Last month, I wrote about 96 year old Rene Wendell of Pittsfield who, in the olden days, was a local trapper. You may recall that his grandfather got him got started skinning animals when he was a youngster, progressing from skinning mice and moles to larger critters. It is a must for a trapper to be able to skin animals.
Everything that he learned about taxidermy was learned from a book entitled “Home Taxidermy for Pleasure and Profit’ by Albert B. Farnum written in 1916. He still has that book. He also learned bit by bit on his own.
One day he shot a wood duck and brought to a taxidermist in Sheffield whose last name he believes was Shaw. He had a big room off of his house, loaded with all kinds of mounted birds and animals. Rene really respected him and couldn’t wait to go down there to see all of his mounts. He would always have a few question regarding procedures and visited him frequently, to the point that Shaw got tired of him. Seeing Shaw’s mounts is what got him interested in taxidermy.
He began mounting fish and animals for himself and, later on, for others. He stuffed the fish with Plaster of Paris. Now days they use plastic molds. When it came to mounting deer heads, he used to skin the heads, scrape the fat off, salt them and ship them off to San Francisco to have them tanned. In the meantime he made the head forms out of paper mache and ordered the artificial eyes. He has mounted just about every local legal game bird, freshwater fish and animal.
He has mounted many deer heads, prepared full mounts of bears, beaver, fox, coyote, bobcat and you name it, including the pictured moose which was shot by his son Bill in VT. He regrets the fact that he never got a whitefish or cisco to mount, but he has mounted just about every other freshwater fish around here – gold fish, tiger trout, tiger muskies, common carp, etc. He claims to have mounted the largest brown trout taken out of Onota Lake and a record pike taken out of Pontoosuc Lake.
He loves everything about our woods and waters. Besides the hunting, fishing and trapping, he enjoys the hobby of collecting various butterflies, moths and other insects, some of which have been exhibited in the Berkshire Museum. He also has an impressive collection of arrowheads and other Native-American artifacts. He even has a handsomely framed collection of old barbed wires.
I recognized Rene’s name but couldn’t remember where. I know his son, also named Rene, is a conservation ranger at Bartholomew Cobble in Sheffield.. But he is a younger man. Then it dawned on me. In the spring of 1968 I had caught a large pickerel ice fishing in Laurel Lake and wanted to mount it. At the time, I was working at the First Agricultural Bank and some friends there suggested that I contact a fellow employee (Agnes Wendell), whose husband mounted fish as a hobby. He did indeed mount the fish and did a wonderful job. Guess who it was….the one and same.
In the 10 years of writing this outdoor column, I have met some very interesting and memorable outdoorsmen, but Rene Wendell has to be one of the most impressive of them all. *****
Starting next Saturday, the Lee Sportsmen’s Association will be having trap shooting. The shoots will run from 9 AM to Noon on Saturdays during the month of March. Everyone is invited with instructions available to newcomers. Click onto leesportsmen.com for more detail. *****
Also next Saturday at 9 AM, the Stockbridge Sportsmen’s Club will be having a multi-state firearms course. This course is unique in that it qualifies you to apply for licenses in Massachusetts, Utah, New Hampshire and Maine. A Utah concealed firearm permit issued to a non-resident is honored in 32 states. If you apply for all 4 licenses, you will be legal in 36 states. The fee for the entire 5-hour course is $150 or you can take just the Utah segment for $100 or just the Massachusetts segment for $80. The fee is due in cash at the course. There is no exam but bring a pad and pen to take notes. Seating is limited and preregistration is required. Call or e-mail and provide your full legal name plus date of birth to Robert J. McDermott at (413)232-7700 or robmcdermott@verizon.net.*****

Questions/comments: Berkwoodsandwaters@roadrunner.com

I love listening to the old timers describe how it was in the old days, especially as they relate to the outdoor sports in the Berkshires. When I heard that 96 year old Renee Wendell, of Pittsfield, was once an avid trapper, I just had to meet him. I had never done a column about trapping and wanted to hear about it

Renee came from a family of outdoor sportsmen and any wild game that was shot was not wasted for his mother was an expert cook of wild game. He still talks about her cottontail rabbit and noodle meals she used to prepare. He also was fascinated with the outdoors, considering the woods his “outdoor playroom”.

