Well trapping was here first, and thermal hunting is very questionable in my opinion unless we are talking about hogs in Texas. I don't agree with coyote hunting with thermals at all, I think many on here have proven that they can really slay the coyotes with traps. I also see the thermal hunting as a dangerous threat to the people who trap primarily coyotes either for pleasure or ADC.
For hogs I understand why thermal hunters have gotten a real foothold, but I still would like for trappers to trap them to help manage the problem too.
A lot of us trappers are hunters too. I don't expect you to understand, as you are new to trapping, but we trappers and hunters have coexisted for years together. We may not always get along but we do see eye to eye with everyone enjoying and pursuing the outdoors as seen fit.
There's nothing wrong with thermal hunters, there's nothing wrong with hunting yotes or anything for that matter with all legal means. How is it a dangerous threat? The problem here has nothing to do with thermal or any hunters. The problem is solely, the OP got lied to, swindled by a dishonest person. Don't ostracize one group of outdoors peoples to appease another.
I was a hunter long before I was a trapper. No hunters and trappers have not coexisted for a long time, maybe a small group, but by large there is a huge idealogical split in the hunting community. Some of the most famous hunters in history despised amd talked down on some of the greatest trappers because they felt like trapping wasnt ethical. Most of the "professional aka TV stars" dont support trapping and a lot of the actual professionals aka guides cant even openly support trapping because their clients dont like trapping. Money talks and the trapping community is at the bottom of the pole, for now.
Thermal hunters that kill coyotes at night absolutely are a threat to trappers who are paid per coyote to kill them. I get that many trappers have thermals, I have thermals, I have machine guns, I have suppressors, I get it, but at the end of the day when another group of people come in and kill coyotes that trappers normally get paid to take care of. Its a direct threat because thermal hunters are taking trapper dollars from their pocket. Ask the NMTA who abandoned them on SB32. How many hunters have advocated against trapping in other states? 9/10 places across the USA I could hunt but never trap in a million years. The Bison group that is leasing all the BLM land, supports hunting, but absolutely no trapping. Lawmakers will openly support hunting, but very few will advocate for trapping, and guess what. If the trappers had not formed a bond with the ranchers, we would never get any love in 2022.
You can sit by and let your fellow trappers that rely on trapping coyotes get their compensation reduced by thermal hunters or you can do the pro trapping thing and support them. I 100% would support no thermal hunting of coyotes, hogs they need every set of thermals out there. High fence, Private game reserves are excluded from my opinion. Trappers livelyhoods matter more than shooting coyotes at night and even though I cut my teeth in the hunting world, Im trapping 100% from here on out.
