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Thread: Trapping

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    Tracker Beo's Avatar
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    Default Trapping

    Just got this from my bro Madicine Wolf as an email about updates on trapping, for those that don't know him Medicine Wolf is an old Army buddy of mine who works for the government as a Ranger up in Montana.

    The human activity of animal trapping has two separate but related meanings. Firstly, it describes the hunting of animals to obtain their furs, which are then used for clothes and other articles, or sold / bartered (see fur trade). Secondly, trapping relates to the use of traps to catch animals for a variety of other purposes, most usually for food or pest contol.
    Trapping requires more time and energy than most other hunting methods but can be very efficient. For this reason, trapping is safer and less expensive for the hunter, but in modern times it has become controversial for its alleged cruelty.
    Trapping is regularly used for pest control most commonly beaver, coyote, raccoon, cougar, bobcat, opossum and fox in order to limit damage to farming, ranching, and property. Federal authorities in the United States use trapping as the primary means to control predators that prey on endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox, California least tern (a type of bird) and desert tortoise. It is used to reduce numbers of predators in order to increase the populations of quarry species for hunting. It can also be used to control over-population or control diseases such as rabies, mange, and tularemia. Trapping is also used for research and relocation of wildlife.
    Many wildlife biologists support the use of regulated trapping for sustained harvest of some species of furbearers as an effective method of managing or studying furbearers, controlling damage caused by furbearers, and at times reducing the spread of harmful diseases, and for economic benefit, subsistence, and as a legitimate recreational activity. Biologists who study wildlife recognize that regulated trapping is a safe, efficient, and practical means of capturing individual animals without impairing the survival of furbearer populations or damaging the environment. They also support regulatory and educational programs, research to evaluate trap performance and the implementation of improvements in trapping technology in order to improve anmimal welfare.
    Snares are anchored cable nooses set to catch wild animals such as foxes, rabbits and coyotes. They are also widely used by subsistence and commercial hunters for bushmeat consumption and trade in African forest regions.
    Snares are one of the simplest and are claimed to be one of the most effective traps. Made of galvanized aircraft cable, they are cheap to produce and easy to set in large numbers. A snare traps an animal around the neck or the body and tightens around the animal, restraining it. They are widely criticised by animal welfare groups for their alleged cruelty. UK users of snares accept that over 40% of animals caught in some environments will be non-target animals. While in the USA non-target catches reported by users of snares in Michigan are just over 10%. Some scientists believe that in animals which are trapped, pressure necrosis may have caused hidden injury to the animal, and that trapped animals should be taken to a vet rather than released. However, modifications and regulations now provide working snares that have relaxing locks that do not cinch down, break-away locks that open up after 250 pounds of pressure are exacted (allowing large dogs, calves and deer to remain unharmed), deer stops which prevent the snare from closing down so far as to catch a deer's leg, and live-catch stops that prevent the snare from closing to a point that chokes an animal of a certain size. Powered snares use the option of a spring to deposit the snare on an animal's leg or neck through the triggering of a spring mechanism.
    Foothold traps or leghold traps
