Time for trapping season

The general trapping season will open in a week on Nov. 10th. The regulations don’t list any changes for the Valley this year, so it might be a good idea to review the general requirements to legally trap for the newbies out there and even if you’re experienced.

First, make sure you have the proper trapping license. Know the difference between the expiration dates for a trapping license versus a hunting license. Second, know the difference between furbearers, fur animals, and big game furbearers.

Species that are classified as furbearers can only be taken under a trapping license and following trapping season regulations. Furbearers that are also classified as fur animals or as big game animals may be harvested under either a trapping license following trapping regulations or under a hunting license following hunting regulations.

Next, you need to know who owns the land you’ll be trapping on, and you must have landowner permission if the land is privately owned. You can check with the BLM Public Information Center or the DNR Public Information Center (both in Anchorage) for land status, land ownership, and access.

Any body parts you leave in the field (like carcasses and guts) from the animals you harvest must be out of sight of any highways or trails in the area. Act courteously and responsibly as a trapper by minimizing conflicts between trappers and non-trappers using the same area. Avoid high recreational use areas.

Get a copy of the 2023-2024 Alaska Trapping Regulations booklet and read it. All the above information is contained in that booklet along with a lot more general trapping information. For example, there is a discussion about different trapping permit requirements and a good explanation about the trapper harassment law. There are several pages devoted to bag limits, methods and means including the use of bait, and incidental catch of non-targeted animals. Salvage and sealing of furbearers are also discussed.

I did a fair amount of trapping when I lived on Afognak Island. After moving to the Valley, I still did a little trapping, but not as much as when I was on Afognak. Species I trapped over that entire period include beaver, otter, fox, muskrat, mink, marten, and weasel.

Since I’ve gotten older with reduced physical capacities, my trapping days are behind me, for the most part. A couple of years ago, I sold all my traps except my body-grip types, to a friend who wanted to get started trapping. I kept the body-grip traps because I might still get out on occasion to trap beaver or marten. When my father-in-law passed away, I inherited all his traps and accessories. Since all his traps were well used and most were broken and had been partially repaired, I sold them at gun shows for folks to use as decorations in their home or cabin.

Now on to a different topic. By now, you’ve heard about the shooting in Maine where a single shooter killed eighteen people at a bowling alley and a bar/restaurant. As expected, the calls for more gun control have begun, including banning semi-automatic firearms. After a two-day intensive manhunt, the shooter was found dead in some woods from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The shooter had been in the military and had been committed by the military for a two-week period in a mental health facility after threatening to shoot up the base. He had been complaining about “hearing voices.” His family said he complained about the voices when he was in the bowling alley. He had gotten hearing aids and said he could now hear people talking about him. His family tried to assure him that whatever he was hearing was not real, but he wouldn’t listen.

All of this was ongoing for a full year before he snapped and started shooting. The reports I’ve read say he bought the firearm legally but was not allowed to take possession of a suppressor when he answered one of the background check questions stating he had been committed to a mental health institution. That same mental health commitment should have negated his ability to buy the gun as well.

Several existing laws were being broken before the shooting and the background check system designed to prevent this sort of thing failed. Before passing a bunch of new laws, addressing the broken background check system, and pursuing improved mental health treatments should be done. But that’s hard. Passing another anti-gun law does nothing to help, but “feels” good and is the easy way out.