Heads up to hunters

[catfishkid]

Edit: So foot-hold traps basically just restrain an animal without damage?

I would have to say yes to this in the majority of cases. Most trappers use the right size trap for the intended animal. I would think that occasionaly you would catch some think in a trap that is to big. This might cause some damage. This is also a great reason to follow the law on checking your traps daily.

[Trapper J]

I will give an instance as to why I posted about this and hopefully put an end to the jousting.I didnt want to go into specifics,just straight and to the point,but that doesnt seem to work here.A couple of years ago one of my fisher sets had a coon in it that had been shotgun blasted.3 empty shell cases lay on the ground.This was on public land 300 yds.from any logging rd.Yes its legal to take coon at this time.Also this animal was dead before anyone came upon it.I know this because I know what a 220 bodygrip trap does to a coon when caught at the base of the skull.When caught this way they are stopped in their tracks.The reason I was reluctant about all this is because of the controversy on the 220 bodygrip and dogs.Im real consciencious where I put these sets.A gun-dog man myself.It would eat me up to come across a nice gundog dead in 1 of my traps.Havent caught 1 yet and hope I never do.I also preach to other trappers about this,if in doubt dont set a 220.

[picksbigwagon]

Trapping numbers are falling off are they not? I am sure there is a large number of us on here who don't trap, are interested in it (I am) but maybe not from the stand point that we are going to head out tomorrow morning and start running lines. I think it is an intergral part of the outdoors world but to me it seems so hush hush and quiet.

I agree that in the past the 220 coniber traps and dog issue got hot and I remember having to clean up a lot of that mess.

Educating us is far better than jousting. Exercise a bit of patience with us instead of getting mad and over reacting. I like being straight with people and people being straight with me, but when many of us have no idea the first thing about trapping, teach us. Many of us have no idea how to set traps let alone what to do if a dog is caught in one or what to look for out in the field when we are hunting. Cripes, 9 years ago, I walked into a bear baiting area, no idea what all the "food and garbage" was laying there and I was disgusted. It wasn't until a couple years later that it dawned on me that I had probably ruined someones bear bait. If I had seen their stand, I would have probably taken it down since it was on public land.

[BLACKJACK]

Three thoughts here:

1) How often does this 'animals being shot and wrecking the fur' really happen? Are we arguing about something that rarely happens? I've been deer and pheasant hunting for 40 years and have never seen an animal in a trap.

2) Trappers do need to police themselves and educate other trappers on how and where to set conibear traps, every time a dog is caught it just creates bad publicity for trappers. The attitude in that other conibear thread was that 'I have the legal right to set conibear traps and its up to the dog owner to learn how to free their dog/keep their dog out of the traps'. If conibear traps get banned some day, trappers have no one to blame but themselves.

3) On public forums like this you soon learn that people will say/write things that they wouldn't say to your face, you have the young hotheads, the sarcastic ahorns, the trouble makers, (raise your hand if you fit in one of these), you soon learn to ignore their posts, but then you also have the vast majority that are willing to give you good advice and post enlightening commentary. You learn to take the bad with the good.

[Trapper J]

Just for the record,it is pretty hard for me to get mad at words coming over a computer screen.Do I like to joust? Sure I do,Im a guy.I am one that would rather discuss things face to face than by words on a screen.Even a phone call works better than a computer as far as Im concerned.Nothin wrong with a good ,healthy debate. Getting back to the subject at hand ,I hope this topic doesnt shift to 220 issue. Thats been debated enough and I simply wont go down that road other than its a great tool when in the right hands or situation and can be dangerous to dogs when in the wrong hands.From my last post ,one can see why blasting fur for no reason fires me up.Im not the only trapper this has happened to.It ruins your day and what a waste.Ive said about all I can say about this.

[Acemac]

before theis post I would have shot anything I saw in a trap without thinking that was the wrong thing to do seems like the right thing to me. glad you posted this now I now it wrecks the pelt.

[Trapper J]

Thanks for your input blackjack.No I dont think it happens that often,what I fear is a young,new trapper experiencing something like this and never trap again.Just about any veteran trapper has a similar incident.Also stuff like this seems to be happening more recent than past.(less respect these days) Comment #2- You are right and Ive brought this up at the trappers assoc.board meetings.Because a few bad apples dont care or have no conscience,or common sense,it will ruin it for the rest of us.I believe its a matter of time and the 220 will be gone,this would be unfortanate for all those who use em the right way. comment #3 Im learning!

[picksbigwagon]

TrapperJ, can I ask you to maybe do a tutorial for us? Take some pictures of what you do? We do have a trapping forum, but I think if you could take some pictures of what your sets look like, how you set the traps, and what we as hunters should be looking for, it might help those of us out in the fields and woods better anticipate what might be down along that creek bottom or why that wooden box or five gallon bucket is doing out there.....I am a curious person and if I see something or smell something out in the woods, I will investigate.

