tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post6297854896133664253..comments2024-03-26T22:16:26.572-04:00Comments on Terrierman's Daily Dose: How to Set -- and Release -- a Conibear TrapPBurnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-6676359363050896492017-09-17T16:31:55.798-04:002017-09-17T16:31:55.798-04:00Condibear are kill traps; what they were designed ...Condibear are kill traps; what they were designed for and what they are expected to do very, very quickly. In most states they are only allowed to be set in/on water for nutria, beaver, and mustrat. Some states allow settes that are put up high in trees inside buckets. Minnesota limits conbibears to a waterset, unless the trap has a inside measurement of under 6.5 inches, which is a 150 or 160 conbibear set for mink or muskrat. In my opinion, there is no reason to use a conibear on land ever. They make good species-specific raccoon traps that have zero by catch of other animals, and muskrat and mink are water animals.PBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-47922666715788065082017-09-17T09:52:44.557-04:002017-09-17T09:52:44.557-04:00I posted earlier about trying to learn how to rele...I posted earlier about trying to learn how to release a conibear trap. I bought a 220 and tried every method I could find and was unable to get any of them to work in time to save a dog. Even using both hands and feet, sitting on the ground, I could not muster the strength to compress the spring and get the safety catch on. Now, imagine this with a 60 pound Lab struggling and thrashing around! I might be able to release a smaller conibear, so I still carry what I'd need, but I'm not confident at all...<br /><br />I've given up using the WMR and am worried & cautious when walking the edge of my own property. I'm using a shock collar to train my dogs to stay out of the bordering tree line. I'm working to get the MN legislature to pass a bill with stronger protections for dogs (letters to the newspapers, a Change.org petition (http://chn.ge/2x4nBau), appeals to our Governor and state legislatures). I'm sharing ideas with a MN non-profit that has been working on this issue for years, Dog Lovers 4 Safe Trapping MN (https://www.facebook.com/DogLovers4SafeTrappingMn ).<br /><br />I'm not trying to eliminate all trapping - just the use of the conibear on public land. I lose sleep remembering the stories, photos, and videos I've seen of dogs caught in these traps. Education is painful...Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15827521627942486415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-8302494464920622122017-06-26T16:53:46.138-04:002017-06-26T16:53:46.138-04:00I just wanted to say thank you very much for what ...I just wanted to say thank you very much for what you posted about unloading the trap. I had caught my first groundhog today and didn't know you had to compress the springs again to open the trap. Great illustration. Thanks again.itstherightonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14181350776098104507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-25366395901225129022016-11-18T12:29:35.132-05:002016-11-18T12:29:35.132-05:00I live on a 10 acre farm right next to newly estab...I live on a 10 acre farm right next to newly established WMR where trapping and hunting is allowed. My 40 pound Golden mix was caught in a leg-hold trap last weekend, but I was able to release him and he seems unharmed. We were both a bit freaked out by the experience, though! The trap was located in an area it shouldn't have been and was tagged with a totally blank tag. <br /><br />Two years ago, when the WMR was first being worked on (former cropland), I spent a very useful 40 minutes at a trapper supply outfit where the counter man showed me a variety of sizes of leg hold traps, snares, and the conibear. (He also believes conibears should not be allowed on any land open to the public.) I learned how to release the leg-hold and the snares, but the conibear defeated me. I used the techniques recommended by our state trappers' association (heavy duty zip ties), but am not strong enough to get the springs compressed. I recently saw a video from the Idaho Fish and Game department (https://idfg.idaho.gov/hunt/trap) where a woman used a leash to compress the springs. I'm going to buy a 220 conibear and practice till I can do it quickly.<br /><br />I'll still work my dogs in the WMR. I talked with our local DNR guy (who's a trapper) and viewed the Idaho videos several times, and feel much better educated on locating and avoiding traps.<br /><br />I never, ever let my dogs out to run without me, and they are well-trained enough to return when called. They both wear bells and blaze orange vests, and I am always very aware of where they are. I can't express strongly enough how dangerous it is to let your dogs run loose, whether in the country or in the city. From cars to coyotes to poisons, there are too many ways to end up heartbroken.<br /><br />Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15827521627942486415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-65222027058360750502012-03-24T14:47:18.574-04:002012-03-24T14:47:18.574-04:00Last week some antler hunters found my wonderful L...Last week some antler hunters found my wonderful Lab-Greyhound cross caught in an untagged bucket set and baited conibear trop less then a quarter mile from our home. The folks who found him removed his collar and brought it to me and told me where to find him.<br /><br />Ike disappeared on Feb. 15 and was not found until March 17 because we were not looking for trapping areas as we are surrounded by farm ground or wildlife refuges. It was odvious that the traps had not been checked for some time.<br /><br />These traps were less then a quarter mile from several homes, all of whom have pets and some of whom have children. Law enforcement were contacted and they came out to the sight. Photos were taken and I removed Ike from the sight.<br /><br />I doubt that anything will be done about the untagged and baited traps unless I push it. A wonderful dog was lost and a family is grieving the loss. This is something that did not need to happen, much less go several weeks undetected. There is no trap season open and there is no home or livestock to be protected by the traps in that location.