Loop-hole Jack-@#%& "Call-trapper"...
01-20-2012, 04:42 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,905
Loop-hole Jack-@#%& "Call-trapper"...
I heard an interesting tactic from a local conservancy officer when I had him tagging a bobcat I took this weekend.
He mentioned he had "caught" a guy that he thought was spotlighting. The officer had spotted the lights from the highway, so went to investigate. When he stopped, he heard a distress call, so was "partially" relieved that the guy was only hunting coyotes.
However, it's not legal to use lights at night for coyotes except for those ran by dogs or caught in traps (and using rimfire rifles), so the 'Ranger' was still obligated to stop the guy and at least give him a warning about the lights.
Then it got interesting. The officer stepped on 3 different foothold traps as he tried to approach the "hunter". The guy was setting dozens of traps in a circle all around himself, sitting in the middle with a light, and a .22lr rifle, and waiting until he heard a trap spring to turn on the light and dispatch the coyotes!!!
Man, the stuff people come up with!
Technically, everything he was doing is legal. It's legal to call coyotes at night, and it's legal to dispatch coyotes caught in traps at night with the use of lights and rimfire rifles.
The officer said he wasn't even sure what to say. He took the guys name and number, and said he would check into it, but to not "trap" that way until he heard back from him. He's pretty certain it'll violate an "ethical pursuit" policy, and might get on the books for next season, but as it looks right now, the guy was totally in the right.
He mentioned he had "caught" a guy that he thought was spotlighting. The officer had spotted the lights from the highway, so went to investigate. When he stopped, he heard a distress call, so was "partially" relieved that the guy was only hunting coyotes.
However, it's not legal to use lights at night for coyotes except for those ran by dogs or caught in traps (and using rimfire rifles), so the 'Ranger' was still obligated to stop the guy and at least give him a warning about the lights.
Then it got interesting. The officer stepped on 3 different foothold traps as he tried to approach the "hunter". The guy was setting dozens of traps in a circle all around himself, sitting in the middle with a light, and a .22lr rifle, and waiting until he heard a trap spring to turn on the light and dispatch the coyotes!!!
Man, the stuff people come up with!
Technically, everything he was doing is legal. It's legal to call coyotes at night, and it's legal to dispatch coyotes caught in traps at night with the use of lights and rimfire rifles.
The officer said he wasn't even sure what to say. He took the guys name and number, and said he would check into it, but to not "trap" that way until he heard back from him. He's pretty certain it'll violate an "ethical pursuit" policy, and might get on the books for next season, but as it looks right now, the guy was totally in the right.
01-20-2012, 05:41 PM
#2
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 311
That sounds like way to much work for just one stand of hunting. I usually on stay in one place for 20 or so minutes and only see animals half the time. That would waste a lot of stands for me if I spent that long to set up for one stand at night.
01-22-2012, 02:15 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,834
I would have to see that to believe him. Setting dozens of traps around him. Do you know how long that would have taken to set all those and then to hunt? Not to mention how much weight it would have been to haul all that around? Worth a pic for sure!!
Last edited by SecondChance; 01-24-2012 at 08:57 AM.
