I was on my way home from pheasant hunting, cruising down a well used gravel road. I saw a coyote on the left side shoulder of the road about 200 yards ahead. As I got closer, he crossed in front of me and entered the standing corn on my right. As he did this, I noticed a red fox standing on an approach on the right side, directly opposite of where the coyote had been standing. The fox was caught in a leg hold trap and he was struggling pretty hard to free himself, no doubt because of my truck and that the coyote had been there sizing him up. I thought about putting him out of his misery, but all I had with me was my 12 gauge and I knew there was no way to do it without damaging the pelt in some way. I also figured that even if I was able to pull it off without damaging the pelt, the coyote would likely return and eat the carcass. Probably likely that if I hadn't happened along he would have (and may still) killed the fox and eaten it.
I am in no way anti trapping, but sitting there watching that fox struggle wasn't pleasant. In the end I decided to leave him to his fate. Though that was the legally correct thing for me to do, it sure didn't feel like the morally right thing. North Dakota law requires all trappers to visually inspect their traps every 48 hours. It would also have been illegal for me to have tampered with any animal caught in another's line.
