BigHornRam
Well-known member
Some people get upset about cutting down a tree on Buzz and Jose's public lands......so how can you defend FOR PROFIT brutal murder of cute fuzzy animals on the same public lands?
Trapping is under all out assault in Montana the last few years. Would be surprised if it is still legal in 10 years from now. And you hear very little from sportsmen about it. Just another brick in the wall, right DD?
Man posts video after dog snared in trap
By PERRY BACKUS of the Ravalli Republic
Watch a video about the incident that left Otis the beagle-cross caught in a leghold trap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IM0DnvSNSo
HAMILTON - A week ago Saturday, Steve Slocomb joined the ranks of Montanans opposed to trapping.
It happened on a cross-country ski outing with a friend up Lost Horse Road south of Hamilton.
The pair had skied about a mile or so up the road when Slocomb's 8-year-old beagle-cross named Otis disappeared.
“I assumed he was just up in front of us somewhere running through the woods,” Slocomb said. “Normally he stays within 100 feet or so, but he seemed particularly rambunctious that day.”
After skiing for a mile or so without seeing the dog, Slocomb started getting nervous. They turned back toward the car, stopping occasionally to call for Otis.
“About a half-mile from the car, we heard some barking,” he said. “We called again and we could hear some whimpering coming from the forest. We followed the sound.”
With darkness falling and a winter storm predicted that night, Slocomb said the search was becoming frantic.
He found his dog about 20 feet off the road. Its front paw was caught in a leghold trap. Another trap was snapped shut on Otis' shoulder.
“I was freaking out because I couldn't figure out how to get the traps off,” Slocomb said. “The chain and cable attached to the traps were wrapped around everything.”
He cut through the cable and unwrapped it from around the dog's paw. It took some time, but Slocomb figured out how the traps worked and pulled them off his dog.
“I don't know how long it took, but it seemed like an eternity,” he said.
Otis survived the ordeal, but that didn't change Slocomb's mind about trapping.
“I am rather angry about the whole thing, especially that there was nothing illegal about the trap and how it was set 20 feet from the road,” Slocomb said. “I will offer my services to any media campaign that will help us ban trapping in Montana. It is an archaic throwback to an earlier time when people were living off the land.”
The professional videographer posted a video on the Web site YouTube, to let people know about his displeasure.
“I hope it goes viral,” he said.
Montana Trappers Association President Tom Barnes said incidents like this one are regrettable.
“No trapper wants to catch anyone's pet,” the Dillon man said. “We all have pets of our own.”
When incidents like this occur, the question always arises: Were the traps legally set? If they were - which they appear to have been in this case - then there's not much that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks can do, Barnes said.
The Montana Trappers Association will again support legislation this year requiring beginning trappers to take an educational course, he said. The association also has offered classes on how to open traps to pet owners in Missoula and elsewhere around the state.
“The Montana Trappers Association has a long history of providing education for trappers,” Barnes said. “We've done many, many, many hours of trapper education over the years.”
The association won't support any legislation that would require trappers to check their traps on a certain schedule, he said, but might consider a law requiring signs at a trailhead if the association was involved in developing the legislation.
“We don't necessarily want people to know where our traps are,” Barnes said. “There are people out there who would look for and then disable them. ? It's an illegal act to mess with another man's traps or snares.”
Nearly all of the conflict between trappers and the public is focused on the western third of the state, but Barnes said it is a statewide issue.
“There are just more people and they live in closer proximity to trails,” Barnes said.
Those opposed to trapping want people to think that every dog that roams off trail is being caught in a trap, Barnes said.
“That's simply not true,” he said. “It is a minute percent that actually get caught in a trap. It's a hard situation, but why should a whole industry be shut down because of it?”
Barnes said trappers are continually making concessions and pointed to the pilot program in the Missoula area where trappers have agreed to stay out of popular recreation areas.
“Those areas are closed to trapping,” he said. “How much is enough?”
FWP Region 2 spokesperson Vivaca Crowser said an advisory group met last winter to look for ways to address some of the public's concerns related to trapping.
The Region 2 Trapping Working Group recommended that three popular recreational areas near Missoula be off limits to trapping. Pattee Canyon, Blue Mountain and the Rattlesnake Recreation Areas are now trap-free.
“Everyone, including trappers in the group, agreed that these areas were not very conducive to trapping,” Crowser said. “This was a first step and now we'll see how it goes. There may be other areas that we'll look at in the future.”
Crowser expects the state Legislature to take up the issue of mandatory education classes for new trappers again in the 2009 session. FWP has also developed brochures that pet owners can use to learn more about how traps operate in case their animal is caught.
In the meantime, Slocomb said he's worried about Otis every time he takes his dog for run.
“Now my wife doesn't want me to take him into the woods anymore,” Slocomb said on his YouTube video. “My little dog loves hiking and running around. He goes with me everywhere. I don't know. It's just a bad deal. He's not a happy camper.”
Jeff Darrah, FWP's Region 2 warden captain, said the issue is a tough one for those participating in trapping.
“It's a no-win deal for trappers,” Darrah said. “A lot of people end up dead set against trapping after a dog gets caught. It probably happens in the Bitterroot more than anywhere else in the state.”
