Heather Robbins
Apr 27, 2009
SOURCE: The Interlake Spectator
It’s not unusual to see two figures regularly heading for bush in the Fisher Branch area.
The two, father and son Cliff and Mark Skibinski, are probably out checking their traps.
“You want to check them every four or five days because if you leave a hide on the ground too long, the mice’ll chew on the fur and ruin the hide,” said Cliff Skibinski. “You gotta get on top of it.”
Skibinski says they’ll even ride out on snowmobile in the winter to their traps as long as it isn’t too cold, around -25 C.
“When we get a really cold stretch, even the animals aren’t moving around too much,” said Skibinski. “In the bush it isn’t too bad. Even in our snowmobile suits and helmets it still sneaks down your neck sometimes. We don’t have a fancy snowmobile where you can plug in your helmet and your visor stays defrosted.”
Skibinski says he’s acquired a second snowmobile specifically for trapping.
“If you go deep in the bush four-and-a-half miles away, it’s a long way to walk back in the late afternoon if you just have one snowmobile and it breaks down,” said Skibinski.
Skibinski said he trapped when he was younger, but gave it up until his son Mark showed interest in the art.
“He got me going on it because his classmates trapped,” said Skibinski. “He came home one day and said he wanted to try trapping. I said, ‘Okay, you’re a little young,’ and I got into it.”
Mark Skibinski, a member of his school’s 4-H club, says he got involved in trapping because of the excitement.
“Catching things (is most interesting,)” said Skibinski. “Once we caught a martin and a couple days later, we caught another one in the same spot.”
Skibinski says they also trap coyote, wolf, squirrel, weasel, raccoon and muskrat.
“We place traps in certain spots, like (where there’s) heavy spruce,” said Skibinski.
The Skibinskis, who use a power snare, prepare and sell their pelts to the North American Fur Auction.
“We skin the flesh,” said Mark Skibinski. “We scrub the meat off.”
Finding more young men like Mark, however, is getting more difficult.
Neil Brandstrom, a member of the West Interlake Local Fur Council, says he considers trapping a dying trade.
“It is,” said Brandstrom. “There’s only six people on our council. We’re trying to encourage kids to get into it.”