His grandfather used to babysit him while his father and mother worked. To keep him occupied, gramps would pay him five cents for every mouse or mole that he trapped and skinned, a skill that became very useful to him in the future This went on for some time until he saw gramps throwing a pelt into their woodstove. That ended his mouse skinning career.

When he was ten or so, his dad bought him a trap in a hardware store. Shortly afterwards, Renee found a freshly dug hole in the woods in back of their house and he set up the trap, staking it well. He couldn’t sleep at all that night, wondering what he might find in the trap the following morning. He got up early and ran to the trap to check. Something had been trapped. He couldn’t make out what it was, for it was half in the hole and half out. He ran and got his father, who shot it. It was a skunk. He brought it home and while he was skinning it, someone offered him fifty cents for it. He sold it to him.

One day he was trapping muskrats and while coming out of a swamp near Pontoosuc Lake with 2 or 3 muskrats, a guy asked him what he was going to do with the meat. Use it for bait, he said. The man then and there offered him a couple of dollars for it. Turns out that he was from Louisiana and they ate muskrats down there. So Renee got the pelt and a couple of bucks.

He trapped raccoons for an Italian fellow who paid him two dollars each. One day he trapped a fox and when asked what he did with the meat, he told him he threw it out. Too bad, that fellow would have given him two dollars for it. Hey, what to heck, meat is meat.

He used to get $2.50 for a muskrat pelt, $10 to $20 for raccoons and a dollar an inch for a beaver pelt. A pelt measuring 30” by 36” would yield $65. Fur buyers used to come around buying up all of the pelts. Toward the end of the trapping season they would have two auctions in Sheffield. He enjoyed his hobby and made money doing it. He always made $300+ each year to help buy Christmas presents, pay taxes, etc. He was helping his family as well as the environment because “Animals weren’t getting managed. If you don’t harvest them, something else will. You can’t stockpile game.” he said.

Later on, when he worked a 2nd shift, he would get up early to check his traps. Over the years he had some interesting experiences. He recalls one early morning when he was trapping near Richmond Pond and he heard a fellow calling for help. He was ice fishing and the ice broke under him. Renee ran to a nearby cottage and they called for help. Rescuers arrived quickly and saved him. One time in Becket, he also broke through ice near a beaver lodge. They usually keep the waters open there and the ice was thin and covered with snow. Before he knew it, he was up to his neck in water and muck. What saved him was one little stick about ¼ inch thick and he grabbed hold of it and got out.

Fox were always a challenge because they could smell a trap under an inch of dirt and he had to treat his traps. He boiled them in tree bark and leaves and then waxed them with bees wax (fox aren’t afraid of bees). Then he would set the traps under an inch of wet leaves or moss.

Renee quit trapping when steel traps were banned. “Can you imagine carrying a bunch of box traps with you? And what do you do with them in the trap? Some of these new laws don’t make sense.”, he said.

I was fascinated listening to him but it turned out that he had much more to tell. That will be covered in a future article. *****

The Pittsfield Sportsmen’s Club will be holding its 4th Annual Hunt Raffle and Buffet Dinner at the ITAM in Pittsfield on Saturday evening, February 8. Doors open at 5PM and dinner at 6PM. Cost is $15 for adults and $8 for children under 10. The proceeds from the event benefit PSC Land Development. Tickets are limited. This is a serious raffle with a whitetail deer hunt in Illinois, a fishing charter on Lake Ontario, a drift boat fishing trip on the Salmon River and many more prizes. For more information, contact Travis Delratez (413)441-7979 or Ed Bushey (413)443-9371. *****

Still no schedule of ice fishing derbies occurring this winter. In the meantime, I will list those that are approaching within a week. Next Sunday, the Stockbridge Sportsmen’s Club will be holding its 37th Annual Raymond M. “Skip” Whalen Ice Fishing Derby from 7AM-1:30PM on Echo Lake in Stockbridge. Click onto its website Stockbridgesportsmensclub.org for the details.

Questions/comments: Berkwoodsandwaters@roadrunner.com. Phone/fax: (413)637-1818

On Thursday, January 9 at 3:30 PM, John and Linda Morse of the Beachwood area of Stockbridge heard a thumping on the side of their cottage Investigating through the large picture window, they observed not one, two or three but four young bears attacking their bird feeder which hung on the eave and a suet feeder which hung on a shepherds-hook pole in their yard. When John and Linda made loud noises, they “hightailed it through the woods with feeders in mouths”.

