BETHEL – Trappers from all over the Northeast and other parts of the United States and Canada converged in Bethel this weekend for the 29th annual New England Trappers Weekend hosted by Neil Olson.
Trappers set up tents and campers in the fields behind Olson’s home, many with furs, traps, and other items for sale spread on blankets in front of them. By Friday afternoon, more than 100 trappers had arrived and were busy selling, buying or visiting with old friends.
Olson won’t say exactly how many people attend the weekend each year, but he did admit that one year there were license plates from 26 states and two Canadian provinces in the parking area. His son-in-law, Craig Aube, seemed to be expecting quite a crowd this year. Aube mans the food tent, where he sells burgers, hot dogs and french fries throughout the weekend and breakfast for those who are camping.
This year, Aube came prepared with 400 burgers, 650 hot dogs, 50 pounds of sausage, 550 pounds of potatoes and two roasting pigs. He said all the meat he sells over the weekend is beef or pork. There’s no beaver or bear in those burgers. Unlike some trappers “I don’t like the gamier stuff,” Aube said.
Like Aube, most of Olson’s family helped out over the weekend. Olson said both of his daughters, Carrie and Jill, trapped with him when they were young. Now, he takes his grandsons along with him. “I like to think of this as a family thing,” he said. “It’s a way of life.”
Olson is one of only a few remaining fur buyers in Maine. When he started in the business 33 years ago, he said, there were 150 fur buyers in the state. Now there are less than a dozen. Olson buys furs from local trappers and sells them to garment manufacturers. He said China and Russia are particularly big buyers of fur.
Professional trappers gave talks and demonstrations Friday and Saturday. Trapping supplies were sold at a dozen large tents and many smaller ones. Books and videos were also for sale, many by the trappers who had written or starred in them.
Lures for fisher, foxes, raccoons and bobcats created pungent pockets of air in many tents. Others sold products designed to remove the scent of the trapper from his traps.
Newt Sterling of New Jersey spends his summer touring trapping events with his grandson Ty Dow. The two plan to sell Sterling’s books, videos and trapping equipment at a different trapping event every weekend in August and September.
Like Olson, Sterling taught his daughters to trap and enjoys trapping with his grandson. Asked what he likes to do besides trapping, 9-year-old Dow replied “hunting.” He prefers being outside with his grandfather to watching TV or playing video games.
“I don’t play inside,” he said. “I’m usually outside.”
Dow wasn’t the only young person at the event. Boys and girls walked the grounds with their dogs, meeting up with friends as they went. Saturday they were able to take part in a tug of war and sack race, as well as a fishing derby.
“It keeps them out of trouble,” Sterling said of trapping. “They’re out in the real world, getting exercise.”
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