Mountain Men: Tom FIGHTS for Survival in BRUTAL Conditions
over his 42 years living high in the rugged Northern Rockies Tom ORS endured nearly every hardship Mother Nature can do out Nancy and I don’t take living here for granted at all I mean they’re in a day that I don’t look at what we’ve got and they wow are you lucky but he’s never faced a once in a century pandemic before one that’s spread across Montana even reaching its remotest Corners was this new Co thing it’s just a strange deal and we’re just hoping we can pull through it you know just trying to keep a little distance
from everybody all right cat box we’re going to build a cat box here with a winter shaping up to be as unpredictable as ever Tom’s starting his season with a plan to get the most bang for his bck Bob gats are bringing a lot of money they’re about the only thing that’s bringing lots of money on the fur trade for the last four years Tom’s been trapping with the help of his Apprentice Shawn McAfee look that’s a beaver under the ice nice one the pandemic has put this partnership on hold leaving Tom to run his trap line
alone it’s a real bummer not to be able to have Sean working with me I’ll have to pick up the slack but I can do that all right this is just some some old scrap Cedar now 77 years old Tom’s not as mobile as he used to be so he’s aiming to trap smarter not harder a single Bobcat Pelt can bring in as much as $300 once Tom’s worked it into crafts this wire here is where the bait will hang so it’ll be right in the middle of the box and now there’ll be a a foot trap set at either end of it so in order for the Bobcat to get to the
bait he’ll either have to step on the Trap or over the Trap there’s a good chance that he won’t step over we’re going to use Beaver meat for bait all right we’ve got it baited the hard part is the Tre to reopen the 5m long trap line around his home home a job that Tom’s lately left to his much younger Apprentice the first run will tell if he still has what it takes to stand his ground in the mountains here we go it’s been a long time since I’ve run this line and it’s really hard on me cuz I’m so damn old you know but I’ve got the desire to
still do it you know so as long as I get my trap put out you got to have traps put out or you don’t catch nothing a good place close to a trail that the Bobcats would travel on a good dry spot like this to put the traps in going to take this box right here it’s got bait in it I’m going to put a trap at each end going to put Bobcat lure in it so they’ll smell it when they walked by in the trail well I just chopped out a hole in all these pine needles and then I’m going to set the Trap down into that hole bury the trap in it we’re going to
put a stepping stick they call this right in front of the Box that’ll make the cat step over it and right into the Trap this is what they call a cat attractant Bobcats have very poor noses so you try to attract them with eye medicine which is something shiny a cat walking off the trail would maybe see that glittering in the light and they’re so curious they come to stuff like that well this is a Christmas ornament and once they peek in there and see that meat hanging there you got a good chance to catch one there’s all kinds of little tricks
to the traffing trade that I’ve learned through all the years this is actually a weasel trap all the weasel box is is just a little square box and it’s got a nail that sticks out the back of it inside need some bait here you hang a piece of meat on that nail and you set a trap right in the entrance to the Box my weasles when I’m done doing what I do to them I can sell them for 100 bucks a piece we’re going to put this trap up on a tree for a pine Martin this is a killer trap they’ll go through it and hit that pin right there
and they’ll clamp on them and it’ll kill them and fall out of the tree and they’ll be hanging here up off the ground all right better keep going here wow there’s some wolf tracks I didn’t expect wolf tracks They went across here and jumped across that’s close to the house too and I’m going to put a trap in here guys this was just made last night first thing we’re going to do it’s a little foam pad that sits underneath the jaw we’re going to put this in a plastic bag wolves are certainly the toughest thing in North America to catch when you walk
up to your trap with the wolf yeah make your eyes sparkle we’re going to bury the Trap right in the top of the snow here highly intelligent wolves are wary of anything that looks suspicious so traps need to be concealed and carefully placed quite often the Wolves if they’re hanging in the same area they’ll be back on that same Trail and they’ll step in the same tracks as they travel back and forth some people are catching wounds with ashes we’re going to give it a try the loggers here lots of times at the site where they’re
stacking the logs and stuff they’ll start a big fire I’ve had these guys tell me you come back to that Fire 2 days later and it’s full of wolf tracks something about the ash who knows why but it’d be exciting to see wolf tracks headed toward it tomorrow when I go to check it Tom’s got Bobcat weasel Martin and now a wolf trap set and soaking until he makes the rounds again tomorrow tomorrow but for now he has to get back to the homestead before dark I just blew my Snowshoe out I got a hole in my Snowshoe the rawh
