Love to see this post. I always thought that trappers were resourceful and persevered in the face of adversity. It's nice to see the true Maine trappers adapt and keep doing what they love despite the restrictions.
With all due respect your statment is true except we are still dealing with death by 1,000 cuts as they are regulating us out of being effective and efficient.We can get the odd fisher in the required device we are forced to use but as another mentioned he sees 4-5 refusals to each catch and to catch a fisher over 10 lbs would be rare.
I kind of see this issue from multiple perspectives. On one hand, there's a time to speak up about overly restrictive regulations and fight them, and there are some avenues to do that which are more effective than others. On the other hand, there is a time to make the best of a tough situation and get out there and enjoy trapping, embrace the challenge and be thankful for what we still have. Too much of one of those things without the other is unhealthy for the trapping community.
Many of the older Maine trappers I know are now sitting home and complaining about the complexity of the new regulations. They are not actively trapping, supporting trappers organizations, or encouraging others to get out trapping. There are others who are adapting and catching decent amounts of fur, although as you guys mention it's more difficult to do so.
Some of what I'm doing in my own trapping, working with my two boys, and sharing through the podcast episodes is an effort to focus on the positive side of trapping, recruit new trappers, activate old ones, and help build a stronger, active, informed base of trappers to influence things for the better moving forward. I hate these regulations just as much as the next guy, I've just chosen to save my unhappiness for the time and place where I believe it will be most effective.
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![[Linked Image]](https://i.imgur.com/fAKsPeY.jpg)
