Unmarked Trap Line?

hunter7mmRM said:
I guess my understanding of a cutline is not a fifty foot wide clear cut road. When there is dense brush and a narrow cutline going through yes they will take the trail and go through the narrow manmade opening along the trail. Most cut lines around here are at best only snowmobile width unless the loggers have opened them up again to get to the timber.
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Still not a good place to set a coyote or wolf snare........ you need to funnel them in...... usually with a bit of bait...... expecting them to randomly wander into a snare in the middle of nowhere on a cut line will yield 6/49 level success rates.....
 
Superbrad said:
Still not a good place to set a coyote or wolf snare........ you need to funnel them in...... usually with a bit of bait...... expecting them to randomly wander into a snare in the middle of nowhere on a cut line will yield 6/49 level success rates.....
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I agree the chance of success on a random trail would be low however normally when you do operate a trap line it's not your first rodeo. Obviously there would first have to be some obvious regular travel by some animal before this setup would be utilized.
 
hunter7mmRM said:
I agree the chance of success on a random trail would be low however normally when you do operate a trap line it's not your first rodeo. Obviously there would first have to be some obvious regular travel by some animal before this setup would be utilized.
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I guess what I am alluding to is that I highly doubt that he set encountered was made by a licensed and trained trapper...... best to report it in OP's case and move on...
 
Actually you don't need to wack the weasel family (NOT wolverine) on the head either. As long as it can't bite you as it is secured around the neck, just grip it tight around it's chest and squeeze and hold. The heart will stop almost instantly and they will just go limp. Hold for a minute or so to be sure and that is it.
 
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coleman1495 said:
The end of the cable was tied to a tamarack tree. The noose was level with about the handlebars of a quad.
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The bottom of the loop should be around 2 ft off the ground for a wolf snare, so that seems high. Either he doesn't know what he's doing or he's looking to snare moose and elk for bait. How thick was the cable/snare wire? Is this a snowmobile trail or a game trail?
 
coleman1495 said:
Hello,

I was out for a walk today in the Muskeg since the weather has been so nice.Somebody was using the cut line that I was walking down as a trap line. There was a series of small plywood boxes attached to trees, about a foot off the ground. Inside each of the boxes there was large rat traps. The first box I stumbled across had an Ermine beside it. The Ermine had been caught in a neck noose and was still alive but suffering really bad.Almost like it was a rabbit snare. Looked like it had been choking/trapped for a while. Another box had a second dead Ermine. This one was killed by the rat trap and was actually dead.

I also found a couple larger cable noose snares on the middle of the cutline. The trapper had put some branches on the trail and a heavier cable noose. Seemed kind of dangerous. Somebody on an ATV could had went through it. I am guessing this is for snaring coyotes/wolves?

Anyways there was absolutely no signage indicating that there was traps in the area. I suspect this is not a registered trapline as I typically see signage for those. Are people allowed to snare coyotes on crown land? I have never seen anything like that before. Also why would anyone set out traps for Ermine? They have nice fur but are not much bigger than a squirrel. Whats the value of a Ermine fur?
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There is no way to put up signage if the trapper did every trap would be stolen ant-trapping A-hole would be messing with sets extra and would crate more problems than it solves remember this is sumone livelihood and investment we are talking about
 
carverk said:
There is no way to put up signage if the trapper did every trap would be stolen ant-trapping A-hole would be messing with sets extra and would crate more problems than it solves remember this is sumone livelihood and investment we are talking about
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That doesn't matter to the self righteous who think its their duty to shove their noses in everyone else's business. By its very nature a springless snare means a slower death than a spring assisted snare and some folks need to realize this. Secondly if he wasn't going around snooping out someones traps and chose to ignore them rather than explore them he wouldn't know whats taking place with them but there is always some _ -hole who has to shove his nose in everyone elses business out there.
 
Maybe you were on someone's private trap line. Just because there is a small cut line doesn't mean it is open to the public. And yes I have caught trout in 330s .
 
My buddy caught a snowmobile boot in one of his wolf sets one year.

A couple years later it was discovered that a locals kid had snowmobiled home one day with only one boot on.

Best to stay away from other folks traps, that was one very lucky young lad!
 
the spank said:
That doesn't matter to the self righteous who think its their duty to shove their noses in everyone else's business. By its very nature a springless snare means a slower death than a spring assisted snare and some folks need to realize this. Secondly if he wasn't going around snooping out someones traps and chose to ignore them rather than explore them he wouldn't know whats taking place with them but there is always some _ -hole who has to shove his nose in everyone elses business out there.
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I wasn't "snooping around". I was walking on a cut line on crown land.
 
coleman1495 said:
I wasn't "snooping around". I was walking on a cut line on crown land.
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In fairness if you investigated the boxes, looked up in them, and shot something in a trap that is an illegal act and snooping. Problem when people walk around and investigate sets is they're spreading unnecessary scent and disrupting it. Now coming across lines happens all the time and all you do is your best to avoid disrupting it. I'd have whacked the ermine with a stick on the head too but shooting it was quite inappropriate, and others have mentioned illegal. Honest mistake from unfamiliarity in my opinion and now you know.
 
Seems a touch careless to set snares in a trail that people on atv's might be using but regarding the need for baiting,the majority of my snared canines have come from blind trail sets. I'd say to anyone that finds traps legally set they should mind their own business and don't interfere with a legal activity.
 
jongun said:
Seems a touch careless to set snares in a trail that people on atv's might be using but regarding the need for baiting,the majority of my snared canines have come from blind trail sets. I'd say to anyone that finds traps legally set they should mind their own business and don't interfere with a legal activity.
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I fully agree with this.... both wolves and coyotes love to use travelled paths to walk......

This is why I rank the sets as amateur....... rat traps are all good, snares near a rat trap are odd..... but snares in mid trail in the middle of nowhere smacks of amateurism...... and don't get me wrong, I am no pro by any means...... but yotes, and especially wolves are way smart than that........

Sets should still be left alone though.....
 
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