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Thread: Trapping Effectiveness

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    742

    Default Trapping Effectiveness

    I've been trapping my plantation very hard for a number of years...Been branching out for about a 10 mile radius the last several years...The coons just keep on coming, but the catch rate and live sign for coyotes and bobcats has greatly diminished...It has diminished so that I would have to travel further than my time allows to run the kind of trapline I used to.

    That 10 mile radius is about 314 sq miles or 201,000 acres...I know for a fact that in this area there at least 3 trappers of at least equal talent.

    Got me to wondering, if there was a very profecient trapper for every 100 sq miles, and that trapper had access to most all areas in that 100 sq miles, there could be a beyond significant reduction in predator population.

    For now let's say we are specifically referring to coyotes.

    Are coyotes a resource..?? Do they serve a purpose..?? Do they need a harvest limit per license..?? I know what most people are going to say, "Kill em All !!"...But, that was said many years ago about the Red Wolf, they were practically wiped out and Mother Nature filled that void with coyotes...I think it would be most impossible to delete the coyote population on account of the research I've been involved in that documents how far one can travel...But this travel and translocation also makes them vulnerable to being trapped also.

    I've seen several species of wildlife evolve in my lifetime, and my lifetime is a nanosecond in history...50 years ago there wasn't a single deer in Saluda County, or armadillo, or feral hog......Or coyote.

    Just wondering if the present rate of attrition is continued against coyotes, what may Mother Nature fill that void with in our kids lifetime........
    Last edited by Swift Strike; 01-21-2019 at 06:29 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    2,191

    Default

    Have seen huge amounts of yotes caught off 1500 ac, and 2700 ac by a professional trapper on and off for 20+/_ years. They come back with a vengeance over time. Both a biologist and that trapper said there are too many untrappable areas (bigass swamp/ impenetrable to set traps). Ergo it is short term. Long term, they come back. As always very interesting topic.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Camden sc
    Posts
    6,785

    Default

    nature has a way of balancing, not saying that trapping doesn't help, we are trapping yotes and coons on our tract. Its called predator/prey relationship, turkeys will lay more eggs and does will have more fawns in a time where predators are high. only thing that is happening is that the Predators are having more offspring to catch up to the "balance.
    "I am a man, not an animal and I always try to conduct myself accordingly. Doing anything less is just giving up and expecting (and being okay) with failure."
    Rubberhead

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Under the Roost
    Posts
    23,839

    Default

    The effectiveness of trapping is hard to put a value on, In my mind it is one of the greatest management tools available and priceless. Trapping once was a staple of every household, now 1 out of 100 people may do it, and that's generous. As the fast paced world we live in evolves faster and time becomes more slim for individuals predator numbers climb, normal average Joe's will join clubs and leases to hunt within what time they have available, the time simply is not there for them to dedicate to a trapping regime. You are hunting a window from August - Jan, March - May......predators have no time off. I don't despise or hate predators, I actually love the challenge of out witting them and the strategy involved which is one of the most addicting things I've tried my hand at. We have made it a family deal, and found it is a very enjoyable and beneficial tool!!

    I wish I could breathe life back in him, if I could I'd hunt him again tomorrow. - Ben Rodgers Lee

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