Trapping

[Body Bag]

I have been reading up on trapping and considering it, but I am just not sure I have it in my to trap and kill something I am not going to eat. That said I have a question.

I was headed to the deer stand on Saturday morning at 6 and someone had put a trap on our lease and caught a red fox. I saw it on the way in and took pictures and all. On my way out at 10ish was the fox was still in the trap. What is proper procedure on this? I thought if you put it out at night you ran it in the morning. Don't know if I should be pissed or not

[Gamestalker]

I did a little coon hunting in the 1970's and quit going because of the same concerns as you have about trapping. I have changed my mind about that after coming to the realization that the animal does not go to waste if you leave the carcass in the woods or take it back into the woods after you skin it. There a lot of scavengers out there that will make a meal out of it. I realized that when I killed a bunch of coons that were raiding my chicken coop. I skinned them out & threw the carcasses in the edge of the woods out back. Within days, you had to look real close to even find where I had thrown them. Go back to where you gutted a deer out sometime. The gut pile usually is gone except for the stomach contents within days. Nothing really goes to waste. The scavengers just eat well!

On a side note;
That's something to keep in mind if you ever get a bad hit on a deer & aren't able to recover it. Hopefully, the deer doesn't suffer much & if it was mortally hit you just provided the scavengers with some easy meals.

i look at trapping and hunting as a management practice. we humans have change the balance of things in the way of wild life. most of the predators are gone, thanks to us, so the natural order of things is off and its up to us to maintain HEALTHY population of all wildlife. in some cases we killed out animals in others we have over populated animals. it is our responsibility to be good stewards of the land and wildlife. trapping and hunting is part of that whether there is any profit, in any form, in it for us or not. that said being wasteful is something to consider, but in the long run its for the betterment of all to keep a healthy balance. taking out a bunch of coons helps with the water fowl and song bird populations, for example. just the way i see it.

i believe traps must be checked in a 24 hour period.

[Body Bag]

Thanks guys. I ain't too mad about the fox then. Now when I go check my camera tomorrow if there is a dead fox on a chain there will be hell to pay.

My sister-in-law asked me why I didn't let it go. I asked if she was retarded.

[guppy11]

most states have laws that require traps be checked every 24 hours

[Stewy Griffin]

(I posted this reply to your question on the "Lodge" a while ago. I thought you had a thoughtful question and felt I had something to add.)

I trapped when I was a teenager and absolutely loved it....many moons ago. I think the frequency you are required to check traps in Indiana (where I lived) was 24 hours; most likely it varies by state. I always ran the traps at day break thinking that a catch would happen overnight so that would minimize the time plus I just couldn't wait to get out. Sometimes I did it in the evening, too. I never felt dry land sets were humane and many animals will chew there legs off to escape. Also, with dry sets you have the risk off trapping a dog or cat. With fox though, it may be necessary to do dry sets. At that time there were traps that killed instantly, too, which I favored (Conibear was the brand name).

stewy, body bag did and your reply was fine. someone is playing games that extreme1 guy i believe posted the second post by copy and paste. body bag was the original post here and it was copied and pasted by extreme 1 in the other thread.

[Hunting Man]

who's on first?

Originally Posted by Hunting Man

who's on first?

i love those movies

[Hunting Man]

ronn, I stll laugh at the old Abbott & Costello stuff. The "who's on first" and "making dough" are two of my favorites.