.

Jealousy comes in many forms and persons.

The remedy for that is to just trap by the book. Stay within your regs and document all your sets. Two of my better trapping "buddies" are my kids.They know better.

Happened to me in SD when I had to unload rats in town at the Rat Wagon. I had my .22 on my hip. Som e of the locals apparently didn't like my catch and called the local warden saying I was shooting them.

The warden followed up and soon realized I wasn't. I even had a rat walk up to me and crawl up my leg. I flung him off unhurt when he got to my belt. Swam away just fine and made me giggle.

Competition that is better than you just makes you a better trapper if you allow it. I've met plenty on the road that were better than me....and I/m thankful for the learning lessons.

more than once

Never by a competitor (I don't think), but have been turned in by people who just didn't like trapping. Twice they took tags off my traps, both times the GW looked at everything in my truck and had me show him a few sets, all legal, no issues. Been turned in for trespassing on their land, turned out they were trespassing on the land I had permission on.

Grateful Dead had a line in the song Truckin' , set up like a bowling pin .

About as low as you can get .

People get weird when there's money involved.

Yes by an ex agent. 99% of agents give the rest a bad name.

Not trapping, I'm sure one ADC company does it, just the type of people they are, nobody else knows what they are doing blah blah crap

But 20 years ago I had the ATF/FBI try it, I was doing business with some guys that they were investigating, and I think they didn't get as much for the $ they spent. So they started a fishing expedition. I nibbled all the way up to the hook ( I had them figured out) and when they tried to set the hook I said " nope can't do that it's illegal". I didn't get the $20g or the charges.

Keep everything legal and you are fine

Local warden stopped by last spring for a surprise inspection of my fur buying business, had I ride along with him and he just showed the guy my shop said "this guy makes it easy, everything is marked with tags, so I don't worry about it, wish everyone else did it this way". Asked for my copy if my buyers license, took a picture of it to prove he was here and went upon his way

Just not worth it to make an extra buck

Never

Come on up Calvin. You can shoot all you want ............if you want to !

During the fur boom it was a common tactic for the lazy trappers to slow down the go getters.

Not trapping but did have it happen while guiding waterfowl back in my early 20's. Some competition turned us into the Feds and they called and booked hunts with us. We didn't know until they came into the local pizza hut we were eating dinner in and flipped badges. They had been in the blinds with us for three days. We didn't do anything wrong with them there OR before. They sat down and had pizza with us and headed out of town. We knew we were good to go but it will scare the pee water outta ya for a minute or two.

Not that I know of.

Nothing to "set up" I follow the game laws.

Yeah, but it was taxidermy. Man said I had skinned an illegal bear and was going to mount it? No not hardly but they raked me over the coals checking all my freezers. I was legit and always was - like I say stay by the regs/laws.

J

about 17 years ago, where I was hunting, the neighbors didnt like it. it was landlocked national forest, but we had access through a private property. they were stealing tree stands and running 4 wheelers all over - basically trying to run us off.

we did take a 4 wheeler in one evening to get a bear out - two days later, the USFS Ranger shows up at my stand, and i climb down and we go through the licenses and basic questions. it all checks out, and he says he had a call about people running four wheelers - a few minutes later, here comes the neighbor, on a four wheeler with one of our ladder stands strapped to the back.

it may have been one of the most beautiful moments of my life

Had a deer hunter on adjoining property call the warden on my once. I guess maybe the guy figured I was jack lighting deer or something. No worries. Everything was legal. Heck... the game warden didn't even ask to see my license or handgun permit. He just checked to see what I was doing, chatted a few minutes, wished me luck and went on about his business. Not until a month later did I find out from my property owner that the neighbor called the warden on me. Unfortunately I lost permission to trap that property because the neighbor didn't want me disturbing the deer travel patterns in the neighborhood. I hunt deer on occasion but man am I sure glad when deer season is over and all those "sportsmen" go back inside the house and watch football.

Did they at least have a warrant?

Scumbag might have gotten busted and was desperately looking for somebody to throw under the bus for brown nose points.

Dear lord. Been lucky to dodge that kind of a crazy bullet. Sorry to hear your troubles Aix

Had a guy pull my beaver set (conibear) up and lay it (still set) on top of the ice, then call the ranger. I got a ticket for a killer trap set out of water. Went to court and lost because the law says a killer trap must be set and MAINTAINED under water. Judge said because I was not standing by that trap 24 hours a day I did not maintain it underwater, fined me $65.00. Years later I was denied a seat on the NJ Fish and Game council because I had that violation on my record. Eric

Wow. You were not kidding the other day. Glad you didn't take the bait.
Got a story for you sometime very much the same.

