Honing a Solution
Most fur trapping is done in winter when underfur is dense and guard hairs are long. Given that grizzly bears hibernate for the winter, trappers should generally be able to avoid accidently catching bears. However, some trapping seasons open in late fall, such as the marten season in much of British Columbia which opens November 1 and extends to February 15. Reducing the overlap between the bear active season and trapping seasons is one solution to reducing the loss of bear toes and allowing trappers to not lose their traps and have their sets destroyed. This solution has been previously used in southeast British Columbia used to avoid catching and killing bears in neck snares set for wolves, an issue first documented by the Flathead project.
We summarized the den entry and exit dates for 61 animal-years in the Elk Valley to assess when bears were denning in the fall. We found that the median den entry date (i.e., the date when 50% of bears had denned) was November 06, and the 95th quantile of den entry was November 22, revealing a critical 3-week period of overlap between active bears and the trapping season. We found no overlap between den emergence and the end of the trapping season; thus we focus on fall trapping as the source of the issue. Shifting the start of most trapping that overlaps with, and could attract bears, to December 1 would essentially eliminate this overlap.

Indeed, such a change to the regulations was proposed in 2019 but was not implemented. Much of the trapped landscape within the Kootenays is in rugged mountainous terrain and many trappers, especially in the west Kootenays, reported that they were effectively unable to access their traplines for much of the winter beginning in early December due to high avalanche risk and associated safety concerns. The trappers reported they did most of their trapping in early December or before, and that shortening the season to December 1st would remove their ability to harvest marten from their trapline. As a result, provincial biologists implemented a condition on all active trapping licenses within the Kootenay region stipulating that, beginning in 2021, all body grip traps set for marten during the month of November must be enclosed in a box with an opening no larger than 3 1⁄2 inches. This narrowed entrance was thought to be narrower than most bear paws. The updated licenses also recommended using these enclosed boxes when setting similarly sized killing traps for other species on dry ground prior to December 1st. The efficacy of the modified enclosure in eliminating bear toe loss has not yet been tested, but these modified marten trap boxes are believed to be sufficient to ensure grizzly bears are not able to access a set trap if implemented by all trappers. Given that there is more uncertainty in the effectiveness the modified enclosure approach compared to a change in seasons, we recommend that compliance and efficacy is monitored to ensure this intervention is effective and uptake is high. Such monitoring would allow for adaptive management and changes to the approach as needed and ensure a successful outcome for bears and trappers alike.

Honing a Solution
Most fur trapping is done in winter when underfur is dense and guard hairs are long. Given that grizzly bears hibernate for the winter, trappers should generally be able to avoid accidently catching bears. However, some trapping seasons open in late fall, such as the marten season in much of British Columbia which opens November 1 and extends to February 15. Reducing the overlap between the bear active season and trapping seasons is one solution to reducing the loss of bear toes and allowing trappers to not lose their traps and have their sets destroyed. This solution has been previously used in southeast British Columbia used to avoid catching and killing bears in neck snares set for wolves, an issue first documented by the Flathead project.
We summarized the den entry and exit dates for 61 animal-years in the Elk Valley to assess when bears were denning in the fall. We found that the median den entry date (i.e., the date when 50% of bears had denned) was November 06, and the 95th quantile of den entry was November 22, revealing a critical 3-week period of overlap between active bears and the trapping season. We found no overlap between den emergence and the end of the trapping season; thus we focus on fall trapping as the source of the issue. Shifting the start of most trapping that overlaps with, and could attract bears, to December 1 would essentially eliminate this overlap.

Indeed, such a change to the regulations was proposed in 2019 but was not implemented. Much of the trapped landscape within the Kootenays is in rugged mountainous terrain and many trappers, especially in the west Kootenays, reported that they were effectively unable to access their traplines for much of the winter beginning in early December due to high avalanche risk and associated safety concerns. The trappers reported they did most of their trapping in early December or before, and that shortening the season to December 1st would remove their ability to harvest marten from their trapline. As a result, provincial biologists implemented a condition on all active trapping licenses within the Kootenay region stipulating that, beginning in 2021, all body grip traps set for marten during the month of November must be enclosed in a box with an opening no larger than 3 1⁄2 inches. This narrowed entrance was thought to be narrower than most bear paws. The updated licenses also recommended using these enclosed boxes when setting similarly sized killing traps for other species on dry ground prior to December 1st. The efficacy of the modified enclosure in eliminating bear toe loss has not yet been tested, but these modified marten trap boxes are believed to be sufficient to ensure grizzly bears are not able to access a set trap if implemented by all trappers. Given that there is more uncertainty in the effectiveness the modified enclosure approach compared to a change in seasons, we recommend that compliance and efficacy is monitored to ensure this intervention is effective and uptake is high. Such monitoring would allow for adaptive management and changes to the approach as needed and ensure a successful outcome for bears and trappers alike.

BINGO!!! Drasselt just gave away his BS ANTI Narrative!!! Once again he wants the TRAPPER and their TRAPPING Narrative.!!!!