Feeling trapped?

We are well into the trapping season, with some species’ seasons already wrapping up for the year. Unfortunately, there have been some incidents that tend to create a black eye for those practicing this ancient art of taking fur. The gravel pit trespassing case and the trapping of pets near public trails are a couple of examples.

I have been a trapper. I haven’t done so for several years simply because of the crowded conditions in the Valley and the high cost and major expenditure of effort to get beyond that crowding. When I lived on Afognak Island, I trapped beaver and otter, marten and muskrat, and the fattest foxes I’ve ever seen. After moving to the Valley, I trapped some ermine, mink, beaver and one more otter. I enjoyed those days on the trapline because of the challenges of scouting out productive set locations, reading the animal sign, making a good trap set and trying to outsmart a “dumb” animal. Most of the time, I was the dummy.

I was blessed to learn my meager trapping skills in a remote location where I didn’t need to worry about trap thieves or catching someone’s dog. In fact, that’s mostly why I quit trapping in the Valley. Everywhere I looked for a remote place to make a few sets, somebody else was already there.

ADF&G held a seminar a couple of weeks ago about safe trapping and, if you have a pet caught in a trap, how to properly release the animal. I wanted to attend but missed the event. I have, however, seen a brochure ADF&G has made available to local veterinarians and others explaining how to release an animal from a few types of traps. It’s titled “Trap Safety for Pet Owners.”

Before I comment on the brochure, I want to make a couple of observations. First, in my opinion, there is no reason for an ethical trapper to be making sets near popular multi-use trails. I suspect a lot of the trap sets just off these trails are made by kids trying to get a start on pursuing the Alaska dream of wilderness trapping. The ones not made by kids were placed by those individuals too lazy to get away from obvious human-used areas and too self-centered to recognize the dangers they are creating for other trail users.

Now that I’ve insulted inexperienced or ignorant and thoughtless trappers, I’ll fire a shot across the bow of some pet owners. Folks who don’t have strong voice control over their pet when the animal is off-leash are, I believe, required to keep the pet leashed. If you’re just letting your dog run free and you’re paying no attention to where the animal is running, you are potentially creating a very dangerous situation for your dog. Moose can and do stomp dogs and have a nasty habit of suddenly appearing out of nowhere. If it’s a mama with a calf, your dog could really be in for a whooping! Fox and coyotes are also lurking about and can usually take a dog, even one slightly bigger than itself. Use some common sense here, folks!

Back to the brochure. Instructions are given on how to remove your pet from a snare, a foot-hold trap and a body-grip trap. There is also a suggested listing of materials you should have available to aid in removing your pet from the trap. A length of rope can be used to remove a body-grip trap but, honestly, I prefer the actual trap setting tool specifically developed for working with that style of trap. The tool is faster to use and, with a body-grip trap, time is of the essence to get your pet out alive.

Personally, I don’t make a dry-ground set using the large 330-size body-grip trap. This style trap is designed to kill the animal, usually by catching the critter with the trap jaws around the neck and chest area. The trap was developed to be a more humane device by killing the trapped animal either upon catching or very quickly thereafter. I have used them specifically for beaver and otter in water sets and a much smaller size for martin in sets elevated 5 to six 6 off the ground. In my opinion, the body-grip trap is a specialized tool for targeting specific species in specific circumstances. They are not a general-use traps.

This is a controversial topic. If trappers showed more consideration and pet owners more responsibility, it would be a non-issue.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.