    Probably most commonly associated with trapping, the leghold/foothold trap is made up of two jaws, a spring of some sort, and a trigger in the middle. When the animal steps on the trigger the trap closes around the foot, preventing the animal from escaping. Usually some kind of lure is used to position the animal, or the trap is set on an animal trail. Leghold/Foothold traps set for beaver, mink, river otter, and muskrat are positioned in shallow water along the shores and banks of rivers, lakes and ponds. The trap is attached to a weight sunk in deeper water. The animal, when caught by the foot, tries to escape by diving into deep water and drowns. Traditionally, these traps had tightly closing jaws to make sure the animal stayed in place.
    Modern trappers have found that steel traps with thick smooth jaws are as effective and most modern traps have a gap called an "offset jaw" or a padded jaw that reduces the chance of injury to the animal. The belief an animal will chew off their own foot to escape a trap is erroneous. Older traps came in a single size. This large size was designed for the large back feet of beaver. Since manufactured traps were limited, trappers used the same sized trap on raccoon as they would on beaver. These traps would restrict blood flow and numb the caught foot. This was part of the design as it reduced pain. However, on large jawed traps, smaller animals could fit their noses underneath, and while they bite at the trap on their foot, would unknowningly bite their foot as well, resulting in damage. Today's traps are specially designed with different sizes for different animals, preventing this type of damage from taking place. The traps are often criticized for being indiscriminate, and non-target animals are sometimes caught in these traps, occasionally including dogs, cats, and endangered species. These animals are usually able to be released unharmed. Also, research has shown that these traps are not indiscriminate as sizes have become more varied, and sets (how a trap is placed and lured or baited) are regulated, preventing injury or capture to most non-targets. As a result the foothold/leghold trap has been banned in some countries and in eight U.S. states (Washington, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Florida, and Rhode Island). Trappers respond that a trapper knowledgeable about his/her target animal can set them so as to reduce the chances of other animals getting caught. Due to the fact that the foothold/leghold trap is a type of "live catch" trap, often "non target" animals caught, that have not been injured by the trap, can be released. Humane organizations criticize leghold traps for breaking animals' legs and leaving them in pain often for prolonged periods of time, but these traps do not break animals' legs if used properly. It is for this reason it is the preferred trap used for capture and relocation of endangered and threatened species such as Wolf, Otter and Bobcat. In states that have banned the use of the foothold trap, a number of issues have arose. In Massachusetts, the beaver population exploded from 24,000 in 1996 to over 100,000 beaver in 2006. This increase has shown in a recent University of Massachusetts study that 83 percent of beaver are suffering from emaciation, injury or disease. Also, due to the increase in beaver populations, there has been an increase in wetlands. The increase of stagnant water in the warmer gulf-stream climate has given way to a variety of mosquito borne diseases including Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile. Cases of illness and death of humans as a result of this has increased by more than 300% in the past 10 years since the foothold trap was banned (though bear in mind that even with this 300% increase, fewer than 40 cases have been reported among humans in Massachusetts in the last 42 years). In 2006, it was shown that half (50%) of the raccoon population tested positive for rabies, and one in three skunks carried the disease. In 2007, it was estimated that the coyote population in the state exceeded 10,000 animals. Due to the increasing numbers with no ability to effectively control them, diseases like mange, distemper and rabies have spread, and human/animal conflict has increased. Newer footholds on the market are known as dog-proof, and are designed to work only on raccoons. These traps are small, and rely on the raccoon's grasping nature to trigger the trap. They are sold as coon cuffs, bandit busters and egg traps just to name a few.
    There is no greater solitude than that of the Tracker in the forest, unless perhaps it's that of the wolf in the wilderness.