“On the west side, the trailheads start at the bottom of every one of those canyons and they go straight up the bottom,” he said. “It's a pretty tough situation when you have people walking their dogs in the same place where others are trying to trap.”
Trapping is under all out assault in Montana the last few years. Would be surprised if it is still legal in 10 years from now. And you hear very little from sportsmen about it. Just another brick in the wall, right DD?
Man posts video after dog snared in trap
By PERRY BACKUS of the Ravalli Republic
Watch a video about the incident that left Otis the beagle-cross caught in a leghold trap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IM0DnvSNSo
HAMILTON - A week ago Saturday, Steve Slocomb joined the ranks of Montanans opposed to trapping.
It happened on a cross-country ski outing with a friend up Lost Horse Road south of Hamilton.
The pair had skied about a mile or so up the road when Slocomb's 8-year-old beagle-cross named Otis disappeared.
“I assumed he was just up in front of us somewhere running through the woods,” Slocomb said. “Normally he stays within 100 feet or so, but he seemed particularly rambunctious that day.”
After skiing for a mile or so without seeing the dog, Slocomb started getting nervous. They turned back toward the car, stopping occasionally to call for Otis.
“About a half-mile from the car, we heard some barking,” he said. “We called again and we could hear some whimpering coming from the forest. We followed the sound.”
With darkness falling and a winter storm predicted that night, Slocomb said the search was becoming frantic.
He found his dog about 20 feet off the road. Its front paw was caught in a leghold trap. Another trap was snapped shut on Otis' shoulder.
“I was freaking out because I couldn't figure out how to get the traps off,” Slocomb said. “The chain and cable attached to the traps were wrapped around everything.”
He cut through the cable and unwrapped it from around the dog's paw. It took some time, but Slocomb figured out how the traps worked and pulled them off his dog.
“I don't know how long it took, but it seemed like an eternity,” he said.
Otis survived the ordeal, but that didn't change Slocomb's mind about trapping.
“I am rather angry about the whole thing, especially that there was nothing illegal about the trap and how it was set 20 feet from the road,” Slocomb said. “I will offer my services to any media campaign that will help us ban trapping in Montana. It is an archaic throwback to an earlier time when people were living off the land.”
The professional videographer posted a video on the Web site YouTube, to let people know about his displeasure.
“I hope it goes viral,” he said.
Montana Trappers Association President Tom Barnes said incidents like this one are regrettable.
“No trapper wants to catch anyone's pet,” the Dillon man said. “We all have pets of our own.”
When incidents like this occur, the question always arises: Were the traps legally set? If they were - which they appear to have been in this case - then there's not much that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks can do, Barnes said.
The Montana Trappers Association will again support legislation this year requiring beginning trappers to take an educational course, he said. The association also has offered classes on how to open traps to pet owners in Missoula and elsewhere around the state.
“The Montana Trappers Association has a long history of providing education for trappers,” Barnes said. “We've done many, many, many hours of trapper education over the years.”
The association won't support any legislation that would require trappers to check their traps on a certain schedule, he said, but might consider a law requiring signs at a trailhead if the association was involved in developing the legislation.
“We don't necessarily want people to know where our traps are,” Barnes said. “There are people out there who would look for and then disable them. ? It's an illegal act to mess with another man's traps or snares.”
Nearly all of the conflict between trappers and the public is focused on the western third of the state, but Barnes said it is a statewide issue.
“There are just more people and they live in closer proximity to trails,” Barnes said.
Those opposed to trapping want people to think that every dog that roams off trail is being caught in a trap, Barnes said.
“That's simply not true,” he said. “It is a minute percent that actually get caught in a trap. It's a hard situation, but why should a whole industry be shut down because of it?”
Barnes said trappers are continually making concessions and pointed to the pilot program in the Missoula area where trappers have agreed to stay out of popular recreation areas.
“Those areas are closed to trapping,” he said. “How much is enough?”
FWP Region 2 spokesperson Vivaca Crowser said an advisory group met last winter to look for ways to address some of the public's concerns related to trapping.
The Region 2 Trapping Working Group recommended that three popular recreational areas near Missoula be off limits to trapping. Pattee Canyon, Blue Mountain and the Rattlesnake Recreation Areas are now trap-free.
“Everyone, including trappers in the group, agreed that these areas were not very conducive to trapping,” Crowser said. “This was a first step and now we'll see how it goes. There may be other areas that we'll look at in the future.”
Crowser expects the state Legislature to take up the issue of mandatory education classes for new trappers again in the 2009 session. FWP has also developed brochures that pet owners can use to learn more about how traps operate in case their animal is caught.
In the meantime, Slocomb said he's worried about Otis every time he takes his dog for run.
“Now my wife doesn't want me to take him into the woods anymore,” Slocomb said on his YouTube video. “My little dog loves hiking and running around. He goes with me everywhere. I don't know. It's just a bad deal. He's not a happy camper.”
Jeff Darrah, FWP's Region 2 warden captain, said the issue is a tough one for those participating in trapping.
“It's a no-win deal for trappers,” Darrah said. “A lot of people end up dead set against trapping after a dog gets caught. It probably happens in the Bitterroot more than anywhere else in the state.”
“On the west side, the trailheads start at the bottom of every one of those canyons and they go straight up the bottom,” he said. “It's a pretty tough situation when you have people walking their dogs in the same place where others are trying to trap.”