hide netting distributes the weight and prevents Tom from sinking into the snow with every step I still got a ways to go there’s no quick fix and with more than a mile to go Tom’s looking at a long walk back in Wolf country I probably won’t make it home before dark now Homeward Bound in Montana’s thick Darkness Tom’s limped his way to safety after a grueling opening day on the Trap line wellow how’s a long one wow what happened with you it’s dark oh no my heel every time I step my heel would go through it now you got to
fix that that’s a big project want some coffee yeah Tom needs to be out on the line at first light tomorrow to check his traps so the Snowshoe repair can’t wait yeah those all have to come off and fortunately Tom’s brother Jack moved to the yak Valley two years ago which comes in handy when Tom needs an extra pair of hands a new piece of Rawhide woven tightly in the original diamond pattern restores both strength and flexibility There You Go Thomas that’ll keep you out of the snow it’s a lot of hard work doing what
I do but it’s what I am you know I’ve been doing this trapping for 50 years and I’m not I’m not done yet good deal buddy I’ve still got a long trapping season ahead of me go and get some sleep you got some Snowshoe to do tomorrow looks like it love you brother in the Rolling Hills of Montana’s Yak Valley yeah oh we got something here veteran Woodsman Tom ORS got a knack for finding the fur he never knew what hit him even if he’s a little out of practice this little male short tail weasel first trap of the day Tom ran this Six Mile trap line for
more than four decades at 77 years old he’s not as agile as he used to be so to me make ‘s meat he’s covering all the bases we got one oh the old kind of bear set first by targeting low hanging fruit like weasels this is a long tail whizzle okay buddy come here when Tom’s done working on them each $2 catch will be worth a hundred all right this a good start another male short tail wh but not enough to keep them afloat at least we’re catching something so his big push this season is to snare enough of the highest priced
pelts on the market I’ve got Bobcat traps out and that’s what I’m really really after as a bobcat we’ll check those traps later on today and hopefully we’ll catch some with Tom back in the field n’s stepping it up at home to keep up their quota of handcrafted items well I am going to make a brain tanned Buffalo hide coat this is a hide that Tom worked very hard on and these guys are a lot of work these signature Goods multiply the value of a simple Pelt and support the ores throughout the offseason bison hides are
rare and a hand tailored furline coat even rarer with a thick fur providing some of Nature’s Best insulation it will fetch top dollar if expertly done you got to watch your steps because you sure don’t want to make a mistake measure many times and cut once you cannot go down to the Fab store and order another three yards of brain tan and smoked Buffalo hide so it’s not like you can replace it I’m cutting outside my line for a seam allowance that way I’ve got that much to do my stitching in I hope I’m doing this right cuz can’t get
another one it took Tom 10 days of work to flesh brain tan and smoke the Buffalo hide so they’ll make use of every inch the piece will be stitched together into a one-of-a-kind Overcoat worth more than $1,000 okay I trim this hair back so that every Stitch isn’t dragging through that much hair it’s kind of like a puzzle you just got to keep your eye on the pieces back out on the line Tom’s got three wheels diesels in his sled but he can’t make it through the winter on small fur his alone he’s got to snare a bigger payday
so he’s heading out to see if an unexpected opportunity is paid off I’ve got two wolf traps that I set the other day hoping that the Wolves would travel back the same Trail as what they traveled through there I can see there ain’t nothing in that trap Tom set a second trap to increase his odds a few yards from the first oh wow there’s a set of fresh wolf tracks in the snow we’ve had some action here just as Tom predicted oh wow the Wolves return to where he laid his trap it’s empty trap set off without anything in
it damn I just missed him which that happens I mean at least if you missed one there’s some action wolves are hard to catch when they walk through the snow and stuff some of these suckers feel that trap pan go and have such a fast reflex that they jerk up from that they’re the hardest animal in North America to trap with a price tag of $1,000 a single Wolf Pelt would be a good insurance policy to kick off what’s looking to be a tough season ahead ahead they’ve walked this Trail both ways so we’ll try it again see if it works this
time well you never know when they’ll be back or you know it all depends on on where they’re finding game and so it’s it’s pretty complicated trap is set right underneath that track so the next wolfes that comes through here if we don’t miss him we not get it Tom’s had mixed results today but he got one more trick up his sleeve going to take this box right here it’s got bait in it going to put a trap at each end and put Bobcat lure in it so they’ll smell one that walked by in the trap a series of bobcat boxes he built
