anger on the trap line!!!

So yesterday I pull up to a couple sets and see a hunters car there, no big deal. Then I see him, and I thought great it'll give me chance to introduce myself (its private ground which both of us have permission to use). As I get closer to him and my set, I see my coyote, the biggest male and most prime I've got so far, taking his last few breaths. His first words ( a 20 year old kid, old enough to know better) were ah, ah I shot your coyote, I didn't know how long you were going to be. He shot it with a bow and a mechanical with about a 1.5" diameter. I kind of got after him a little bit, calmed down, and he had a few questions so I explained a little trapping 101 to him, along with some sportsman ediquette. I actually really let him off easy. I'm still super (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) about it. Just what would give someone the idea that something like that would be OK? I'm gonna try stitch holes up tonight. You folks have any input or stories that have happened over the years?

At least you got the coyote and a chance to confront the guy. Most of us don't get that chance and the trap is gone also.

That stinks, big time

WOW-fact is stranger than fiction.Kid wasted $10-$20 broadhead and got scolded and you got your trophy ruined.

Had a beaver like that once. Local bowhunter put down my huge snared beaver caught just off the dam he used to cross over the drainage ditch to his hunting ground.
At least yours only had ONE "X" in the hide, mine was RIDDLED.
Super peeved when I hauled it home to assess the damage.

Ive had so many coyotes destroyed over the years by hunters who for whatever reason couldn't resist the shot opportunity. Shotguns, high power rifles, you name it. Shotguns were easy to see what happened, always a few empties laying nearby. The high powers...some were close, some were not, but all left gaping holes.

Sometimes they would even take or smash up the trap after their deed to add insult to my injury. I still keep a flattened #2 long hanging over doorway of my skinning area. A constant reminder of how I need to hide sets from the road...someone who encountered my catch also didn't learn the woodsmonship ethics from their father, evidently. Couldn't steal my trap but did take the coyote in it. Lots of boot prints and spent .22 casings. I had just switched to earth anchors on cable because I was tired of stake pulling thieves. Judging from the multiple sets of tire tracks over my trap I can only imagine how many times he backed up and drove over my trap multiple times. I wish the dog or pan would have pointed up better and destroyed his tire, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Mostly I hoped he did try to pull the trap first and maybe threw his back out, which may have caused him to use the truck instead. One can only hope, one can only hope...
Was last time I ever trapped that farm. The landowner wanted me back but I couldn't take the losses and that was 90s when coyotes weren't worth a lot. Farmer said I was only one with permission. Didn't matter.

Jim

I don't trap during our rifle season for that reason.
Happened twice in 15, both gave the same answers
I thought it was going to pull free. Call me mean but I got each one kicked off of the farms they were on.
If you can't be respectful of other people, you don't need to be out there with others people.

To the OP. I would have called the land owner and then the warden.

I think you handled it well. I see others would have handled it differently by trying to get him kicked off the land, calling the warden, etc. but your way makes the most sense to me. You chewed him out, but then took the time to explain trapping to him. Maybe your doing so will lead to him getting into trapping himself. But if not, at least maybe now he knows better to shoot someone's critter in a trap. I really don't think fur damage ever enters into hunter's minds when they shoot a trapped animal. I think they think they're doing a good thing by a) putting the animal out of it's misery and b) preventing it from getting out of the trap.

I wish somebody would start a thread about catching thieves and the thieves getting their butt handed to them,I would but my stories all end with he got away......

I had a fox and trap stolen one time. It was on public land and it was always the first set I checked at 5 am (legal trap tending hours) so I couldn't figure out how someone got to it before me. Idiots being what they are, one of the local dirtbags was in the bar bragging about it and that they had spotted it...............wait for it..................while he was teaching his kid how to shine deer! I called the warden and he paid them a visit. He found my shredded fox pelt (they didn't know how to skin it), my trap.............along with an illegal deer they had shot that same night. I got my trap back, $20 for the fox pelt and they lost their illegal deer, rifle that they had borrowed from a friend and loss of hunting rights for several years.

160user...awesome job!

Now there's a story with a happy ending, lol.

X2

Excellent 160!!!

They continue to do this because they get away with it.
You allow it by not turning in law breakers, period.

Know that you are upset but now you can take it a step further from the "field class" you gave the young man. Here's a thought...how about having him come over when you sew up the damage and explain the hit you will take when you go to sell the fur...who knows you may just get another youngster interested in trapping or at the very least an educated hunter.

I think it would be a great idea to install 1/2 hr or so of education about trappers into the hunters ed program....how not to mess with caught animals, sets, and how to release accidentally caught hunting dogs

Good job taking the high road. Now if it happens again……

I had a worker that was doing dirt work around a pond across the road from my family's ground. I had caught the landowner's free ranging mutt that his company was doing the dirt work on (which was 2.5 miles from home might I add). He went across the road, onto our land, set off all my traps, and let the other out. Then he had the audacity to try to lay into me when I came to check the traps. It didn't end well for him I wasn't as composed.

Good Deal!!! Love to hear that!

Happens.

But to say old enough to know better is an assumption on your part. The fact is most don't know that shooting the animal in the trap is the wrong thing to do. Fact is a good percentage of hunters in his shoes would have done the exact same thing. I'm sure many on here will attest to that, that have come across the same scenario. Won't likely be your first.

Seems the kid fessed up and was completely honest about it. Bout all you can ask out of the human race these days...and all you can really do at that point is educate him, which sounds like you did.

