Trappers meet their quarry at nature’s elemental level during the bleakest months of the year. The winter growth of luxuriant fur, provoked by an evolutionary response to a weather cycle that long ...

VIENNA — Donald Webster took the dead muskrat in his hands, pinched the fur above its hind legs, drew a quick slit with his pocketknife and set about rolling the pelt over the animal’s head. “You’re ...