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A hunter speaks out

posted May 9, 2013, 7:58 AM by John Reynolds   [ updated May 25, 2014, 11:56 AM by Doglover System ]

The letter below appeared in Outdoor News.  It was in response to a MN Trappers Association (MTA) member's letter the previous week that seemed to say it was okay to kill a few dogs, and that despite fighting any kind of reasonable body grip regulation, the MTA was doing everything possible to avoid killing dogs.

Trappers continue to kill pets and hunting dogs and yet a trapper writes he’s “shocked” that hunters and fisherman want to divorce themselves from trappers.  Hello, anybody home?  He says we should stand together, which really means, trappers should be able to do whatever they please and the rest of us should just accept that they will kill some of our dogs every year.  The odds are small so they are willing to take that risk…with your dog, how thoughtful.

Comparing dogs killed on the roads to traps is ridiculous.  Roads were built specifically for vehicle travel.  Dog owners can see roads and avoid the danger.  However, our public lands have not been set aside specifically for trappers (despite what some trappers think).  Hunters and people legally exercising their pets can’t see conibear traps and cannot avoid them.  The trapper also wrote they do “everything in their power to prevent these accidental catches”.  If that were true, they would support laws to get conibear traps off the ground, out of reach of dogs.

Imagine how a trapper would feel if all his traps were stolen.  Not only would there be a huge financial loss, he would not be able to participate in the trapping season.  His most enjoyable past-time, senselessly taken from him, even though he did nothing wrong.  Multiply that anger times 10 and you know how a hunter will feel losing their hunting dog to a trap, suffering even higher financial loss, the loss of hunting opportunity, and the emotional loss of losing what he considers a part of the family.

Most hunters and fisherman had nothing against trapping.  However, there are too many trappers that continue to justify killing other peoples’ dogs and they are fanning hatred from hunters and fishermen as well as the general public in growing numbers everyday.  So until you stop being a black mark on outdoorsman, and put an end to this illegal killing, other sporstmen don’t want to be associated with you.  Don’t ask us to defend or support you, you don’t help our cause, you only hurt our cause.

Frederick Remington, Old hunter/trapper on horse with dog and rifle.