I fJ J caught a. a lot Jot ef or one once mostly up Lost Lot t r 1 Juel 1 i wr r only cily worth u r v cents cento flat Ilm Disc BUc By By Stan Taggart brought up to about aboul eight fight dollars A skunks skunk's fur Is le coa coarse like a house houe cat cats I never did get I more than two dollars for one of them I 1 caught a i J tat eat up East Canyon about ten 1 I years ago fort Bert used to haul an old tent i itu to tu Peterson Jeterson on a pack packhorse set Iet i it up UP and trap from there Hed He'd nova move the headquarters tent as ha he II varied v or extended his He lie usually returned home on Saturday Saturday Sat Sat- nights Years later Bert would take his horse to Peterson in a car car- driven ear trailer From there hed he'd ride and trap the east slopes of the Wasatch Was Was- atch litch back over ovet n as far tar as Hards Hards- Grabble Then return to Morgan at night Id set to trapa traps along that line Bert relates and maybe may maya be have one or two coyotes each time around Sheep cattle hunters hunt hunt- ers ore and everything else bothered those traps Id I'd 1 1 Just have to reset em That Peterson Creek and Hardscrabble country Is I. about the roughest I 1 ever got Into You Vou stayed on the trails trail up In there or you didn't go any anyplace place Helped By Indians Indiana The easiest I ever got coyotes coyotes coyotes coy coy- otes says Bert was one winter when I was work in out at Park Valley for the government It was a hard winter and a bunch bench of Indians not far from my camp were the wool off oft I I I I I I I oi of dead sheep to make warm clothing Id I'd tell those Indians wh where re Id I'd seen seen dead sheep layn and then they'd tell me where they had caine come onto dens of of young I II to coyotes yates I got more than fifty l there in that way They got plenty of at wool I got plenty of coyotes Cats Less Less' Common In tho those e days I only caught Zone lone one bobcat to every ten or twelve coyotes The last few years its it's been ocen the other way around We have a lot more more cats now novi vV You Vou ou cant can't poison polson a bobcat A c coyote yot I Suit Just t gr grabs bs pOlio pOlio- poisoned d t meat and swallows it It A cat chews her meat meat and spits If bitter It out if Its It's I caught a a. lot of bobcats on the main ridge between Dry Creek and Sharps Sharp's Canyon there east of Morgan recollects Bert Made some seta sets around a dead deer up on that ridge once and caught a female bobcat and her herour tour four our kittens Another time I hunted for a tl Napped bobcat for halt half a day but couldn't find tind her A few days later along the same I 1 could smell the thing By Dy fol fol- lowin my nose I finally located locatell her lIer That cat had dragged the trap up into a tree got its chain hooked d on a limb and died Bert hes he's had some close calls but was never clawed or bitten by a wildcat I always wore good heavy chaps he explains Lynx A 4 lo lot of f people says Bert think that we had lynx cats here hereIn herein herein In Utah I say we didn't Ive I've caught cats that I 1 thought were lynx but they always turned turned cut to be bobcats bobcat Besides havin longer 11 hair tr l longer r ger legs logs and a longer face fac lynx have black tails taUs all aU the way Now a abo bobcat cat shee she's got t H s r. r iff CK i t ia I a it bla bia blaA and abel white hiU tall Wl White un tin a def lN b black on lD top c last Latt of the I 1 took most of my b beats bears u from Hardscrabble l and over ever ver in the Snow Ba a country Caught aught one big grader grizzley though up Park City way We had bad a heck of ofa a time haulin the big cuss out of 01 the iho hills hl That bout about about tile the last lad one t I ever saw was saw was mounted and put in the State CApitol Building I 1 dont don't know if it IlUs IlU's its it's sUIl still there nr r not Bert used to bring live lIe cub cubs home too his hi wife added bawl all the way out of the hills but In a short hort time would become fine pets pet Yeah 1 I bro brought In some little fellers Once I had one chained up lip by br the house and bud It got loose It climbed up a Do big pine pIne tree in front of Joe Welchs Welch's place I 1 had to go gu up and abd fetch it down