  2. #2
    Tracker Beo's Avatar
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    Default Continuing the letter...

    Cage traps
    Cage traps are live cages. They are usually baited, sometimes with food bait and sometimes with a live "lure" animal. Cage traps usually have a trigger located in the back of the cage that causes a door to shut, preventing the animal from escaping. Supporters of cage traps say that they are the most humane form of trapping, and in some countries are the only method of trapping allowed. However studies have shown that animals restrained in cage traps often break claws, teeth, skin their faces and must be euthanized as they cannot survive in the wild, certain to starve or die of abscesses and infection. Cage traps are used by animal control officers to catch unwanted animals and move them to another location without harm where permitted, as well as by gamekeepers to kill birds and animals that are pests. Relocation of wild animals is prohibited in most states, or highly restricted, due to predation and territorial victimizing that takes place on the transported animal, resulting in certain and often slow death. Cage traps are useful in catching large dangerous animals for transport and are a favourite of Australian crocodile trappers. Due to their bulk and cost, they are hard to set in great numbers and remote locations.
    After getting his trap letter I just thought it might be good info
    There is no greater solitude than that of the Tracker in the forest, unless perhaps it's that of the wolf in the wilderness.

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    Senior Member Ole WV Coot's Avatar
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    This may sound silly but I had a house built in N. VA and had a problem with starlings(big black birds) and sea gulls. My back gutter held a little water and became their watering hole making a mess of the back of the house and patio. I couldn't shoot the suckers but I did have a dozen #2 steel traps. I set them all over the patio and just a little bait on the pan and presto, no more cleaning the back of the house after several days. Very quick just OFF WITH THEIR HEADS !!!!

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    missing in action trax's Avatar
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    Well done on the information Beo, I'd recommend anyone considering traps to read this thoroughtly. Where's MW? Tell him hi!.
    some fella confronted me the other day and asked "What's your problem?" So I told him, "I don't have a problem I am a problem"

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    Tracker Beo's Avatar
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    He's called a couple times, says he been real busy as the so called "hard core" hikers and campers try their hand at roughing it in the wilds of northern montana during the winter months. He's been pulling their azzes out as they suffer from frostbite and freezing their butts off due to not knowing how to live in really cold weather or just make it a week. Sounds like good info for those that come on here saying they're going into the wilds with limited supplies and their knife don't it.
    There is no greater solitude than that of the Tracker in the forest, unless perhaps it's that of the wolf in the wilderness.

  6. #6
    missing in action trax's Avatar
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    Hear that. Unfortunate for someone in Medicine Wolf's position that there's too many of those and not enough of us. Hope he's directing them to the site after he thaws them out, LOL. "go to wilderness survival dot net and learn something before you come back, greenhorn".
    some fella confronted me the other day and asked "What's your problem?" So I told him, "I don't have a problem I am a problem"

  7. #7
    Senior Member LadyTrapper's Avatar
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    Great post Beo!!!!
    ~Earth receives foot and paw, hoof and claw with equal grace. But it is the way of the wild not to overstep...let's leave no trace that wind, rain and snow cannot erase~

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    Great info.

    I knew alot about trapping from helping my father as a youth, but I still learned a great deal just now.

    Thanx.
    "There is a saving streak of the primitive in all of us" - Euell Gibbons

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    Senior Member Smok's Avatar
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    I posted this site for snaring but some may not know of it so here again www.trapperman.com
    Last edited by Smok; 03-08-2008 at 02:02 AM.
    Do it with what you got and you want need what you don't have

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I think that link went belly up, Smok.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  11. #11
    Senior Member Smok's Avatar
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    there I think that got it
    Do it with what you got and you want need what you don't have

  12. #12

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    Great info. A Must read for all the want to be mountain men and city commandos! Some incite on what it is really about!

    Don
    No one knows more about a task then the person that does it, Practice makes perfect!

  13. #13
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Great site, Smok. Tons of information. Thanks!
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Senior Member flandersander's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Beowulf65 View Post
    Just got this from my bro Madicine Wolf as an email about updates on trapping, for those that don't know him Medicine Wolf is an old Army buddy of mine who works for the government as a Ranger up in Montana.