<br /><br />While I respect ethical trappers I can not use the words that I feel for the person that set the trap Ike was caught it and killed. They are just lucky is wasn't a curious kid.Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06354360998130969125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-30454431106465830572009-10-09T19:00:51.525-04:002009-10-09T19:00:51.525-04:00Frank Conibear's story is told pretty well her...Frank Conibear's story is told pretty well here >> http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic36-4-386.pdf<br /><br />As it notes at the top, Frank said: "“I have a dream - a dream that someday my trap will<br />become the SPCA of the forests."<br /><br />Production of the first 50 traps were financed by the "Association for the Protection of Fur Bearing Animals" which is now, I believe, this organization >> http://www.banlegholdtraps.com/ It is opposed to all trapping.<br /><br />After inventing the trap, Conibear was given an award by American Humane ( http://www.americanhumane.org/ ) <br /><br />Where animal rights starts and animal welfare stops, I will let others debate. I know the history pretty well as it starts with Kit Burns and Henry Bergh in New York City, and the issue they were fighting over was the "welfare" of the rats in rat pits. Somehow I think that qualifies as the start of the animal rights movement, but I will allow that there is a lot of wobble in the language,<br /><br />In any case, the story of the Conibear trap remains a classic tale of unintended consequence.<br /><br />Fewer and fewer people are trapping at all, of course, as wild fur prices have fallen through the floor, and doing almost anything else pays better and is far easier (including begging on the sidewalk).<br /><br />P.PBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-81918271941914756732009-10-09T17:00:08.314-04:002009-10-09T17:00:08.314-04:00I've had dogs caught in baited legholds, and b...I've had dogs caught in baited legholds, and been caught in them myself, in places where NO TRAP HAS ANY BUSINESS BEING.<br /><br />Next to a ski trail in a state park, next to a dam at a YMCA camp where little children were fishing, in a field in a state gameland where dozens of hunters train their pointers. The bottom feeder who was trapping the the last location didn't even bother to check his traps as required by law -- easily proven, as the light snow cover was four days old, and there were no human tracks anywhere near.<br /><br />Fortunately, thus far, the injuries have been slight -- it has been the bigger dogs who got caught. Plenty of drama and screaming, though -- and some from the dog, too. The biggest trap is the coyote set that got my boot, which was stiff leather and protected me well from all but the surprise and anger.<br /><br />I live in fear of a conibear on the ground (they are only legal for water sets in PA, though legal obviously doesn't figure into a lot of these guys' practices) or a dog working the water's edge on a search or training getting caught.<br /><br />I bought a couple different styles of leghold and conibear, and periodically give short hands-on classes in releasing them. There really is no substitute for practice, and traps are cheap.<br /><br />It's that time of year -- I'm going to practice with them this week.<br /><br />As for the conibear being the result of "animal rights" anything -- only if Ingrid Newkirk has a time machine.<br /><br />The philosophy of "animal rights" and the resulting political apparatus and ideology dates back only to the 1970's. You can pretty much date it to Peter Singer's book <i>Animal Liberation</i>.<br /><br />Any organization that was working for better treatment of animals before that time should properly be classed as an "animal welfare" entity.Heather Houlahanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13891198124130533198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-88755227513613505992009-10-09T14:21:32.021-04:002009-10-09T14:21:32.021-04:00NOTHING gives trapprs a worse name than the fools ...NOTHING gives trapprs a worse name than the fools who get Conibears and do not know how to set them. <br /><br />YES, post this information all over the place, and save a few dog and cat lives. That's the idea!<br /><br />For the record, this post was triggered by Mark who has a nice new place with a serious groundhog problem. I went out to his place, and he may lose his pole barn if the groundhogs keep undermining the posts. My dogs went in and busted one out (a big one!) but it's a sold concrete pour under most of it and no way to dig. A trap is the only way.<br /><br />I am dead against baiting a Conibear unless it's up a tree. If you bait a ground set, you WILL get dead cats and dogs. That coyote trapper was simply incompetent. A coyote is best trapped with a regular old leg trap. They works great, but no trap should ever be in a WMA or near a path, road, or place where humans live and a dog or cat can reasonably be expectted to find access. Alltraps should be checked at least once a day, and better twice a day.<br /><br />P.PBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-25592381647109429982009-10-09T12:08:18.522-04:002009-10-09T12:08:18.522-04:00Conibear traps can even kill medium to large-sized...Conibear traps can even kill medium to large-sized dogs. I lost a wonderful, 60-lb Australian Shepherd to a baited, untagged Conibear trap set next to the rural road I walked him on every day.<br /><br />I didn't know how to open the trap and had to watch helplessly as my dog died a slow, horrible death from suffocation.<br /><br />Thanks for giving me permission to share the information on how to release these traps.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-1400456151168924032009-10-09T10:14:28.040-04:002009-10-09T10:14:28.040-04:00My JRT, Bandit, got caught in a Conibear trap in t...My JRT, Bandit, got caught in a Conibear trap in the WMA behind our house last summer.<br /><br />Someone had set it up in a bucket with a dead rabbit inside to bait coyotes and, being a JRT, he had to check it out.<br /><br />SNAP!<br /><br />It came down right onto his head. Fortunately, the trap itself was in poor condition and wasn't operating at full strength.<br /><br />Bandit had a giant lump on his head and was laid up for a week or so, but other than that there was no permanent damage. I feel VERY fortunate.Tenacious Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17608386798201726011noreply@blogger.com