"Trappers operate in total secrecy and the public has no warning, even on public land that they, their children, and pets are in danger. Dogs are snared and killed every winter. Traps can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a week to kill an animal, and if they kill an animal it can be by starvation, or by exposure. If the animal was really, really lucky, it could be choked to death over a 10-minute period, that's the best it could hope for. Snares are also considered by many to be humane, but this is totally false. Animals die a torturous death in them." -- Dwight Rodtka, Former Trapper

"Regardless of trapper skills, any trap, foot or killer-type or snares, can and do catch all birds and beasts, wild and domestic." -- Bill Randall, Former Trapper

 

Recreational trapping is often closely associated with hunting, but the activities have little in common. In fact, recreational trapping violates the principles of fair chase and ethics practiced by good hunters. Hunters pursue specific prey – such as deer or elk – and do their best to make quick, clean kills with rifles, shotguns or arrows to minimize the pain and suffering of the animals they hunt. Hunting is also strictly regulated, with specific seasons and limits, often including restrictions on the size, sex and age of what animals can legally be killed. For example, managers may establish doe or cow only seasons, or only allow the hunting of bucks and bulls, sometimes even restricting the size of bucks and bulls (brow-tine only, spike only, 4-by-4 or larger only) to meet management goals and objectives. 

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Trapping, on the other hand, is unnecessarily cruel. Steel-jaw leghold traps, body-gripping traps, and wire neck snares, inflict great pain and suffering. Some traps are designed to crush animals in a vice like grip rather than kill them. Few states require trappers to check their traps frequently, so targeted and nontargeted animals caught in traps can suffer for days, and sometimes chew or pull off their own limbs to escape. Often, animals are left to slowly suffer and die from starvation, dehydration, blood loss or hypothermia. 

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Traps themselves are indiscriminate, catching the first animal to step on them. Countless dogs and cats, deer, birds and other animals are injured and killed each year by traps. As the organization Trap Free Montana puts it, “Traps are hidden and baited; the trapper isn’t there, and does not know what was trapped, suffering, until they return, even many days later, at their convenience. It is illegal to leave a fishing pole unattended in Montana, but this does not apply to traps and snares. ‘Know your target’ is a maxim of hunting, but traps are indiscriminate. Trappers say, ‘Trapping is like Christmas, you never know what you’ll get.’”

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Non-targeted species -- such as eagles, osprey, mountain lion, deer and even elk -- are often caught in traps, as are threatened and endangered species such as lynx, wolverines and grizzly bears. Traps are set almost year-round on our public lands – near roads and trails, along waterways, in forests and meadows – where and increasing number of people hunt, fish, hike and enjoy other recreational activities, often with their dogs.

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In a 2023 study, “Mammal Trapping: A Review of Animal Welfare Standards of Killing and Restraining Traps,” published by Cambridge University, researchers concluded, “Many of the practices commonly used to trap mammals cannot be considered humane. Current legislation fails to ensure an acceptable level of welfare for a large number of captured animals.”

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Recreational trapping is a brutally cruel, archaic, outdated practice that threatens wildlife, people and pets, and should not be allowed on our public lands.