Rob Erickson sent me these new pictures which illustrate a very interesting point. They are of a coyote trapping session previous to Wheaton and illustrate a fast response time. This is information you will not get at any other site at this time. I feel it gives an inside look at the practice, and shows that while some may disagree with trapping, there are trappers who practice a fast and ethical response. This is definitely the case here.
Rob told me he dispatched the animal at 3:58 am, but when the camera went off he had it programmed to take 3 pics every 1 minute. He changed the settings to take a picture every 60 minutes from his home computer before he left to dispatch the animal, because he has to pay 39 cents for each pic. He already knew it was caught, so no reason to take more pics. The camera went off as programed when the officer was present and they were removing the already dispatched animal from the trap.
He lived 40 minutes away from the trap.
Thank you for the post. You and some of your readers may not agree with trapping, but it’s not the “torture” that some portray it to be.
If it were not for foothold traps, many of the animals that were reintroduced back into our state would not be here. The river otter is a great example. They were captured with foothold traps in LA. Unharmed, and brought back to Illinois. Does anyone think the biologist that did that, would hurt the animal they were trying to save?
It depends on many things, if they are newer design traps which are safer and more user friendly or some of the older traps that should be replaced–not to mention some traps get worm and you might get a finger pinched. It depends on the intended animal you want to catch and preventing those you don’t want from getting caught. It depends on how long the animal is in the trap. Some animals if left too long will chew off their foot and go off to die so when you catch them you want to immediately drown them–particulary raccoons, rats and other nutria. Thus death takes very little time. There is also the possibility of something killing and eating what is in your trap–basically ruining the pelt. One of the reasons to quickly kill an animal that you catch is to prevent you from having to shot it. Blood on a fur is a pain and depending on the animal a bullet hole can lower the value. Road kill isn’t often very good because the fur is might be messed up, there are probably shattered bones throughout the carcas, and if it’s old (primarily in warm weather) you get a rotted skin which is impossible to tan unless you plan on removing the hair–not to mention it’s hard to stretch without ripping. I could go on and on but my knowledge of trapping isnt’ what it used to be. When animals are caught with the intention of merely apprehending them for a specific purpose, newly designed foothold traps properly placed and tended shouldn’t result in the animal being hurt. It’s all in the trapper and how it is done.
Good job erickson: alot of people have the misconception that you set a trap and forget about it.What would be the purpose? really? your setting traps to dispatch the animal ,and or for the fur.If animals chewed their legs off ALL the time,trappers would be trapping legs& make no money-It’s prime example here how dilagent one must be-also conibears like my friends use for raccoon smash down on the head,killing instantly,again if your against trapping fine,but don’t have an attitude towards the ones that do,they just might be nice people like erickson here who are just making a living.