by hand to Target one of the priciest pelts on the market but in trapping there are no guarantees no there’s nothing there I had one Bobcat come up to one of my sets said walk right up to the entrance of it and sniff it over and it decid that wasn’t for him I just need to I need to put some more lure in it the lure is made out of glands of the animal that you’re trying to catch and if the cat gets close enough to the set to where he can smell that other cat well now here’s a chance for this Bobcat to steal this
other cat food that’s the object of the whole thing kind of bother something that I haven’t caught a bobcat and those traps have been out in what I figured would be a really good area hopefully this will do something that’s the day on the Trap line three weasels was I mean it wasn’t much but I’ll be working all night skinning them suers I’ve got to do something with that weasel to make him worth that weasels are a real processed just skin they’re easy to catch but they’re hard to skin because they’re so small
I’m skinning out this weasel’s foot front foot most Trappers they whack all four feet off before they even start skin but we’re going to leave his little claws on the end of his foot make this into a $100 weasel instead of a $2 weasel it’s hard to make a living trapping anymore cuz the fur prices are so low so lots of the stuff that I trap I’ll go ahead and tan it and make something out of it and sell it for way more money than I could sell the raw Pelt very delicate work here we got the skin off after flushing the hide Tom will let
it dry overnight before brain tanning and mounting it for sale hi Hi how are you good how’d it go today pretty good caught some weasel didn’t catch any Bobcats though well maybe tomorrow maybe tomorrow you never know I’ve been working on the old coat here you’re right how’s that coming it’s coming right twirling The Fringe and I’m real close to done with that my last cuff Stitch the last Stitch huh all right prably you did a good job on oh thank you you did a good tanning what a team huh what a team in Montana a winter storm has buried the
yak Valley in 2 feet of fresh snow and with animals bedding down to survive the cold Tom or is taking the day off from his trapline to complete a lucrative craft with his friend will Stringfellow hey hey buddy did you give up on me how could I give up on you will has two bow staves trimmed and seasoned pieces of rare oage orange wood if they can be Whitted into 4ft Recurve Bows they can fetch up to $500 a piece what I’ve got here Tom this one here is but it’s no easy task Tom’s a a great bow maker I mean he’s well known for his bow making and
he’s a F at it make sure this is really crooked I mean you know really crooked they’re just half-made bows that have just kind of been Whitted out to shape it’s so bent but I think they were cut when they were green and there were still moisture in them and it put different Crooks into the wood on them well you think you can straighten that yeah I think I think we can do it buddy we at least we’ll give it a try o Sage Orange Wood has been prized for centuries for its elasticity it was used by French Trappers as early as the
1600s but shaping it to be a powerful and accurate tool takes time and precision we’ve got a fire pit and we’ve got a 4 in round pipe that has a steel plate welded to the bottom of it are you ready we fill the pipe with water you don’t want to boil it because if you boil it then it comes out and puts out your fire but it should be real close to Boiling when you put the bow St down into it and then you can bend it to the shape that you want it to be bent to all right let’s go boys cold weather like this it doesn’t take very long to
pull that out of the steamy water and start cooling down you know so you’re getting it to The Jig as fast as what you can get it to and hold it there Tom only has a few minutes to bend the wood on the Primitive jig before it cools and is no longer pliable right need a little bit more stick that back in okay with this bow Heating and bend and deal if you don’t get it the first time you do it again once the grip is straight Tom can focus on giving the bow its signature recurve shape tips that bend towards the target
it can be really hard to get them to be even don’t you pull that out there and let me see what we can do with this if they’re not perfectly symmetrical the bow string will not pull evenly and the wood could crack you got it it’s holding pretty good pretty nice little recurve in it we get the first recurve tip on and that looks good what do you think if we can do it to this end like that then we got it all right well good deal yeah heat that suck up one more time all right here I come reheating it hurrying back
over and getting it on the jig come on baby let’s do it this time we’re C man you what’s it look like now oh yeah it look straight yeah tip to tip yeah there oh that looks good well the big thing is put a string on it deer senu is an ideal material for a bow string because it’s both strong and flexible we’re going to string it to make sure that it’s tillered properly hold that string got you when the Bow’s strung it should be in a perfect angle but if one limb sticks down a little