[Trapper J]

I wish I was that computer savvy but Im not.I'll see what I can do with help from friends.As far as the buckets and boxes go the majority of these are out for fisher season which starts the same as muzzle loader season.I should also mention bobcat opens with fisher and runs until the 1st wkend. in jan.fisher season is 9 days.Trappers use baited buckets and boxes with the 220 during this time and for coon pretty much all fall.About the only time Ido this is fisher season.It was brought up a few yrs.back to start the fisher/cat season in mid Dec.Most birdhunters are wrapped up then.Fur quality is better, trappers are'nt competing with gutpiles and the dog conflict is pretty much over.That didnt get very far.It makes sense to me.If your out with your dog and you come across a bucket on its side or a wood box get your dog healed until you can check it out.I'll catch ---- from the trapping world for this.

[Musky Buck]

I come from a long line of trappers and is it that we trap private land only we don't have any issues or very rarely ? We ask the farmers if they have others using the land so we know everyones agenda and then we owe it to the animals to be diligent about checking our traps with frequency, thus if we can't check them when we should we pull them all until we can and reset. We have avoided a few areas of trapping as well because we could foresee maybe some issues that weren't worth the hassle.

[picksbigwagon]

TrapperJ, get some pictures taken, write it up the descriptions, and I can walk you through how to post the pictures with it.....

[Trapper J]

Sounds like your in farm country musky buck.Ive done a little trapping in the western part of the state and was never turned down on private land.Its a bit different where I do most of my trapping.Some is private but the majority is public.Yes,I would rather trap all private and there would be next to no issues.What ive found in farm country is more concentrations of critters in spots.(obviously because of cover) In the big woods country,critters are more spread out so a trapper has to spread out,which means public land.

[Archerysniper]

Trapper J, I'm going to try my hand at trapping yotes this year, we have far to many of them around here and only one trapper that I know of. If you have time like Pick's said if you could even give a written description on how to trap certain animals in the trapping section it would help me greatly. I have no clue but a huge problem with what they are doing to the deer,turkeys and pheasants in my area. The farmer where I turkey hunt killed 15 yotes last winter and said he hit a lot more that he didn't find.

Tonight while bowhunting about 5 minutes after I shot my deer a pack of yotes lit up about 500 yards away and then one about 60 yards in front of me gave a locate howl so I was glad I made a good shot because if I had to leave it till morning it would have been gone.

Oh by the way I saw a really nice fisher eating berries out of a tree on my way to the stand tonight, first one I have seen.

[Trapper J]

Archerysniper I'll help you out if I can.I have trapped a handfull but probably see more wolf sign than coyote.We're kind of in a unique area where we have a lot of differant predators but not a big population of any one kind.A great source that I learned specifically about coyotes and trapping them is from a guy named Mark June from Nebraska.He has put on demos at the Mn trappers conv.and has an excellent 80 page book called coyote trapping.I can do better over the phone or showing someone in person than here,IT took me 15 min. to type this.My # is in a couple of previous posts you can surely give me a call.

[HunterLee]

trapperman dot com is a great HSOforum to learn and see pics

[Grayfox]

Here's a few items from the Wisconsin Trapping Regulations. I think it best to try and educate the non trapper instead of the name calling. Hunter Lee has posted some great information on here and I'll try to post up some pictures of some sets in a couple weeks in the trapping forum when I start trapping to better educate and inform. I'd like to ask that if you find an animal in a trap, please leave it be and respect that person's right to trap. If it bothers you to see the animal, please call a CO instead and report the location and time to him and he'll most likely check to see that the trap is checked within the 24 hours and properly tagged with the trappers information.

Rob

Trap and Animal Theft: Stealing or molesting traps, cable restraints, snares,

animals, or the contents of any lawfully placed trap, cable restraint, or snare

is a criminal act and is punishable by fine ($300-$1,000), imprisonment (up

to 90 days) or both, and a mandatory 5-year revocation of license.

Trap Checking Requirements

Dry Set—Dry sets must be checked at least once each day and any captured

animals removed from the set.

Water set—Water sets must be checked at least once each day and any captured

animals removed from the set—unless the set is a drowning set.

Drowning Set—Sets capable of drowning must be checked within a 4-day period

following the last tending of the set. Any captured animals must be removed

from the set unless it is an under ice set. You must monitor water levels to ensure

effective drowning sets.

Under Ice Set—There are no mandated trap checking periods for sets made

under the ice.

Trapping Hours

Legal trapping hours are from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. provided the season is open.

[swamptiger]

If you want to key in on a specific animal like a coyote, things like trap selection and the type of set you are using are important if you want to be successful. I would second Trapper J's recommendation for taking a look at Mark June's methods for coyotes. I have seen his demonstration as well, and he is very knowledgeable about yotes. I believe he is also a biologist if I'm not mistaken.

