DOG OWNERS BEWARE--Traps on WIHA tracts

kansasbrittany

kansasbrittany

Banned
:eek: I ran across 2 traps in one of the CRP fields I hunted during the youth hunt. Luckily I tripped over one of the handles before one of my dogs ended up in one!! The traps were deliberately set where people would naturally enter and exit the property by foot, so myself and the guy I was with (whose son was walking next to me) destroyed the traps. I probably wouldn't have done it if they were set in any practical game catching spot. I believe that this is someone's sick and feeble attempt to secure their favorite private spot that was recently enrolled in the WIHA program. Sure wish I could destroy the sap himself:mad: Not sure if trapping on WIHA is legal, but it would seem strange if it were. I don't know much about traps, but these things looked like leg-breakers for a species much larger than anything I've seen in KS. If they'd closed on me or one of the kids, they would've hit us about the kneecap.

Any thoughts? Oh yeah, go ahead and criticize my decision to destroy the traps....it doesn't matter to me, they weren't legally marked and they weren't being used for something as small as a bobcat or coyote. What I'd like is for someone that is familiar with the laws to enlighten me as to whether this is something I should expect to happen regularly as I travel across the state or if trapping on WIHA during pheasant season is legal?
 
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Traps on WIHA Land

Report your findings to the KDWP. I am sure it would like to investigate, but if you detroyed the traps, you destroyed key evidence that could have been used to find the culprits.
 
Trapping on WIHA Land

According to the WIHA website, trapping is illegal on WIHA unless the landowner has given permission. Destroying the traps eliminated a serious threat of harm to hunters and dogs, so you did a good a deed for sure.
 
Glad none of the dogs got into any of the traps. You did the right thing. No sense in leaving them for someone else to come across.
 
traps

I ran across the same thing in 2006 Kansasbrittany and I did the same thing but only after it had snapped on my dogs foot. Luckily for her and I both it was not the larger of the three set in the entrance way to some good wiha ground. I removed all of them and reported them to the KDWP and was more than happy to assist him in trying to find any others, we were able to find 1 other and he told me that he had no use for them so I just threw it away. He did warn me though to be really cautious around water where they like to put beaver traps to catch dogs trying to drink. It will snap their necks or drown them. So stay safe and watch for idiots and happy huntin.
 
BritChaser said:
Report your findings to the KDWP. I am sure it would like to investigate, but if you detroyed the traps, you destroyed key evidence that could have been used to find the culprits.
Click to expand...

Sorry, when I say destroy, I guess I should have said disabled. I tried to remove them and couldn't. It would've taken cable cutters, but I did manage to disable them by twisting the handle. I will find the number for that region and report it.
 
That is very disturbing. I hope I never find any traps, or any SOBs setting them. WIHA is a great program, it is upsetting that somebody would be so ignorant and selfish.
 
kansasbrittany said:
:eek: I ran across 2 traps in one of the CRP fields I hunted during the youth hunt. Luckily I tripped over one of the handles before one of my dogs ended up in one!! The traps were deliberately set where people would naturally enter and exit the property by foot, so myself and the guy I was with (whose son was walking next to me) destroyed the traps. I probably wouldn't have done it if they were set in any practical game catching spot. I believe that this is someone's sick and feeble attempt to secure their favorite private spot that was recently enrolled in the WIHA program. Sure wish I could destroy the sap himself:mad: Not sure if trapping on WIHA is legal, but it would seem strange if it were. I don't know much about traps, but these things looked like leg-breakers for a species much larger than anything I've seen in KS. If they'd closed on me or one of the kids, they would've hit us about the kneecap.

Any thoughts? Oh yeah, go ahead and criticize my decision to destroy the traps....it doesn't matter to me, they weren't legally marked and they weren't being used for something as small as a bobcat or coyote. What I'd like is for someone that is familiar with the laws to enlighten me as to whether this is something I should expect to happen regularly as I travel across the state or if trapping on WIHA during pheasant season is legal?
Click to expand...
I found the same thing on a tract of public hunting land here around KC. It was legaly marked and it had an owl trapped in it. I called the KDWP and when he showed up he said that it was legal on the watershed land where I was hunting, I then told him to have a great day as my dog was worth more than a few quail. I haven't hunted any public hunting since. KB, you did the right thing no matter what anybody says. If it was legaly marked, then I would have disabled it and then had the police or KDWP look into it, but since it wasn't legaly marked you did the right thing.
 
Coyote Hunter- Beware even on private land. A friend of mine in SE Kansas once found multiple traps along a creek on his family's land. Nobody had permission to trap on their land, and the traps were not marked in any way. They had probably been placed by a poacher.
 
Thanks for the heads up but you really should share the location of the fields you were hunting so that other who hunt that area can be forewarned. In the 14 years of hunting SW Kansas I have not come across anything similar and hopefully will not.
 
Glad to hear nothing bad came from that, more than likely they would have been back to take a gander at those traps, thats when all hell would have broke loose. Set em off leave em for the trapper to come back, and then confronted them.
Just a thought,
Chip :cheers:
 
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