    The human activity of animal trapping has two separate but related meanings. Firstly, it describes the hunting of animals to obtain their furs, which are then used for clothes and other articles, or sold / bartered (see fur trade). Secondly, trapping relates to the use of traps to catch animals for a variety of other purposes, most usually for food or pest contol.
    Trapping requires more time and energy than most other hunting methods but can be very efficient. For this reason, trapping is safer and less expensive for the hunter, but in modern times it has become controversial for its alleged cruelty.
    Trapping is regularly used for pest control most commonly beaver, coyote, raccoon, cougar, bobcat, opossum and fox in order to limit damage to farming, ranching, and property. Federal authorities in the United States use trapping as the primary means to control predators that prey on endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox, California least tern (a type of bird) and desert tortoise. It is used to reduce numbers of predators in order to increase the populations of quarry species for hunting. It can also be used to control over-population or control diseases such as rabies, mange, and tularemia. Trapping is also used for research and relocation of wildlife.
    Many wildlife biologists support the use of regulated trapping for sustained harvest of some species of furbearers as an effective method of managing or studying furbearers, controlling damage caused by furbearers, and at times reducing the spread of harmful diseases, and for economic benefit, subsistence, and as a legitimate recreational activity. Biologists who study wildlife recognize that regulated trapping is a safe, efficient, and practical means of capturing individual animals without impairing the survival of furbearer populations or damaging the environment. They also support regulatory and educational programs, research to evaluate trap performance and the implementation of improvements in trapping technology in order to improve anmimal welfare.
    Snares are anchored cable nooses set to catch wild animals such as foxes, rabbits and coyotes. They are also widely used by subsistence and commercial hunters for bushmeat consumption and trade in African forest regions.
    Snares are one of the simplest and are claimed to be one of the most effective traps. Made of galvanized aircraft cable, they are cheap to produce and easy to set in large numbers. A snare traps an animal around the neck or the body and tightens around the animal, restraining it. They are widely criticised by animal welfare groups for their alleged cruelty. UK users of snares accept that over 40% of animals caught in some environments will be non-target animals. While in the USA non-target catches reported by users of snares in Michigan are just over 10%. Some scientists believe that in animals which are trapped, pressure necrosis may have caused hidden injury to the animal, and that trapped animals should be taken to a vet rather than released. However, modifications and regulations now provide working snares that have relaxing locks that do not cinch down, break-away locks that open up after 250 pounds of pressure are exacted (allowing large dogs, calves and deer to remain unharmed), deer stops which prevent the snare from closing down so far as to catch a deer's leg, and live-catch stops that prevent the snare from closing to a point that chokes an animal of a certain size. Powered snares use the option of a spring to deposit the snare on an animal's leg or neck through the triggering of a spring mechanism.
    Foothold traps or leghold traps
    Probably most commonly associated with trapping, the leghold/foothold trap is made up of two jaws, a spring of some sort, and a trigger in the middle. When the animal steps on the trigger the trap closes around the foot, preventing the animal from escaping. Usually some kind of lure is used to position the animal, or the trap is set on an animal trail. Leghold/Foothold traps set for beaver, mink, river otter, and muskrat are positioned in shallow water along the shores and banks of rivers, lakes and ponds. The trap is attached to a weight sunk in deeper water. The animal, when caught by the foot, tries to escape by diving into deep water and drowns. Traditionally, these traps had tightly closing jaws to make sure the animal stayed in place.
    Modern trappers have found that steel traps with thick smooth jaws are as effective and most modern traps have a gap called an "offset jaw" or a padded jaw that reduces the chance of injury to the animal. The belief an animal will chew off their own foot to escape a trap is erroneous. Older traps came in a single size. This large size was designed for the large back feet of beaver. Since manufactured traps were limited, trappers used the same sized trap on raccoon as they would on beaver. These traps would restrict blood flow and numb the caught foot. This was part of the design as it reduced pain. However, on large jawed traps, smaller animals could fit their noses underneath, and while they bite at the trap on their foot, would unknowningly bite their foot as well, resulting in damage. Today's traps are specially designed with different sizes for different animals, preventing this type of damage from taking place. The traps are often criticized for being indiscriminate, and non-target animals are sometimes caught in these traps, occasionally including dogs, cats, and endangered species. These animals are usually able to be released unharmed. Also, research has shown that these traps are not indiscriminate as sizes have become more varied, and sets (how a trap is placed and lured or baited) are regulated, preventing injury or capture to most non-targets. As a result the foothold/leghold trap has been banned in some countries and in eight U.S. states (Washington, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Florida, and Rhode Island). Trappers respond that a trapper knowledgeable about his/her target animal can set them so as to reduce the chances of other animals getting caught. Due to the fact that the foothold/leghold trap is a type of "live catch" trap, often "non target" animals caught, that have not been injured by the trap, can be released. Humane organizations criticize leghold traps for breaking animals' legs and leaving them in pain often for prolonged periods of time, but these traps do not break animals' legs if used properly. It is for this reason it is the preferred trap used for capture and relocation of endangered and threatened species such as Wolf, Otter and Bobcat. In states that have banned the use of the foothold trap, a number of issues have arose. In Massachusetts, the beaver population exploded from 24,000 in 1996 to over 100,000 beaver in 2006. This increase has shown in a recent University of Massachusetts study that 83 percent of beaver are suffering from emaciation, injury or disease. Also, due to the increase in beaver populations, there has been an increase in wetlands. The increase of stagnant water in the warmer gulf-stream climate has given way to a variety of mosquito borne diseases including Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile. Cases of illness and death of humans as a result of this has increased by more than 300% in the past 10 years since the foothold trap was banned (though bear in mind that even with this 300% increase, fewer than 40 cases have been reported among humans in Massachusetts in the last 42 years). In 2006, it was shown that half (50%) of the raccoon population tested positive for rabies, and one in three skunks carried the disease. In 2007, it was estimated that the coyote population in the state exceeded 10,000 animals. Due to the increasing numbers with no ability to effectively control them, diseases like mange, distemper and rabies have spread, and human/animal conflict has increased. Newer footholds on the market are known as dog-proof, and are designed to work only on raccoons. These traps are small, and rely on the raccoon's grasping nature to trigger the trap. They are sold as coon cuffs, bandit busters and egg traps just to name a few.
    For your fingers' sake i hope you didn't type that all out!

