| Summary: | trapping vbl n animal trapped on the ice, therefore, considered to be a chance catch, and the trapper could not be accused of stealing fur from someone, as he would be if he had placed a trap near a den on someone's land. The ice is frequented by the Arctic fox, a fur not especially sought by the people of Postville. Eddy Jacque commented, "That's for white fox now. Anybody can set (traps) on the ice. We always called it kind of free on the ice." Although anyone may trap on the bay ice and along the coastal area, it is as necessary today as it was in pre-settlement days to demonstrate ownership of a trapping area around the bay itself. For trapping land to remain in a family's or an individual's possession it must, according to local custom, be trapped every year. Even if a man is no longer a serious trapper, said Douglas Jacque, he will set out a few traps in the fall "to say you claims your land." Should someone, said George Sheppard, "leave a trapping ground for one year, by law anyone at all can come in. You can't say a word to him." In general, though, the poeple of Postville are not aggressivly protective of their rights. A trapping ground could remain unused and unclaimed for a few years, but should it remain untrapped, with no indication that its owner is going to trap it in the future, then possibly someone else could claim it by placing his traps there. Should a man grow too old to trap, or lose interest in trapping, he might ask a relative or a friend to trap his land to show others that it is still claimed. One man was so concerned that an unscrupulous brother-in-law might take from him a trapping territory that had been worked by his family for 133 years that he drew up a legal agreement with a friend, whereby his friend might trap the land, and take 90 percent of the profit, until the owner's heirs or successors wished to use the land. Among the older people, tradition and local custome are strong, and a trapping area is a cherished possession to be kept in the family. On this point Douglas ...
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