John believes they were yearlings and found it very strange they would be out of hibernation given the very cold temperatures being experienced this winter (it was 18 degrees that day). Rattlesnake Mountain is home to many Stockbridge bear sightings and he suspects these four wandered in from there, obviously quite hungry.

The food must have been so tasty that they returned for another helping last Sunday. This time the Morses saw them coming and removed their new bird feeder. They then called the police. The bears made a hasty get-away when the cops arrived, probably heading back to their secret den. Talk about a den of thieves!

With this on again–off again winter, they probably just can’t get a good winter’s sleep and decided to get up and grab a midwinter snack. Perhaps we all should bring in our bird feeders at night until Mother Nature decides where she is headed with this winter.
Incidentally, according to the January issue of the MassWildlife News, 147 black bears were harvested during the 2013 September and November bear hunting seasons. Licensed hunters in western and central Massachusetts took 120 of them in the early season, and 27 in the late season. Successful hunters took advantage of the online harvest reporting system which was available for the first time during the 2013 season. They checked 102 bears using the online system; 45 bears were checked in person at check stations.
Statewide bear harvests for the last 5 years beginning with the year 2009 were as follows: 169, 144, 131, 185 and 147. Western District stations for the same period reported: 61, 57, 45, 47 and 57. *****
The Harrison Brothers, trout fishing guides, will be the guest speakers at this Thursday’s Taconic Chapter Trout Unlimited meeting which will be held at the Bass Water Grill on Rte 8 in Cheshire. They had great experiences guiding in other parts of the world, but their loyalty remains here in western MA where they have guided year round since 2007. They grew up fishing rivers around the area and will share slides and stories about fishing the Deerfield and other rivers of western MA. The event is free and open to the public. Social hour starts at 5 PM, the presentation at 6 PM and dinner off of the menu (if you so choose) to follow at 7 PM. For more information, contact Ron Wojcik at (413)684-4141 or rwojcik@bcn.net. *****
According to Berkshire Beagle Club spokesman John Demary, the rabbit hunt last Saturday was an overall success considering the rainy conditions. There were no hares taken so they awarded prizes for the 2 largest cottontails. The winners were. Paul Viale of Lee, with one weighing 3.04 lbs, and Tim Cahoon of Pittsfield with one weighing 3.00 lbs. Twenty five people attended the dinner of venison pasta, venison stew, and venison Chili. *****
Next Sunday, the Lee Sportsmen’s Association (LSA) will be having a turkey, steak, spiral ham or pork shoot from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Following that there will be a fund raiser dinner from 4:30 to 6:30 PM with roast moose, moose stew, and spaghetti and meat balls. The cost is $12/adult, $6/under 12. The money will be used for raising pheasants which will be stocked onto local public lands next fall. Contact John Polastri at (413)822-8278.
An NRA License-to-Carry course will be held at the LSA on January 27 and 31 from 5:30 to 9:30 PM. The course, with 2 mandatory sessions, costs $100 and preregistration is required. Successful completion qualifies one to apply for a MA LTC Class A or FID. Contact Larry Karlquist at 442-7807. *****

Congratulations to 11-year old Caleb Pollard of Lee for recently catching the above pictured 24 inch 5 lb chain pickerel out of Laurel Lake. He was ice fishing with his family when it hit and fought like the dickens, making 5 runs. He caught it using a shiner and 6 lb test leader. The fish would have qualified for a State Freshwater Sportfishing Award ( bronze pin) or perhaps even the gold pin but it was not weighed on a certified scale. That’s ok though for his dad Jeremia made a batch of tasty fish cakes using that and several other fish they caught that day.

Qestions/comments: Berkwoodsandwaters@roadrunner.com. Phone/fax: 4(13)637-1818.

