I recommend anyone wanting the facts to go to the FWC website.
Ive read everything available about this. It's confusing to me as to why the Florida Trappers Assn is resisting FWC's efforts to legalize the use of traps currently not available at all except thru special permit.
What am I missing here?
And yes...I have a dog in this fight as I've done a couple of beaver jobs in north Florida. And Ive had requests to do predator control work there too.
There have been additional changes proposed by the TAG since the information on the FWC website was posted. One of the changes is that all trap types will require the permit and training instead of just for footholds, bodygrips, and DPs as it is now and is proposed on their website. Also, landowners will not be able to set more than one cage trap on their property without getting the permit which requires the training. There are a few other things as well that were presented at meeting where they presented the updates to the update that are not necessarily on their website.
The intent of this action with Howl is to basically leave well enough alone and get the provisions that are currently on the website into regulation rather than this plus some additional, unnecessary regulations. Of course one of the bigger issues is that the latest updates were not really done with the participation of the FL Trappers Association who would be most affected by the updates.
Your close enough to Florida that you should get in contact with the FL Trappers and find out about these details. If passed as the original change, this will be a big step forward for trappers in FL and probably one of the few places where we have seen some positive changes toward trapping.