further than the other well then you’re going to have to shave a little bit of it off to get the bow so it’s Square first time string it you want to be very very easy with it cuz when you pull that bow back and start putting pressure on it it better be good or you’ll end up with nothing what was that sound that was it it broke this look at this on the recurve bow they’ve put hours of Labor into crafting I wasn’t even quite to the knock yet with my string and I heard that sucker crack there it is right
there yeah if they want to salvage any potential profits they’ll need a reliable fix all that is is a little bitty surface crack right in the middle just above the handle of the bow so it’s in a spot that really don’t take a lot of pressure or bending what do you think if we just put a layer or two of senu across it it’ll keep it from breaking a senu comes off of an animal spine comes right off the top of the the back straps it’ll make it more powerful than what it is now I like the idea do G I was hoping was going to be shooting those Arrows by
now I thought we would be too the only thing we can do now is senu back the bow so it would reinforce this crack I think we’ll be able to save it all right the first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to back the bow with glue you’re going to get your hands messy the Primitive glue that we use that’s made out of boiled down buffalo hide scraps boiling the Buffalo hide releases Pro protein colloids that once condensed create an industrial grade adhesive we got to get this real sticky you paint the back of the bow and then
you soften down strips of sinu and string by string you lay them strips of sineu out on the back of the bow and glue them down each time you run out of layer you just glue it down that’ll keep that bow from ever breaking I hope see if we can get it to go around this hole got to measure twice cut once I’m going to try to put a beaver handle a beaver tail this is a a skinned out raw beaver tail it’s what they call rawh hide I’ll sew the beaver tail in the place and then the beaver tail will really dry out and it’ll shrink and
it’ll tighten right around that bow so it ain’t going in anyway this whole operation here is pretty primitive in addition of the new handle the spine of the bow has been reinforced with senu and covered with the skin of a western rattlesnake all right if it shoots as good as it looks I think we’ve made it all right there’s the deer will can you see it yeah barely okay this will tell the truth here all right is this straight oh yeah those are I worked hard on those we’ve got a lot invested in this bow so hopefully it’s
not going to break or crack or anything pulling back on I’m listening to the wood listening for any cracker noise oh nice that bow would when I first strung up and it made that cracking noise I thought well that’s that’s it but as it turned out we just kind of worked around that and and I think we’ve got it all repaired and the bow shoots good well I tell you what I like it want to make a quiver and bow case for it maybe out of Mountain line and and then we’ve got some other bows Will’s got a few more bows too we can
work on you know we get a little spare time all right thank you buddy primitive bows where else where else could you go buy a primitive bow at yeah that’s right it’ll be a good sale we’ll make some money it’s kind of a neat thing to do to jump from trapping to finishing up a a bow you know it keeps you from getting bored I guess in Montana’s Yak Valley Tom or is taking it one day at a time didn’t catch a thing today didn’t catch a thing to be safe he’s had to take a break from his partnership with Shawn McAfee during the global pandemic and
while he’s not having a lot of Luck running his trap line alone that doesn’t mean Shawn isn’t helping out where he can yesterday what he’s doing here Shawn dropped off a potential jackpot oh look at that huh all right Sean a raw Pelt from a wolf he trapped on his own once fleshed and tanned it could be worth more than $1,000 pretty rare deal right yeah pretty rare they they’re mostly in museums after letting it soak overnight Tom is now ready to get to work soaked it in water to bring back its flexibility and stretch to it next
thing is to flesh it let scrape all this little flesh stuff all off this side fleshing a hide requires a razor sharp blade and the Steady Hand of a master to scrape evenly without cutting through what we’re doing is just taking the tissue out little scrapings of meat and little pieces of fat all right we’re going to take her inside let’s put it on the frame and see can we get in here this is a stretching frame this is what we put the woles on to stretch their hides out after they’ve been skinned it’s a big old
wolf stretched out a pretty good size while it stretches Tom will prepare the next critical step a homemade brain tanning solution that helps soften the skin we need to get the brains spoiled to tan the hide with all right we’ll get back after it well it looks like it’s cooking let’s check it and see Tom’s working up a pot of a Trapper’s special recipe the Native Americans all said that’s the famous thing that every animal has enough brains to tan his own eyde we’ll find out well let’s use the wolf brains to tan the wolf hide
