I was up on the eastern end of Lake Four for a couple of days with my daughter. On a windy day we stayed in camp and explored the area. We came across a snare style trap that was set on a small animal trail. We disassembled the trap. Soon we came upon another, and then another. We totaled a half dozen snares set. We disassembled all that we found and took a few of them to the Forest Service station in Ely where we reported the incident.

I think somebody was trying to catch rabbits. Glad you took them down.

Good for you. The season for small game - rabbits and squirrels doesn't open until 9/13/14. Furbearer season isn't until 10/25/14.

There is no difference between a poacher and a thief.

great to hear that you took them all down. I hate poachers they all should be shot on the spot

From the pictures....that has to be the worst snares I have ever seen...?

1. A legal hunter wouldn't be setting snares yet, nor do most snare in the first place.

2. Even a poacher isn't stupid enough to snare in a campsite if they are the least bit serious about actually getting something.

3. NOBODY, not even "poachers", should be "shot on the spot"...and this forum should not be a platform to spout such nonsense!

4. I agree...terrible snare sets...and definitely not anybody that knew what they were doing.

5. My guess, perhaps a group of scouts practicing something they read in a scout manual...or a live-off-the-land type learning the ropes. (No pun intended)

6. Whatever, and whoever, glad you picked up the garbage and reported it.

Based on the circumstances, I agree with your actions.

Trapping IS a legal activity PROVIDED the rules are followed. In this case the rules were NOT being followed.
(A) out of season
(B) no ID tag, all traps and snares need to be marked with the owners information

quote 2old4U: "1. A legal hunter wouldn't be setting snares yet, nor do most snare in the first place.


2. Even a poacher isn't stupid enough to snare in a campsite if they are the least bit serious about actually getting something.


3. NOBODY, not even "poachers", should be "shot on the spot"...and this forum should not be a platform to spout such nonsense!


4. I agree...terrible snare sets...and definitely not anybody that knew what they were doing.


5. My guess, perhaps a group of scouts practicing something they read in a scout manual...or a live-off-the-land type learning the ropes. (No pun intended)


6. Whatever, and whoever, glad you picked up the garbage and reported it. "

Agree with your observations in #1, #3, #4 and #6 above.

Regarding #2 - The OP didn't say anything about finding these snares in a campsite. The OP said while in camp on a windy day they went exploring and found these snares setup on a game trail.

Regarding #5 - Nobody has any idea who did this. Could this have been scouts (or anyone else for that matter) practicing their skills? Anything is possible. If this were the case and these snares were practicing skills the responsible thing to do would be to remove them and not leave them unattended in the woods where an animal could have been captured and wasted with a slow suffering death.

I'm not against hunting or even trapping as long as it's humane and the animal isn't wasted.

No one should be shot for such an offense as you indicated in #3. However if they were scouts/kids and were caught, they should have their bare bottoms spanked publicly.

An adult should be prosecuted as a poacher. Even if the intent was practicing skills, by leaving the snares set and unattended without a license, they are poachers....PERIOD! I am sure that FNR, given the scenario outlined in the OP, would agree that this is poaching.

Settle down stress-o-rama...

It appears to be a very humane trap. Obviously the way it is positioned the snipe goes racing up the trail and just before it jumps over the log it is snared around the neck. When it lands on the other side of the log...we all know the rest of the story. Quick, easy and painless. Probably set by those guys on the show "Fat Men in the Woods".

It is interesting that if you hang around here long enough, there are always several "survivalist" forums started. Some will say can I go out and "live off the land", trap some rabbits, catch some fish, and occasionally one will ask if he can harvest a deer or a bear when on a canoe trip. Most everyone on here tries to tell them that they have to follow the laws of the state, and the USFS, and there are far better places to try to be a "survivalist" than the BWCA.

Thanks for taking the snares down and reporting to the FS.

Obviously someone has been watching too many of those survival type shows and wanted to give it a try.

quote Doughboy12: "Settle down stress-o-rama..."

+1

I have made a snare or two, those won't catch much. The wire is way to heavy. The loop is wrong as well. I agree someone is just practicing to be a survivalist, and not very well. It is very irresponsible to have left those there.

quote OldFingers57: "Obviously someone has been watching too many of those survival type shows and wanted to give it a try."

My feeling about this also! YouTube survivalist, Bear Grylls wanabe, you name them! 0 knowledge of ethics, laws, responsible technique.

butthead

snipe trap#

quote sleepnbag: " snipe trap# "

Love it

Pesky Wabbit

quote LuvMyBell:

Regarding #5 - Nobody has any idea who did this. Could this have been scouts (or anyone else for that matter) practicing their skills? Anything is possible. If this were the case and these snares were practicing skills the responsible thing to do would be to remove them and not leave them unattended in the woods where an animal could have been captured and wasted with a slow suffering death.


I'm not against hunting or even trapping as long as it's humane and the animal isn't wasted.

+1 Hate to see "Scouts" randomly blamed.

Thanks for removing this junk. I have no idea who set these but I doubt it was done by any Scouts. If someone sets a trap line like this and leaves the area that is just bad. I see two violations here. Hunting small game out of season without a license, and wanton waste.

quote drnatus: "

quote LuvMyBell:


Regarding #5 - Nobody has any idea who did this. Could this have been scouts (or anyone else for that matter) practicing their skills? Anything is possible. If this were the case and these snares were practicing skills the responsible thing to do would be to remove them and not leave them unattended in the woods where an animal could have been captured and wasted with a slow suffering death.



I'm not against hunting or even trapping as long as it's humane and the animal isn't wasted.

+1 Hate to see "Scouts" randomly blamed."

Sorry, didn't mean to finger point...honestly I have NO idea who did it...which is why I put (or anyone for that matter) as a caveat. The only reason I said scouts was because in their manual they do teach how to make snares...and being there were many found I made the correlation that perhaps there were many makers, aka scouts. My apologies to scouts everywhere. I actually wanted to join when I was a kid but my dad thought the kerchief cost too much and I was forced to roam the woods all alone with a slingshot instead. :)

"Organized activities" usually include removing the practice item.

Too often I meet people that don't quite "get it", and think a TV show or a 1870 army manual tell them everything they need to know about wilderness skills.

I've often expressed the thought but Kevin Callan said it better, it's not in quotes because it is from my memory and possibly not 100% word for word. It was from a radio onterview I think...

-People ask me about how I start a fire in the wilderness. Easy, I carry a dozen lighters scattered throuout my pack. It's not survival, it's bushcraft.-