Is this guy that set you up on trapperman?If so I think you should name him in case he screws up some poor kid in the future.

Glad I aint had that kind of mess happen to me, only thing that I can relate to is some Jack Wagon neighbors that have called LEO's on me for trespassing, which I didn't do, LEO's knew that, they asked them if they actually saw me do it, "No" well then you have no proof, they haven't messed with me this year, YET, they will I'm sure, so I kinda know how ya feel Aix.

Luckily for me, in my line of work, I'm actually good friends with (almost) all of the GW's in my area and they know exactly how I operate. They know where I put my sets, and how all my sets look, and also know that I am by the book always.

Have gotten a call once or twice saying someone was complaining about me breaking the law, only for him to tell me that he already handled the situation by shutting them down. Love it.

Back in the late 80s I had a traveling fur buyer try real hard to get me to trap and sell him some wolves or other protected fur bearers offered me big money if I would provide him more then I could legally trap, I had brought him 2 otters and a bobcat all legal and properly tagged and he gave me a better then fair price but wolves were totally protected then I never did go back to him even though he paid more then others.

About a year later there were a whole lot of people charged for illegally trafficking in protected furbearers

gettum

Cuts both ways.
I know a state game warden who had someone corn his blind on the river.
And call the Feds...

Several years ago Prune mentor someone who later pulled that stunt but it backfired and the guy ended up with many citations

Have seen it happen.You have both good and bad game wardens.

True story. One time got a call from a game warden. A local competitor called the game warden and complained that my partner and I had set 4" (inches) to close to the beaver house. The legal distance was 25' I believe. Four inches?? The guy took time to measure and find that our set was 4" too close.
Asked the warden what to do. He said, "Chop the hole out (all under ice in those days) and move the pole set back 5".

Love that type of competition as they are so caught up in what they can do to be a pain, they do not focus on what they can do to be successful.

Mac

You just described " grumpy " aka " The Gildford Legend " to a T.
Thats exactly how he opperates , he's been a loser all his life and hates to see anyone succeed where he continues to fail .He hides behind his keyboard on that blue site , with his hero bob w. Beware of this puke .

I been known to Troll, an enemy of mine saw a pic that I intentionally posted and called the local CO on me. I was leaving 1 cold morning to run my traps when the CO pulled up in the driveway and asked if I knew Ron Miller ? I said yea, what Took You So Long ?? He had the funniest look on his face after Id explained what I did, he left after checking my boarded bobcats and the ones I had in the freezer. He also asked before leaving if I would show his 16 year old son how to make a few sets ! lol

So you eventually gave in and took the bait??? Otherwise how do you know it was a setup?? What happened?

Yes. I was trapping public land in Arizona many years ago when it was legal. I was selling fur at a route pickup when a local trapper kept complaining that I was selling cats and that he could not catch a cat. One day he said "maybe I'll use bait." I just ignored the comment. Regulations required that bait not be visible at a 45 degree or above angle to the ground. I was complying with that restriction. Sand along roads clearly showed where I was pulling over to check traps. A game officer ran my line one day and uncovered forty something sets to check trap tags. He just left the traps lying on the ground. Not finding a violation, he moved tree limbs at one set to make a legal bait visible from above. He took pictures of the altered set, then stopped me and wrote a citation. I had out of state license plates on my truck and a had non-resident trapping license.

When law enforcement resorts to entrapment it just shows how lazy they are....atf does it all the time.

If this guy is such a conman i'm sure the wardens are onto him. They don't wanna be bothered by all this crap. To me it's funny how you come on a public forum and bash the crap outta this guy but won't even say who he is. What are you trying to protect??? Seems like a bunch of drama to me. Especially when you involve facebook. Facebook is one of the biggest jokes in america. The guy that is operating my crane on the night shift just got fired last night because he put pictures of the steelmill on facebook, and for what? To brag that he works in some dumpy steelmill, those pics cost him alot of money. I get the point he suckered you in as a new trapper, that does suck.

Yes it happened to me years ago. It was super competitive in the 80s when coon prices were really high. I preset snares in the days leading up to the season, then closed them and hid them in the grass. I could really get a gazillion sets out on opening day that way. A guy found some and opened them up. Then he checked them again the next morning, the day before trapping season and one had a coon in it. Called the game warden. Cost me $250 and a game law violation, the only one in my life. Still angers me when I think about it.