  15. #15
    walk lightly on the earth wildWoman's Avatar
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    What about instant kill traps? I don't have anything against hunting or trapping if it's for the consumption of the meat. What always bugs me though is the thought of some critter caught in a snare or foothold trap for days on end and dying a miserably slow, torturous death. I know that ideally trappers are supposed to check their traps frequently but in the Yukon for example they are now just required to check them after 7 days at the latest because most trappers ahve a regular job and are just on the trapline on the weekends. I don't find anything humane about traps that don't kill instantly. Are there any on the market that actually do, and if so, why aren't they used more? Would they do more damage to the pelt? But if the pelt is nowadays primarily used for fur trim on some anorectic model's g-string, why the heck does it matter?

  16. #16
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Wildwoman - The problem we have in the Midwest is domesticated animals. If you use an instant kill trap then you're probably going to grab someone's cat or dog. Here are the rules for Indiana. You'll probably shake your head but it's just a different environment.

    Foot hold traps
    It is illegal to use a foot hold trap with saw-toothed or spiked jaws. It is illegal to take any furbearing animal with foot hold traps size-3 or larger without offset jaws unless the trap is completely covered by water. It is illegal to set or place a stake, chain, drag, or another portion of a trap which is designed to take a wild animal except during a season established for trapping that wild animal.

    Snares
    It is only legal to use a snare to trap a wild animal on land owned by you or with the written permission of the landowner. The maximum legal circumference for snare loops is 15 inches, unless at least half of the snare loop is covered by water or if the snare employs a relaxing snare lock. A relaxing snare lock allows the snare loop to loosen slightly to reduce the possibility of strangulation. Regulations on snare size and lock are designed to prevent accidental loss of domestic animals.

    Body grip traps (Conibears)
    It is illegal to take furbearers with a Conibear, Dahlgren, Bigelow, or other killer trap which is 7 1/2-inches or larger in diameter or which is larger than 7 1/2-inches by 7 1/2-inches, unless the trap is completely covered by water.

    Box Traps
    Furbearers may be captured in box traps used on land or under water.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  17. #17
    Bayou Harden Cajun GVan's Avatar
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    Very interesting reading. Thanks loads it should come in quite useful.
    [COLOR="Red"][/COLOR]Survival is the art of steeling one's desire to overcome and surpass any situation with nothing more than personal will and fortitude.

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