Ladies, if you haven’t seen your spouse/mate lately, you might find him in his man cave, his special room in the house. Now that the Christmas tree and decorations are put away and deer hunting season is over, he finally has time to clean his deer hunting guns and put them away until next fall. Perhaps he’s getting out another gun to hunt rabbits or coyotes. Maybe he is tinkering with his winter sports stuff such as his ice fishing equipment or snowshoes or maybe he is busy waterproofing his boots. These things are usually done in the man cave.
If he is a fly fisherman, he is probably in there quietly tying up a new batch of killer trout flies. The only time you will hear him is when he breaks the thread on a nearly completed fly. Block your ears, don’t listen. Or he might be oiling his fishing reels, changing the line or doing a myriad of things that must be completed before the spring fishing season begins. He is probably listing gadgets that need to be purchased – new reel, rod, line, lures, fly tying stuff, etc.
Somewhere in the rubble of his man cave, if you dare to go in, you will probably find him amidst an assortment of catalogs from Cabelas, LL Bean, etc, and copies of Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, MassWildlife News, etc. Perhaps he is quietly reading a book from his hunting and fishing book library located in there.. Be careful when you enter not to knock over the fishing rods which are stored behind the door nor step on the hunting dog. He is probably in there somewhere keeping him company, enjoying the smells of the gun cleaning oil, old pop tarts left over from last year’s ice fishing trips, mounted animals, fly tying material and such.
Pay no attention to any clucking sounds that emanate from there. He is just practicing his turkey calling for the upcoming spring turkey hunting season. And whatever you do, don’t touch anything, not a piece of paper …. nothing. There is a place for everything and he knows exactly where it is. Some people I know will not allow anyone into their man cave, especially when they are not there. In fact, some have suggested mounting a motion sensitive trail camera to photograph anyone who enters.
Aah, there is nothing like tinkering around in the man cave after dinner while the cold winter winds and snow are swirling outside the window. It’s a cozy place where one is surrounded by pictures and other memorabilia and where one can reflect on past feats and enjoy the anticipation of the upcoming year’s outdoor sports activities. *****
If you are a fly fisherman, you might want to attend The Fly Fishing Show next weekend at the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, MA. Fly fishing isn’t part of the show, it is the show. There will be over 50 talks and demonstrations each day. While there, you might shop for the newest tackle, book your next dream trip, watch tying and casting demos and learn from the experts.
All the new rods, reels, fly tying materials, books, DVDs and latest equipment will be on display to test and purchase. There is a casting pond for casting demos and it is available to test your new rod. Some of the celebrity authors include Gary Borger, Jay “Fishy” Fullum, Bob Popovics, Dave Klausmeyer, Ben Furminsky and others, and they will be happy to autograph your books. Click onto flyfishingshow.com/Marlborough__MA.html for more details.

While there, you might want to take in the MA/RI Council of Trout Unlimited’s annual banquet on Saturday evening at the Best Western Plaza Hotel (adjacent to the show center). Social hour is at 5:30 pm, buffet dinner at 6:30 and then raffles and auctions. You can get tickets from Paul Knauth (413)441-8559. *****

The Onota Boat Livery is once again having its seasonal ice fishing contest. Entrants must sign up by January 26 and the contest ends on March 16. Participants must be at least 18 years old and purchase at least $25 worth of store merchandise. They may fish anywhere in the Berkshires and all fish caught must be through the ice and brought to the Livery for measuring. Contestants must have previously signed into the contest. The prizes are $50 store gift certificates for the largest pike, largemouth bass, trout, pickerel, perch, crappie, salmon, and new this year, smallmouth bass. Tiger muskies have been dropped from the list as their stockings have been discontinued. Check out the web site at Onotaboat.com for a listing of the derby rules. *****
To prevent needless killing of nice fish, may I suggest that you check the Onota Boat Livery leader’s board to see what the leader fish are, and bring a copy of the minimum weights which qualify for a State Sportfishing Award (page 18 of the Fish & Wildlife Guide). Bring along a scale, too. That way you know whether or not you caught a money/pin fish and if not, you can release it unharmed if you wish.
As of this column’s deadline, the Onota Boat Livery’s listing of upcoming ice fishing derbies is not available. Much of the derby information has not yet been provided by the derby organizers. I will list it as soon as completed. Incidentally, there is a new derby this year, a fund raiser being put on by the Lanesboro Volunteer Firemen’s Association on January 25 on Pontoosuc Lake. (If unsafe ice, it takes place on February 1). It will run from 6AM to 3:30PM. registration and weigh-in to take place behind the Narragansett Park. Entrance fee is $10 for adults, $5 for kids. For more information contact Jeff Dechaime at 443-2321. *****
Questions/comments: Berkwoodsandwaters@roadrunner.com. Phone/fax: (413)-637-1818.