Last year I had someone call the GW on me. I was beaver trapping a creek that ran along a road. The warden(a new person that I didnt know) I was ask about my tags and was told that one of the traps I had out was not tagged and the rest were improperly tagged.One of my traps was obviously messed with and I'm 99% sure someone took the tag off of it but they have been known to come off. The law says I have to have my name and address on my tags BUT I have had a run in a few years ago with a bunny hugger that was trying to kill me so I just put my name,town and state and my IDNR customer number. With that information any GW can find me. She and I argued back and forth and she was going to write me a ticket for this. I ended up texting a GW that I know and he came over and smoothed it all over for me. Im pretty sure I know who it was that called the law on me. and you can bet I will remember that.

One guy in wy said I caught bobcat before the season opened, feed them rabbits til season opened

That is why I don't post pictures and only tell what I want told.I have nothing to hide and I don't need to get a warm fuzzy feeling about my self by showing everybody my catches and sets,and locations. I don't get on facebook and prefer to not expose myself.I guarantee you,there are people waiting to swarm in on you.Like when people say if I don't have a picture,t didn't happen,well,I prefer to let people think what they want and carry on.Much like the gentlemen that decided to do a video 15 plus years ago and now everybody is flocking there and even getting in arguments over it and selling products off of catch pictures and so on.Alot of backstabbing crooks in this business.

I might have that problem this year. I hunt Fed land in Mid Mo in the Ozarks, and last month I went to fluff up, re-brush my ground blind I found a large cleared area with feed corn in it, 50 ft from my blind. The guy came by and said he was gonna have his 14 yr old Daughter hunting this yr during the Youth season. Hunting over bait is illegal in Mo, and I can only hope it's all gone by season.

Hey Aix, I myself am proud of ya, you keep doing your thang, don't worry about the scum bag, he'll get his one day, karma's a B!#$h!!

Yup That ^^^^^

Aix sponsa-

Do you guide hunters and fishermen because you mentioned "clients" of yours? To me, the story sounds like this loser either got some sick fascination, kind of a "Fatal Attraction" buddy thing OR he was really after to ruin your other outdoors revenue making venture. I'm guessing the second thing and everything was pre-planned from the beginning. Like crow1971 said, they guy will get what he deserves, either in this life or in eternity.

I was at a spot one time and pulled all of the traps from that spot. I was tossing them in the trunk when the game warden came flying up in his truck and locked em up, sliding in the gravel on the shoulder. He flies out of the truck and yells out "MN Conservation Officer"! I was not concerned as I was not doing anything wrong. He asked to see my tags. No problem. I lift up a trap and the tag is gone. All of the tags were gone. I looked him right in the eye and said "You dirty son of a xxxx". He proceeds to write a ticket and naturally I fought it. The Goodhue MN county attorney is a scumbag who will keep doing pretrial investigations until the person gives up and just pleads guilty to cut their losses. I didn't buckle. Finally I threatened to write a letter to the judge. I saw the judge that day. I told the judge the story and told him I would fight this to my dying day. He dropped it.

The next time I went to the WI convention, some dude I don't now walked up to me and asked if I was Mark. I said yes, and he proceeded to tell me EVERY tiny detail of the incident. Then he told me that the game warden took the tags off. then he walked away. Never figured out who he was. Never saw him again.

I'm glad we don't have to put up with that "trap tag" crap here in South Dakota. I'm sure there are people that will argue they are a good thing but I can't see the good outweighing the hassle, especially these stories where people will ill intent can easily take them off someone ele's gear.

Wow mark, that really bites, the ones we have here most are real nice, except Palo Alto co guy, the good ones I know would never do something like that

These stories are really making me consider etching my conservation number into my traps. That way they can't be removed.

Kyle

After reading this, i'm not sure if i was ever set up. Man, you have me befuddled as to what your problem is other than you do bookface.

You do know you can block facebook stalkers don't you? Why put yourself through all of the bullcrap associated with a shady person like that? Call him out for what he is and move on down the line.

.

.

Deer hunters found a dead buck on one of My best farms, Hunter told me it looked like 8-9 pt was shot in head w a .22.
I called fish n game right away, I was afraid someone would think I had shot it, warden looked it over and determined it was hit by a car, got half mile from the road.
It made a good attractor for coyotes!

