Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Faced a dilemma today

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.

i just hate dilemmas. we all do.

knew of a dude who ran up on a whitetail deer in the ditch, with a broken leg and shoulder from a car accident/event.

he didn't have a gun, so he beat the doe to death with the crook of a tire iron.

throwed it in the trunk for later skinning and retrieval of anything edible.

he didn't want the buzzards & yotes and poosums causing a wreck.

You’d feel much better about it...if you knew that the Fox was a “democrat”! I suspect it was.....you should feel better now! That should be the fate of all democrats! memtb

You did the right thing. Trapper may have come along right behind you.

Too often, doing what's right feels like anything but.

so true.

we are under the law.

we are not under morals.

that is to say: pay your taxes.

The only correct answer.

Glad you did that.

Shoot any birds?

Next time, pack a 22 LR pistol with solids. Get it to its fate quicker. I've zapped road-crippled deer more than once.

Not a good idea to interfere with another man's trap, no matter what you are carrying.

You can't mess with somebody else's traps even if the situation is unpleasant. Suppose an anti-hunter spotted you in a tree stand with deer approaching. Something past unpleasant to him, should he spook the deer off?

Society has decided people are allowed to trap no matter how unpleasant a particular situation may be, gotta respect that. If it involves illegality or results in cruelty call a conservation officer.

So some 80 miles south of Fargo and haven't seen a fox in years. Used to have one living in a rock pile in a neighboring hay field. Mange about wiped them out. (Vet friend had farmers asking him about the mysterious pink foxes.) Would be nice to see a few around, some jacks too. Don't know why they disappeared.

the 'yote will take care of him. they run down and kill foxes even when they are not in a trap, no reason to think, as you suggested, that this one would be any different.

I would say, good on you that it bothered you; also good on you you made the right choice.

Ideally the trap would have enough chain so the catch could hide from view.
Ideally the coyote is in another trap now.

How many guys wait 48 hrs to check trap? I always checked at least 1x per day.

There are some real bastards out there that don't give a damn.

Depends on the number of traps, the distance one has to travel to reach their lines, and whether one has another job that actually pays the bills. Those who ran a handful of traps close to home often checked them daily but there are many who aren't able to do so.

At times I regularly went near 48 hours between checks due to my previous job being a 24 hour shift so was able to check only every other day when scheduled to work. Others I knew ran lines after work and had limited time to do so due to distance from home and/or other commitments. A few that trapped near full time ran very long strings in order to make it pay and did half each day.

In some places it may draw unwanted attention to check traps too often. Either curious do gooders or trap thrives may spot you and steal your traps. That is a serious problem in some areas and the more often one is seen going into an area, the greater the likelihood of a problem. When it happens the area is pretty much blown for future trapping.

I hear what you are saying.

But checking traps once a day results in less lost animals, and less encounters with the public that trappers don't need or want.

If you can't check them once a day, then you probably don't need to be trapping, or need to shorten your lines/area.

You did the right thing as tough as it was too watch. It would have been nice if you could have shot the coyote though.

I keep a 22 pistol in my hunting truck but I don't think I would use it on someone else's trapped game. I did use it a few years ago to finish off my 5x5 bull elk. Then I had a European mount done and I have to explain to everyone what the hole in the middle of the skull is. Its heart was completely gone thanks to a 215g berger hybrid but it was still moving a bit and blinking so without thinking or hesitating I put a velocitor in its head.

If your worried about a trapped animal about all you can do is call fish and game and have them check it out. They might know who traps the area and be able to give them a heads up to come take care of it a little quicker then they might be planning on.

If it was a democrat fox it would have chewed off 3 legs and still be caught.

Bb

PR would say to not put traps where they are easy for non outdoors public to see.

Yep.