Last Fall, during a visit with my folks, Dad produced a batch of outdoor pictures that included today’s shot. Many other gems were also included in the stack of pics which was quite a treat. I had long thought that I’d gathered all of the family outdoor pics from a collection of photo albums and random envelopes but as it turned out there were more treasures to be had.

For me, it’s cool enough that this shot displays a collection of fox pelts as that species was not a primary focus of Dad and Uncle Dick. Instead, it was coons, muskrat and beaver that were the main furbearers targeted. To me, it goes to show that my trapping mentors simply knew how to get it done regardless of the quarry they had in their sights.

But wait, there’s more to this classic shot.

Dad’s hat is also a neat bit of trapping nostalgia as the emblem represents a group known at The Fur Takers of America which was founded in 1968 according to their website. I recall going to a meeting or two with Dad in the 70s and believe I even had a membership card of some sort, perhaps the youngest member in the local chapter, sounds like a good story anyhow. I seem to recall meetings being held at the Galesburg Moose Lodge and at one point I believe Dad and my Uncle Dick filled the roles of Secretary and Vice President, respectively.

Another fun aspect of this picture relates to the location as that is still my Mom and Dad’s driveway all these years later, close to the end of that dead end street on the banks of good, old Cedar Fork. That classic wood panel station wagon has given way to a parade of vehicles over the years but I have to say that it is outstanding to find it inadvertently preserved in this bit of outdoor family history.

The backdrop also makes me wonder if we are looking at a piece of West Central Illinois meteorological legend. The note on the back of the photo simply states 1978 season which leads me to believe that this photo reflects the 1978-79 trapping calendar year as the season has typically spanned from November into January and even March depending on the species pursued. As such, the snowfall behind Dad quite likely is part of what a March 3, 2014 Galesburg Register Mail article noted in stating, “Set in the 1978-79 winter, Galesburg received 52.8 inches of total snowfall during the astrological winter.” A National Weather Service bit covering January 1979 entitled The Brutal Winter of 1978-79 also adds, “Besides being a month for record snow, January was also the coldest month ever in the Quad Cities. The average temperature for the month was only 6.3 F. The second coldest reading ever occurred on January 2, when the temperature dropped to 27 F below zero.”

And here we are, exactly 39 years removed from that record low and I now call the Quad Cities “home.”  Luckily, in 2018 we’re only looking at a forecast low of -12 F. Talk to you later. Troy