Extreme Molecatching

[pip1968 2,490]

LOL, Pip, as far as im aware moles were never made in to trousers

 

Moleskin refers to the weave and pile of the fabric. I couldnt imagine somebody stitching a few hundred pelts togeather.But i bet it has been done

i know they used to use stoats or ermine in the making of capes that was worn in the house of lords or was it the beefeaters

[hutch6 550]

 

LOL, Pip, as far as im aware moles were never made in to trousers

 

Moleskin refers to the weave and pile of the fabric. I couldnt imagine somebody stitching a few hundred pelts togeather.But i bet it has been done

i know they used to use stoats or ermine in the making of capes that was worn in the house of lords or was it the beefeaters

They are known as horse-eaters now.

[Le Braconnier 49]

Moleskins were used for hats and waistcoats, but not for trousers. The term moleskin for trousers refers to the pile being able to be brushed both ways. They were also used to make wipes for plumbers when plumbers used lead piping and did a lot of soldering. These days there is a very small market for fly-tying but that's about it.

 

Back in the 1960's and 1970's my mate used to get good money for mole skins supplied to a hat maker in London. The skinning and preparation was long winded though. And back in the days before WWII the Yanks imported over 4 million mole skins a year from the UK.

 

Back to the original thread: All credit to you for working in those conditions. I ventured out the other day and set some traps, but we don't have snow. The persistent rain keeps that away. It's bad enough working in the wet let alone sub-zero.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Le Braconnier

[moxy 617]

Back to the original thread: All credit to you for working in those conditions. I ventured out the other day and set some traps, but we don't have snow. The persistent rain keeps that away. It's bad enough working in the wet let alone sub-zero.

 

I would gladly welcome some of the wet stuff Le Brac, Today was only trap retrive. A good dozen traps were reset but i wouldnt be hiking the moors in snow to go and set some.

I have tried to keep the job going over winter but im beat at every hurdle with the weather. Im just anticipating the minus 5's and the ground freezing to concrete. No traps in and no traps out.

Its going to be a busy old spring.

[Le Braconnier 49]

We've had almost continual rain since early December. Probably 5 or 6 days without rain in all that time. I've managed a few garden jobs but have left the farm where I live to its own devices for the most part until this week. I had a walk around with the dog a few days ago and noticed that a few moles had moved into old tunnels previously cleared. Five traps went in and three moles came out. I've taken another today, but I'm kicking my heels a bit now waiting for some new stock to repopulate the farm .

 

I bought some new gloves today for moling as I suffer from poor circulation. I've used those latex gloves Aldi sell for fishing but there is no feel to them and I end up taking too much soil out. So today I got some of those touchy feely garden gloves and they worked a treat. Plenty of warmth and plenty of feeling through the fingers.

[moley 115]

i,m fairly sure that mole skins were actually used for trousers or at least trouser fronts, being very hard wearing, i have seen an old photo of a moleatcher stood with his family wearing moleskin trousers

 

looking at your pictures , moxy, it reminds me of winter molecatching and digging out frozen or snowed in traps, not that i have to worry about the weather anymore

[mole trapper 1,702]

Moxy I like your style! He who dares freezes, got to be in it to win it and all that.

Bloody mad down here one job done four more come in, not complaining, but I do wish the rain would stop. I have actually worn a good pair of water proofs out since Christmas.

[Tiercel 6,986]

My Grandfather who was what was known in Wales as A Gaffer Haulier. (Was a foreman in the underground stables) Used to wear trousers made from mole skins. At that time there were no pit head baths the miners came home in the clothes they wore to work and had a bath in front of the fire. My mother told me that the trousers were never washed, just given a good shake out the back and worn till they wore out.

 

TC

[moxy 617]

Moxy I like your style! He who dares freezes, got to be in it to win it and all that.

Bloody mad down here one job done four more come in, not complaining, but I do wish the rain would stop. I have actually worn a good pair of water proofs out since Christmas.

I am mown out with work but the weather just isn't playing ball so I have to get in what I can when I can. Since the beginning of jan we have had around a weeks worth of ideal weather. A day here and there.

 

And don't get me started about waterproofs! That's becoming an expensive outlay.

[logun 91]

same type of ground as my mox,

[moxy 617]

 

same type of ground as my mox,

Grand in fair weather.

 

I was checking out all the stoat tracks shadowing the rabbits, comical really!

A track would run 40yds out from the walls and end in a latrine of sorts with both sets of prints, the stoats fresher than the rabbits.Then end in nothing!

Must be hard for them in these conditions.

But a good indication as to where to drop a sneaky fenn or BG

[logun 91]

My Grandfather who was what was known in Wales as A Gaffer Haulier. (Was a foreman in the underground stables) Used to wear trousers made from mole skins. At that time there were no pit head baths the miners came home in the clothes they wore to work and had a bath in front of the fire. My mother told me that the trousers were never washed, just given a good shake out the back and worn till they wore out.

 

TC

belive it or not tiercel,,, trousers were never made from mole skins

[Outofnowhere 93]

Gods own country tho Moxy no matter what the weather. Beautiful

[nothernlite 18,137]

Gods own country tho Moxy no matter what the weather. Beautiful

wheres that scotland?

[Le Braconnier 49]

 

Gods own country tho Moxy no matter what the weather. Beautiful

wheres that scotland?

You mean there is a God in Scotland? Is that what scares all the locals away to live elsewhere?