little bitty hole right there get them brains out through that that’s where the spinal column goes up through and attaches to the skull there’s Lin that our in brains and that’s what Tans these hides leathan is a fat that’s ideal for lubricating and conditioning the skin how they ever figured that out all all the things there is to rub into a hide to tan it but it took thousands of years to figure that one out after Tom’s extracted the brain matter he prepares the skull to be boiled they get 200 bucks for a nice
wolf SK we try to make as much money off of everything that we kill Nancy will boil it and she’ll cook it all and clean it all off and then whiten the skull a I got something for you oh boy well there it is I got the brains out of it and I cut most of the meat off of it and the lower Jaws in the bottom here okay so I separated that ready for the boiling okay I’ll do that I’m going to put some baking soda in with this and this kind of helps to pull the meat away from the bone and and it kind of whitens the skull the biggest
thing you have to be careful about about cooking this is to not overcook it you don’t want it to fall apart and you don’t want the teeth to fall out starting to separate away from the bone Nancy’s got a predator in the pot so you have to cook it without damaging it all of this stuff is what you have to be careful of and the teeth that you don’t overcook and lose those and they’re still together all right time to start picking the skull once it’s cleaned of all the remaining flesh it’ll be whitened and wired together for sale
where it’s worth about $200 this one when you can pull it off that’s great see how that’s lifted away from the bone and then there’s point where you need to slice a little so you peel peel peel then you get down to where you got to scrape scrape scrape out back in the shed the cooked brains are ready to apply the brains have to be worked all the way through the hide to the hair roots on the inside of the Hide I’ve tanned hundreds of deer skins but this is my fifth or six wolf maybe the I’ve 10 but I think I know enough we
can pull this off his Tail’s already starting to stretch and get whiter just from that one coat of brains look at it’s starting to suck them right in there once dried and washed the hide is then softened the hard way break it up to fibers in it and you do it by just stretching them I’ve got a hold of his ears right here pulling his head across there from now on it’s all hand pulling and working there isn’t nothing about brain tanning that isn’t lots of work can’t be lazy and do this most Tanners don’t have a very long
life of tanning usually their shoulders go out on them from working HIDs and pulling them and stuff so there aren’t very many old Tanners I’ll bet I’m one of the oldest going here really we might have this beat though boys it sure feels good to me it’s starting to come along now next we need to get this hide on the smoker so we can have it all finished the last thing that you do with a brain tan High to smoke it if it’s not smoked to me it’s not even brain Tan One once smoked the wolf skin he’s put ours into tanning could be his biggest payday
of the season this is Cedar that we’re going to put in here just to get this started and then we’re going to switch to the old rotten Cottonwood the rotten stuff puts up more smoke when it gets dirty you can throw it in the water wash it it comes out soft and clean and nice all right guess we got her going any h there’s the smoke all right what we need now is a wolf hide put on this sucker look at it is that beautiful or what look at that thing if that ain’t a beautiful wolf I ain’t never seen a beautiful wol a cloth skirt sewn onto the hide
fixes it to the stove pipe to capture an even flow from the smoker we’ll hang it over the smoker so the smoke go goes up inside the hide and comes out the mouth after 2 or 3 hours of that it’ll be sufficiently smoked take it on smoke every once a while you just untie your string and pick that skirt up and look up into that hide check out and see if it looks like there’s enough smoke all right I think we’ve got it we got a smoky wolf here gosh they’re big look at that should we take this skirt off and yeah
see what we got yeah see what what we got there isn’t it something to think about packs of these big things running around us I love it I love it good color smoked good color all right and you got the skull done too I did here check him out bit of a change I know well congratulations what a nice job you do on that Sean will be tickled to have that I’ll bet huh I hope so the art of brain tanning was a lot of work amazing Critter but H that’s what I do you know this is what what I enjoy you know so I’m happy with what I do and with the
life that I live Tom O’s 42nd season in the yak Valley has been one of the sparest in memory we’re fixing to go and do some Beaver trapping now with temperatures on the rise he’s making a push to finish strong and take advantage of every opportunity I got a call from this fell that lives up on the border there and he he’s got a beaver problem Beaver are beneficial to the ecosystem but if the population gets out of control they wreak havoc by damning up streams and destroying trees fortunately for Tom his reputation