with the chain Tip Tips To lure a animate animals n als into traps jouve youve got to learn to follow their ways waye You can trap for years ears and ands s still 1 pick up p new every d day y You dont don't have to tc worry about leavin a smell when you set for muskrats but sets seta for coyotes you dont don't even dare move a rock off oft the trail Even Een kick a astick astick stick sUck out of plat place old eld ld mister coyote knows it To set et a trap for hl him the first thing you do Is I. dig a tw hole le lewith with a coyote foot Then you carefully cover up the trap and bait It with a bit of scent cent Lions and bobcats dont don't go so ao much on smell They'll step right into Inlo any trap that's thata covered up good When 1 I set for cats Id I'd just juet lay sticks around the trap eo so eoa soad a ad to guide their feet leet into its pan I baited my traps with homemade home homemade made wade scent scent a mixture of fish Ush cat nip and glycerin A little can CAD of at this stuff would last a week If U I had to use a lamb or a chicken chicken chic chic- ken or st s methin I 1 coult only get one set eel A batch of scent was was good for all d. d winter winter r. r Skill Skill I y it tIt t It It Itt t takes kes me mea a a tc to to a minute and a half tl to skin akin a muskrat Son Soo Gall doesn't even stop when he catches one and by the time hes he's walked fifty feet hes he's got it It i hide In his pocket y r 11 ut Beaver are different though It takes about two hours to to skin cut one of them And then another another an an- other hour to flesh the pelt and finish It up If U a fellers feller's got 20 2025 or 25 good beaver sets sets hes he's h s busy 1 Big Dig Cougar Take Taka I Bert ert caught his Is first cougar in Norwood Canyon On one occasion occa occa- sion sian up in East Canyon he got eleven of these canny creatures in two days That was over in Sawtooth Cert Bert says where the Bertagnoli Bertagnoll noli noll boys run their sheep now now Paul Drubi had just moved In with a herd of sheep that night an and had big fat lambs in a corral all aU ready to dock The next morning not one of those lambs was wa alive Lions had killed em all all Their carcasses carcasses carcasses car car- casses were heaped up clear over the top of the corral bars When Bert brought those I eleven mountain lions home his wife concludes the tale all aU the school kids came over to t. t see them laid out in our yard Still Stilt Likes Like Wide Open Spaces Space I year old Bert Allen Al len still sUll camps up in the Uh Uinta ta Mountains each spring and au au- Winn He lie caught About musk musk- rata along the upper opper Bear Dear River I. I ii I ti r If A t t t F FSr Sr this past al fall All faU plus plue 30 beater bearer and eight or i til nine me e ik Caught ug th the skunks while try fa to nab nAba A bobcat he be admits I ju just t like to get o out t In the hills and have have a rest the trap- trap turned rancher mink rancher sums sum It up uP That That's the way wal with a damn trapper I never ever got Into nto company never went any anywhere anywhere where always out on the Well now Im I'm set let In my I ways ways- way and Jut just want to be beby beby by bl myself A lot of m men Q would go crazy leadin such euch a life lite Bert adds with a chuckle But Dut Ive I've just got cot Into the habit of home homo or beta u up in the C canyons nyons Sees Seea Changes rappin conditions sure lure used to be a tot fit t different than they are now Three or four tour years yeara ago I had a string of traps in some lame old sloughs down there by Clear Clear- field Went back there to look lookaround Jo lookaround k around last fall tall fall and lid found those same some and ponds all leveled leveled level level- ed cd off oft with homes on emI em I IThe The canals we trapped In North Ogden not long ago are all cemented over now and hells hell fire they've got got big new houses on em em too look like it'll be long longill ill 11 m those thole muskrats and beaver and stuff will be a thing of the past 01 Ol mister coyote hell he'll have to tg move out Mr have to mova out The bears and wolves are already gone I Wish I could come back in I another thirty years just to eee see how things arty aru out sT STAN |
