Baiting for deer, baiting for bears, baiting for turkeys, pheasants, grouse or waterfowl you name it; weather legal or not todays hunting is no different from the dying tradition of trapping. Many people think that trapping is unethical because the animal may suffer before it dies, but so does a deer when a hot chunk of lead pierces through its body. Just because you are using a gun does not mean that you are going to kill the animal. Well educated trappers (education course mandatory and similar to firearm safety course) know how to set traps to effectively catch and kill targeted furbearer. Firearm safety courses do not teach students on how to be a good shot, meaning you may or may not hit the animal and if you hit that animal you may or may not kill but wound the animal. Whereas a successful trapper will successfully trap furbearers and an unsuccessful trapper will simply not. Current regulations require to you check you non-killing sets once a day (24hr) to minimize “animal suffering”. So why is it then that trapping is becoming a lost tradition?
It simply is just not being passed on from generation to generation anymore like it used to. Trapping is so much more that hunting over a bait pile. A trapper becomes much more in tune with what is going on in the streams, lakes and woods. To be successful you have to pattern and get in the mind set of what the furbearer is thinking. Sure you may use lures and baits to direct the furbearer to the trap but the idea is to have the trap set where the animal is traveling or feeding. Even making lures and baits that furbearers will be interested in can be an art in itself. Young trappers will learn the lay of the land and bring back the tradition of trapping and using everything possible that the furbearer has to offer. Many perfumes, oils, garments, felt, fishing lures and other products are made from furbearers. Furbearers can also be eaten and are a renewable resource.
Trapping is regulated just like hunting is. There are restrictions on furbearers with low population numbers and the furbearer populations with no restriction rely on being harvested to control the population. In the spring babies are made which increases the population and then predators take care of the weak ones and trappers control the rest of population and then the cycle starts over again in the spring with an increase in population. Incidental catches are to be reported to game warden who will then take furbearer which will be saved and used for other trappers ed. courses or for schools.
It is important that the current generation pushes to continue this great tradition and equally important that past generations pass it on if they have not already. The feeling a trapper get is similar to that of how children feel when they wake up Christmas morning but instead of presents you are all excited to go and check your traps to see what you caught.
5 comments:
I believe that trapping is a dying tradition. It was a meaning of life back in the frontier days. Someone needs to carry on with this tradition.
I believe that trapping is a dying tradition. It was a meaning of survival back in the frontier days. We need people to carry on with the tradition of trapping.
I believe that trapping is a dying tradition. It was a form of survival back in the frontier days. Someone needs to carry on with this tradition.
I've trapped before; for both class/work related projects and for recreation on my friend's land. It is sort of a dying tradition, but I think that's because only people who own land can really put the required time into it: setting the trap lines for a long period of time, and committing to checking them and resetting them, sometimes multiple times per day. I'm not sure how else the tradition can be preserved.
I've trapped before; for both class/work related projects and for recreation on my friend's land. It is sort of a dying tradition, but I think that's because only people who own land can really put the required time into it: setting the trap lines for a long period of time, and committing to checking them and resetting them, sometimes multiple times per day. I'm not sure how else the tradition can be preserved.
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