My OPINION is from the few different news sources. Trying to sort through the media slant and bleeding heart syndrome. I believe it was set in a legal location. I know nothing about the actual set,(bucket set, trail set, in cubby,…) as that information has not been made available by anyone.
But as to the location, the trapper had lawfully placed a conibear trap within the legal trapping season for raccoon and other fur-bearers on property that is managed by the WI DNR and allows public hunting/trapping. Apparently, the gated entrance in located at the division line of the two properties involved. One side of the property line is public hunting and the other is a preserve/conservancy. In this isolated case, the dog should have never been there. The dog owner’s intent was to have taken her dog into a segment of property that the dog should not have been allowed to rome free. Sadly, dogs do not know boundary lines , went into the hunting land, and fatally entered into a conibear trap.
When it comes to conibears, we have a VERY gray area. They are a very effective tool, and I personally run about 100 at a time during prime time of the coon season. I do not want any more regulations and restrictions on my use of coni’s.
The difficult part in this is the use of public land. We all have a right to use and access. As trapper, if I “flag” my set so it is visible, it will MOST LIKELY be tampered with or stolen. Many people don’t realize that WI has a MANDATORY 5 YEAR LOSS OF FISHING/HUNTING Privileges is you steal or molest a lawfully placed trap. However, dogs are also a very effective tool for bird and bunny hunting. God forbid, when the two meet, it usually gets very ugly extremely fast. For the entire trapping season, WI averages only a few reported incidents with dogs/traps (of all types).
I’ve had my experiences – They suck! When I’m trapping private land, isolating my sets to be restrictive to a target species, and a incident with a dog happens, how do you accept blame (as the trapper) I don’t trap public land, so I can not comment for other trappers that do. But I feel every trapper has a responsibility (ethically)to make sets that help prevent the few cases a year that we have. My heart goes out to the dog owners that have a pet that enters private land, and encounters a legally set coni. But in that case, its an accident. The dog wondered too far, the owner was unable to maintain full control of their dog, and a trapper never expected a wondering dog on private land. Though on public, a few more incidents like this, and I’m sure new restrictions will be on the way.
I passed on being on an advisory board, but knew many of the members that discussed and proposed conibear restrictions. I would like the general public to know that MANY trappers(thousands) ethically use conibears, with great care and concern to avoid situations like this!
