Isaac Hits the Taxidermy Motherlode

Big Falls had one more surprise for us--taxidermy mecca at the gas station! A handsome bobcat faces you as you walk in, standing beside a 20-point buck (broke the records the clerk said). On the way to the bathroom there is a fisher, a pine martin, a huge walleye, a grizzly head, and a goose. About the ATM is the piece de resistance, a 3-bear mise-en-scene with a few trees and rocks. The clerk said he shot one of the bears himself. And he traps fishers and pine martins in the winter. He says he gets about 3 fishers a year and their family limit of pine martins (20 for a family of 4). They skin them and get $100 for each--so $2300 or so from trapping! So folks in northern MN are still hunting and trapping for at least part of their living.

I asked about the bobcat. "Some people do try to trap them," he said, "but they are hard to catch." "Are there any cougars?" "They are rare, but there is one that walks along the creek in town." This is the same creek we are camping beside! So the guys in Effie's Cafe were right again!