The Red Flannel Rag

In my dad and uncles’ minds, there was no hunting season as planned by the

gaming authority today. They knew when the squirrels and deer were fattest and

therefore tender enough to eat. They started hunting squirrels in mid-September after

they had been eating hickory nuts for a month. They were not only fat then, but their

meat had a better flavor. Deer meat was good in the fall because it was fat; however, it

was also good in the early summer when they would often kill what he called a

“strawberry” buck. This was a deer with new antlers covered in moss. He had been

eating the early spring sprouts and shoots of new grass. My brother Larry claims they

are very fat, and the meat is really tender.

Dad, my brothers, and uncles trapped and hunted skunks, raccoons, foxes and

muskrats in the winter months. They sold the furs for a little extra money. They sold the

skins to Joe Kimble who owned a junkyard in Harrisonburg and also dealt with fur

traders. Kimble paid from twenty-five cents to three dollars a skin.

The highest priced skunk skin was a number one. A number one was black all

over with a white spot in the forehead and a white tip on the end of the tail. The next

best skin was a number two with a white spot on the forehead, a white tip on the tail,

and a white stripe down the spine. The price went down as the skunk skin had more

white on it. Sometimes an all white skunk skin would bring a quarter depending on the

time of year he was caught.

Since skunks roamed only at night, the men left the house with their hunting

dogs several hours after dark. They hunted until the wee hours of morning. When they

got sleepy, they found a barn, crawled into the hay with their dogs and slept until

daylight.

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