for trapping Beaver is unrivaled I have no idea what I’m getting into I don’t know if the water’s deep I don’t know it may still be frozen of salad so I’ve just got to go up there and look it over understanding ice conditions is key for trapping beaver in Winter because it’s a lot more work to chop through a frozen pond than it is to set traps in Open Water there’s a good possibility I can’t even trap it yet those are the chances you take the area is so remote that roads only take Tom so far I’m looking for the North Fork of
the yak River to reach the beaver ponds he has to go the rest of the way on foot the river’s got to be just over here somewhere so we got to be close all right the river I see the river damn I see the river and it’s Sun there’s water running over it h looks dangerous as hell all right here we go if he’s to make it to the beaver ponds on the other side this is the worst time to trust the ice walk easy on it
well we got across the river all right let’s go see if we can find them ponds they must be up on that flat up there while navigating the thaw is dangerous the conditions could be just what Tom needs to bring home some valuable pelts all right there’s the pond this is beaver habitat right here look at it if that ain’t Beaver habitat what is if you can’t can’t catch a beaver here you can’t catch a beaver I think hoping for an area ripe with targets Tom’s brought a variety of traps all right this is the trickery of the whole de right here boys
and this is what the Beavers do they come up on the bank they’ll grab a bunch of grass and mud off the bottom they’ll put it up here on the Edge like this and then they’ll climb up on top of it and they’ll excrete this Beaver Caster onto it well this Beaver Caster that I’m using here is from a a different place so now the Beavers that live here they’ll come swimming along and they’ll smell that they got hell of a noses on them he’ll come here to check out this new guy in town piss him off he’ll be mad he’ll come to investigate
it and I bet you we’ll have a beaver here you can see the Beaver Dam here right in the middle of it is what they call the crossover that’s where the Beavers cross the dam if they’re going to go down below the dam and it’s usually a pretty good place to put one this is what they call a a dive stick the object of it is is the beaver will dive underneath these sticks which will put him right into the Trap and the trap will clamp on him like that and kill him that’s the object of the 330 conar it’s called get the safety
off all right it’s ready to fire now I got a bunch of traps out today and it’s a long ways back to the house now Tom’s laid out every trap in his Arsenal hoping to catch the motherload of Beaver on this remote stretch of the yak River do me good now he’s retracing his steps back to the truck oh look at that huh we got a beaver boys looks like a nice one too oh we just set that trap 4 hours ago I don’t think this has ever happened to me where I set a beaver trap in the morning and come back in the evening of the same
day and have a beaver it’s unusual to get a bite in so little time especially when trapping nocturnal animals that aren’t as active during the day and luck on my side we might as well set this trap again the early catch is an unexpected bonus and a chance to double his luck in the same spot come here bud success already that’s a pretty good deal I get to drag one Bieber home with me tonight I’ll be looking forward to coming back and checking my traps in the morning it’s always excited to wonder what’s going to happen the next
day might be a big beaver day boys oh we got one boys success we got a beaver this is where I caught the one yesterday oh he’s a big one nice head catch that was that submerged trap with the dive stick so he had to dive down and swim through it that’s close 50 lounder here’s a big one this is getting about as big as they come all right we got more traps to check we got a trap in here we got a beaver with three beavers snared in the same place it looks like Tom’s found the hot spot he was hoping for don’t look as
big as the last one but yet we’re catching beavers here Tom mom’s now sitting on $1,500 worth of fur and Counting this is the end of the line right here hallelujah we caught some beavers all right there’s two beavers now I’ve got four Beaver today and one yesterday afternoon so I got five Beaver that’s a many Beaver is what I’ve ever caught in one day I think Tom has not only put an end to the land owner’s nuisance problem he scored a late winter bonus just when he needed it most all right that’s success things are
are looking up for Tom more spring is coming soon to the isolated Wilderness of the yak Valley and for the ores that that means it’s time to go to market with all their winter Wares should we fill the Box yes beavers yeah normally what we’ve done over the years is we’ve worked our fannies off all winter get ready for rendevu we take all our stuff there and try to sell it all rendo are trade fairs dating back to the 1800s where Western Trappers and Craftsmen gathered to sell sell their goods we about got a full box here B I
see that how about that box getting dress oh right I really like this dress though and while this year’s Rendevous has been cancelled by the pandemic the community is coming together with a new plan want one of these Wolves yeah boy they’re big my buddy will Stringfellow has been working on this Trading Post now for a couple years it’s not completely finished yet but it I think it’s going to be a new way for us to be able to sell the items that we make we’re going to try it out see what happens I’ll get some more stuff going