Also second taking a look on the trapperman HSOforum for specific information on different species.

[Archerysniper]

Thank you for the info guy's and I will definitely do some reading, and when I have problems and failures I will post my many questions in the trapping section. Man the yotes were active again tonight. I don't even gut my deer where I hunt to keep them away as much as possible, at least 3 or 4 packs within hearing distance.

[Trapper J]

I've done some checking into posting pictures with a couple of friends and have come to the conclusion that I simply dont have the the time and probably not the greatest computer for this.These last few weeks I've been off work and thats why I did some posting.I will check on the furbearer section when I can in the future. Another thing I want to mention is that this forum stuff can get real addicting and consume ones time and I would rather be out in the woods or water than in this chair. As far as what got this all started,I still stick by my guns that anybody that purposely destroys furbearers in traps is a lowlife.I will not show any respect to this.I do not believe anyone here is in that category.Some refer to this as name calling.I call a spade a spade.To me its no differant than shooting a deer and leaving it lay or catching a musky,gutting it and throwing it back in the lake.Anyway,Im gonna see if I can catch a musky this morning and sign off.

[cbrooks]

Hopefully you can get some pictures up Trapper. I'm new to gun hunting with a dog so any info to avoid a accident would be greatly appreciated.

BTW alot of farmers in my area would love to have somebody trap coyotes. There isn't a better way to control the overpopulation of yotes.

[BLACKJACK]

I'm new to gun hunting with a dog so any info to avoid a accident would be greatly appreciated.

cbrooks, your best bet to avoid trappers and their traps is to avoid hunting near roads, ditches, etc that border creeks, drainage ditches, ponds. Trappers want to cover as much ground as possible and most of them run their trapline from their pickup and will be setting their traps near and in those water areas.

I almost had a bad experience about 10 years ago, was hunting pheasants along a big open water swamp that bordered a road, letting my lab hunt in and out of the 20 yard wide strip of cattails bordering the road, all of a sudden she let out a big yip and came running back to me, a spot of blood on her nose. I thought what the heck and went to check. In the cattails, in a beat down path that raccoons use, was a big conibear trap. Legal or not, I don't know, but I was a few inches away from losing my dog. I hate to think what my reaction would have been, I was younger and hotter back then, I might be in jail after I confronted that trapper. The only consolation I got was sending that trap out into the deep water to swim with the fishes.

Nowadays my dog goes on heel when I get close to a road where trappers might be stopping and setting traps.

[shawn1982]

[Note from admin: Your post has been edited. Please read forum policy before posting again. Thank you.]

[wannafish2]

WOW! Can't we all just get along?

I have never been a trapper, but.....keeping that in mind and also that this is just my opinion....I will contribute that as sportsman we all have had a conversation or interaction with someone who does not understand the sport we have passion for. But really, we don't expect to change the way they feel about it, we just want to defend our position and why we love it. So, even within our sport of hunting, there are differences of opinion on how the animals are taken, bow, gun, trap, whatever. I may never trap an animal, but I also will not pass judgement on someone who does. If I am hunting a tract of land, I understand someone else may also be enjoying their passion in their method...and I will not trample on it.

However, I will assume that the persons who encounter an animal in a trap and dispatch it are simply misinformed and think they are putting the animal out of its misery. Now, if this is a recurring problem, I wouldn't think it is an anti trapper, or even an animal lover (who probably would take the trap with them) but maybe some (and I am not trying to categorize anyone), but maybe a younger teen who gets kicks out of shooting a trapped animal and is returning to the area to repeat the process? in which case that person(s) need to be caught and held responsible for their actions and educated on the law.

Just my .02

[shawn1982]

Trapper J...let me rephrase my opinion on your topic since it was kindly erased! I'm not against trappers and what they do. BUT....if you want to do it you should do it on your own land or someones land you know. Public land where anyone can walk into your trap that you have hidden is not the place. To many ppl and dogs out there walking around and not knowing where your traps are. Secondly you wouldnt have to worry about ppl putting a hole in your animal that puts cash in your pocket. I mean that is why God put them here right????? Everybody on this site is an apparent sportsman and they know what ppl trap animals for so shooting them and putting a hole in them is probably not the best idea but in my own opinion I am not gonna let an animal suffer. I will find the best way to end his misery without ruining your "income". Doesnt that sound sad to anyone??? Your lucky they dont take the animal and his pelt for themselves and also your trap for that matter. Just saying maybe you should choose to make your money elsewhere or somewhere else...LIKE YOUR OWN LAND!

[LOTWSvirgin]

Why should us trappers have to stick to only trapping our land and not public I pay taxes just like you do for the public land that I trap on Maybe you should just keep to walking and hunting your own land so I dont have to worry about your dogs There is also a lot more to trapping then just making money if it was as easy as that everyone would do it