Looks like easy stitching. Shouldn’t be any fragments

Augh the Bar and "loose lips- sinks another ship "
Good ending 160user

There's not a prosecutor in this country that will prosecute this kid...which in his mind, was doing the right thing at the time. That's if you could get a warden to cite him. Most I know would have done exactly what the poster did (which is the common sense/ human thing to do).

Unless there is a patch of fur cut offf. I hate those mechanical broadheads, they usually cut a big chunk of fur off on the way in. I've had it happen several times. You need to look at the edges of the in AND the out hole. It will look like bullit burn from a high power, and cut that area out before you sew it up. Waxed dental floss is a good choice!

As a young kid who didn't have much money for traps and equipment, but I was determined to become a fox trapper. At the time I didn't realize we didn't have a large population of red fox but that didn't stop me from trying. I got permission for a local farmer and made several sets. A few days later found I had caught two fox but found only an empty trap in a pool of blood. I was disharted to say the least but remade the sets. On the my way back to my truck I meet up with the farmer combining corn. As I crawled up to the cab I noticed blood on the steps and floor of the combine. Told the farmer what happened and he played ignorant. After our short conversation, I pulled my traps and never went back. That was in the late 70's when fox where bringing good money.

Thanks Lee, will do!

So I've got a little over a dozen traps out. My 11 year old and I usually set on the weekend. Most are doubles. He does one and I do one. He legit does it all, with exception of driving in cable stake. So he WILL get his first catch. If this guy would have taken that moment, that picture from me, I dont know what I would have done.

Honestly this didn't end all that bad, I know it's aggravating but will happen from time to time...Just sew it up and keep trapping.

One guy "helped me out' back in the early 80's by dispatching a gray fox for me....A 12 ga from 5 ft to the head, and the shot wad was still embedded when found.

People who don't normally get this close to these animals just get excited, and act on impulse.

You did right sometimes a good talking to will shape him to be a better man. I have had friends who are long time hunters on my trap line and they have issues seeing an animal in a trap alive. Best you can do is educate folks maybe change their thinking.

It sucks but it is part of the game and always will be. I have less issues when I use drags because a lot of catches can hide and passers by never see them.

Once about 15-18 years back I was running a beaver line during our firearms deer season. I am good at hiding my sets on account of years trapping high pressure public ground......where visible trap sets and caught stuff walks off. All my beaver foot-hold sets were on cable slides, so they were not easy to find unless you were a trapper looking for them. I was checking on a two day rotation and only came by every other a.m. to check this one spot. When I arrived I found a young beav nearly blown in two by what was obviously a centerfire deer round. The trap and cable were still there, all tangled in a birds nest ball. There were deer camps all up and down that stretch of road, and I assume the beav got tangled instead of sliding to it's demise, and was visible to passing hunters as it struggled on the dam only 25 yards off the trail. I guarantee a deer hunter either thought he did me a favor, or thought he'd learn me a lesson. Both scenarios would have the same results for me. The little beaver's pelt was worth all of about $5 that fall. I'm lucky the hunter didn't take the trap as a souvenir. My one Warden pal said I should have called him when I told him about it a bit later. Maybe I should have, but I actually felt relieved my gear was still there!

I guess he admitted he knew it was in a trap when he shot it? You did good on education, teach him to trap maybe.

No excuse to put a big hole in a pelt to dispatch a catch.

Back in the day before registered traplines there was a thing called custom law in the bush.Trappers respected other trappers trapping areas and would not set near them(if they did custom law would kick in and it could be harsh) Other people could hunt there and fish etc but trapping rights were respected.Some trappers would pass thru other trappers lines going and coming from their own.Custom law would dictate that if a trapper came across another trappers catch,he would properly dispatch the catch if the animal was alive and remove it from the trap,hang it near the trap for safekeeping from predators and re-set the trappers trap.Same if he came across a dead animal in a trap on the ground-hang it up to keep it from getting ruined by small mammals and re set the trappers trap for him.

Times changed,traplines were registered and it is illegal to touch another trappers sets today.

Same type deal. Rancher had a coyote problem. Caught a couple fox. Both taken by the owner of the land the same night. Pulled the line and never acknowledged his existence again.

Deer lease outfitter down by Liberal. Owner took two cats out of my traps. Pulled the line and never acknowledged his existence again. Last I heard he was controlling the yote population by calling......

If that’s the worst thing that happens to you, you’re in great shape. At least he wasn’t intentionally trying to mess you up.

Very interesting. Thanks for the insight.

Part of the game. Back in the late 70's, it really bit.

Had land owner shoot 2 reds for me one day waiting on me to get there. First mistake was taking him with me to set them. Oh yes he shot both in the head with a 30-06 Needle and thread. I just ask him to use 22 after that or just wait on me as I was there 5 minutes after daylight. He was pulling into barn before daylight saw eyes.

Bad deal for sure, think you handled it better than I would have.

I don't trap anymore till big game season is over, crazy what people will do any more.
Most of my critters get shot and end eagle food.
Stolen traps, an animal.
Most people in Montana think they are welcome any where.
Private or not, I know this guy or family and it should be ok.
Don't know how time's I have heard that line.

It was a common occurrence. And a lot was from so called trappers.

Mac

I hope you told him how illegal it is to mess with others traps and trapped animals.


A lot of kids are really stupid and the only thing that they learn from is polite but stern instruction.

Awesome idea

As you said, a 20 yr old kid. Do they have hunter safety class's there that would emphasize "Ethics"?