Young trappers help farmers

Hunter Lang sold his first fur when he was only five.

“When Hunter was little, before he started to try and trap big things, he would set little traps and he finally trapped a squirrel,” His mom, Jennifer Lang said. “He insisted to his dad that he was gonna skin that squirrel out. And when it came time to go to the fur auction that year, he wanted to take that squirrel.”

Back then, they would take the furs to an annual auction.

“He had this little tiny gray squirrel hide that didn’t amount to nothing,” Jennifer explained, “but those auctioneers let him get up on their auction table and he held his squirrel up and he got 80 cents for that squirrel. He was so proud.”

Hunter is 16 now and drives to check the traps he and his brother Jake set on the family’s 70 acres of land about a mile east of Birdseye; or in the nearby Hoosier National Forest and on farmers’ properties. This year the pair trapped 32 coyotes, 29 coons, 18 muskrats, 10 foxes, and eight beavers, earning $1,212.50 from the fur buyer, Ronnie Bloebaum. Bloebaum has been purchasing furs in the area for years. He sends them to the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company — considered to be the oldest corporation in North America — and they sell them to manufacturers all over the world. ”

They are used to make hats, gloves, jackets, and some other things,” Jake explained. “A lot of them go to Russia to make clothes and stuff.”

It is hard-earned money and if you consider the amount of time they spend setting and checking traps each day, then skinning, fleshing —removing the tissue from the skin—, stretching, and drying the furs carefully, they probably don’t break even. But time is a gift for youth and it’s all profit to be used to attend the National Wild Turkey Federation Convention held in Nashville, Tenn. next weekend. Any left over will go to hunting supplies or equipment.

Other than the obligatory cellphone, the two spend most of their free time outdoors and away from electronics. Jennifer credits the boys’ dad, Billy, and her dad, Mark Houchin, with instilling the love of the outdoors in the two. “He [Billie] had them out hunting and trapping since they were very young. Hunter shot his first coon out of a tree when he was three,” she said.

Hunter passed the written hunters education test by the time he was six and a half years old. He couldn’t read the questions so an instructor read him the questions.

It isn’t all about the hunting either, they eat just about everything they catch. “I came home one day after they had been out crow hunting to find Hunter frying crow in a skillet,” Jennifer said.

She told him that people don’t eat crow and Hunter replied, “yes they do mom, I saw a recipe for it on a hunting show.” The boys ate it and said it was pretty good.

They also do it because it is helpful for landowners. Beavers and muskrats damage trees and destroy waterways and ponds. Beavers cause millions of dollars in damage to private and public property by flooding areas and changing drainage waterways.

By catching coyotes and foxes, the populations of deer, rabbit, and wild turkey have increased in the area around their home. “I saw 30 turkeys this year,” Hunter explained. “More than I have seen in a long time.”

Coyotes are also dangerous to domesticated animals. They kill calves, goats, chickens and love to eat domesticated cats, according to Billie.

“This year, the boys received a call from a man who was in desperate need of help; coyotes were killing his sheep,” Jennifer said. “My husband and the boys were there the next day setting traps.”

And they did it for free.

Billy and Jennifer also have two older boys they adopted, 18-year-old twins Tyler and Todd, and they have fostered over 80 kids through the years. According to Billy they all get some outdoor experience when they are in the Langs’ care.

This means a lot to Jennifer who sees hunting and trapping as essential skills that many kids miss out on.

“I absolutely love the fact that my boys are exceptional hunters and trappers,” Jennifer said. “and I can’t thank God enough for allowing me to be their mom.”