here the neat thing about it it’s not just me that’s bringing stuff to Wheels but a lot of people that do the a lot of Artisans that do this old timey stuff will help Supply The Trading Post All Things From the Past stuff you could never find in a Moder day traded post hey are you ready for this oh yeah hi it’s going to be a heck of a trading postday yeah yeah Will will broke ground on the trading post last year but there’s still a lot to do to get it ready for business we’re going to chck these logs that haven’t been ched
yet there’s still lots of work to be done on the trading post just like mortar to Brick chinking creates a seal between logs that can expand and contract as temperatures change so what Will’s done he’s he’s packed it with insulation and it’s been chinked on the outside over the insulation and now we’re going to over the inside so that’ll make the building more warm historically chinking was made with a mix of mud or clay one of the things I’ve done before working right with the back side of thison but today an acrylic
compound is used that’s far more durable and forgiving if you just squirt a little a little water on it and mix it so you can smooth it out a lot better this is the new modern Ching really it’s a new material for an old technique back here and take a look at it appreciate your help on this it looks good maybe move on to the next project huh oh suckers are heavy heavy yeah we’re going to start putting some ceiling boards upstairs cuz all the ceiling is all still exposed with fiberglass got it yep the lumber that we have for the
ceiling is mostly red fur see what we got here they came from a local meal they’re just beautiful hey well will and I were working our fannies off on the trading post all right yeah can you nail it yeah we’ll see what happens all right Tom we got one up here I think it’s going to be a good thing the new Trading Post has a new ceiling oh you want to set it on the floor here yeah and will is helping Tom unload a Winter’s worth of hard work oh looks like a lot of goodies we got some stuff got your old kid bow there
huh yeah where should we hang it ah just whever you think the new Trading Post may be far from the crowds nice wolf here’s a BB cat but it’s the best chance Tom and Nancy have during the pandemic iot to make back what these pelts and crafts are worth Nancy and I didn’t go to Rondo last last year because of the pandemic we stayed home and taned and kept doing our projects and stuff but that’s where the Trading Post is going to help us a lot because we’ll be able to sell it almost the year round oh what do you got here oh this is
that Buffalo hide coat that we made I can’t believe Nancy let you escape with that yeah really the Buffalo hide coat is one of the rarest items in the Box matth had told me 10 days to tan it 17 hours of hand stitching because of the pains taking work it’s also the most valuable it’s still got its tail on it and could fetch more than $1,000 the Buffalo hide coats they’re always good sellers because they don’t come like that anymore these are turkey wing bone this is made out of the three Wing Bones in a turkeyy
wing they’re boiled down cleaned out they’re Hollow and it’s just rawh hide so it shrinks real hard and holds it all together it took a lot of Bones around the campfire before they figure that one out I’ll tell tell you and hopefully it’ll work out good for us we’re we’re getting quite a quite a collection going here starting to come along now be skin s them in there well there’s some throwing time Hawks you got a bunch of them one of the things I want to do I’ll set up a throwing block out there right and we’ll
have contest and you know I’d like for this Trading Post to be an active Trading Post I want them doing something talking about history this Trading Post it’s going to be really nice especially for the people here who need a place to sell uh their goods and then there’s always people that come to visit the yak Valley and you know they want to go somewhere and see some of the local people in and that’s the really cool thing about it hey you got stuff in the back I got stuff from our house and a few things from Jack and Connie all
right all right this is nice you guys yeah it’s working out nice there’s a lot of work in here Nancy and Tom have been in the Primitive Crow CFT business for nearly 40 years but they still appreciate every item water and the unique story it has to tell bead work beyond belief lot of hours of stitching trap and Tannon and then they move on that’s what they’re for hey hey hey all right what do you think of that nice is that in the middle uh your way just a t okay okay that’s good all right this is kind of a whole new little
chapter of a good thing yeah after the year with everybody’s had yeah and kind of a fresh beginning mhm yeah all right should we go home okay yeah it’s it’s really been a a big challenge this year hope we don’t have to ever go through it again hopefully everything is going to work out all right and I think it’s good hell it is it’s going to work out right it’s it’s get