Ive been checked about a dozen times here in PA. Every time they were in pairs and while one was talking to me the other was going through my traps in the back of my pickup looking at tags. He didn't find any in-tagged traps but what if he did? I thought it didn't count unless they were set? I'm not so sure they are allowed to go through my chit without asking?

Another time I had about 8 traps stolen from a section of creek. I was still livid about it and a warden pulls up asking me about permission (I knew he owned the downstream area from the bridge and I was on the upstream side w/ permission). I was trying to tell him about the stolen traps about 3 miles up the road and all he wanted was me to tell him I had traps on his property which I didn't.
I basically begged him to take the stolen trap info and he never did. I was going to report him to superiors but never did. Nothing like having some traps stolen then being harassed shortly afterwards by a warden.

Good luck with it Aix.I wish you the best.It needs to be do

Wow, no wonder nobody from Tman will take me twapping.

Ax, come up here this fall to "the land of plenty" (of trappers) to see a real cluster flop.

i'd take ya

Had permission to hunt deer and turkey on 120 acres about 5 minutes from my house. It was great for about 7 years as I own my business so basically hunted turkey about every morning before work. I was successful on my two birds about every year. Well a very good friend of mine would call about every day and ask about my day. Next thing you know he had backhanded permission to hunt there, next thing you know I only get permission to deer hunt and trap it (he is a big turkey hunter). So after he screws me and I am barely talking to him he then accuses me of illegally baiting turkey (my buddy has 8 acres that butts upto it) and hunting too close to a structure. I said I can be there in 1/2 hour and will have the GW meet us both there. If there is evidence of baiting I will donate $1000 cash on the spot to the ODNR, if not you will leave me alone forever, he didn't take me up on his supposed slam dunk. I haven't talked to him in 4 years now but he still bad mouths me behind my back.

I have seen this a lot here where I live too. I’ve seen it bring out the worst in people. It really bothers me that grown men act this way over some hunting or trapping.Theres a guy that works at the same place I do that just started trapping last year and he really has bad blood against me cause I trap too. And I’ve never talked to about anything trapping related. He hates it because he feels like I’m his competition. I hope it all works out for you.

Yep, another reason I gave up on trusting people just about altogether. It's gonna be very hard to become my friend from here on out. Can't stand a liar and a thief and we are surrounded by them.

Your problem is so easy to fix that I can't believe you haven't done it yet.
The next time you see him, you pound the pudding out of him. Aim for soft targets so as to not leave marks on either of you.
I ain't scared of jail.

Prune was set up by the very guy he mentored, but since the GW's knew Prune was on the up and up, it backfired on the dude.

Your warning for being on guard against such ppl is I'm sure warranted. However lots of trappers enjoy helping others, meeting other trappers and teaching...and learning. Your strange behaviour has curtailed my wanting to meet trappers who post here.

You have apologised for this after learning I'm NOT out to steal your trapping clients or anything. I just thought you asked great questions and sounded like a trapper I'd like to meet. Carry on.

So what are these suspicious events of which you speak?

Yeh if they ever make public beatings legal I'm gonna be in a lot of fights. I basically told him that killing his Turkeys every year is more important than any of his friendships, sad really. Good luck Aix.

Good grief this is still going on? Just whip his tail, call him out, or move on down the line.

Can't believe I missed this whole thing until now.

Ya'll get wild down south Aix.

I once caught this huge otter In a 160 trail set for coon. The nearest water was a good distance away.

When I checked the trap (24 hour check) I had this otter In the 160. The trap was still on the H stand. That In It's self raised a red flag for me. Then when I looked at It's eyes they were all milky looking like it had been removed from a freezer and thawed out.
Otter season was open but I didn't have a tag. I didn't touch that critter and called the cop shop right away. They put me In touch with a warden and he told me I It was Ok to remove It and bring It In. I said NO someone can come and get It. I told them where It was I think they already knew where It was. The next day It was gone.

I called the warden supervisor for my area. And asked If I had been set up, he said they don't operate like that. So the jury Is still out on that one.

sorry for a later response but no they didnt have warrants but most time they can come check a taxidermist's freezers without one. I think this is due to you getting the "license" taxidermy permit through the State. Anyway even if they had to have one I am the type it doesnt bother me? I knew both the wardens one didnt like me one did? and I wasnt gonna raise a fuss due to a good friendship with that warden?? and i had nothing to hide.

J

Can't we all just get along.

No.