Why do deer hunters feel compelled to shoot trapped animals. My two nicest coyotes this year have been killed by trespassing deer hunters. And both left gaping exit wounds.

And why don’t they ever shoot a barely haired up pup of the year? It always has to be a nice coyote.

My first ever coyote double were blasted dead by deer hunters.... not salvageable.

You're lucky they left you the trap.

Some of them think they are doing you a favor, but others just want to blast something. All too many of them think any trap in the woods is free for the taking. I caught a wolf the beginning of October the last year we had the early season, in a timbered area over a quarter mile from the nearest fourwheeler road, and must have had a coyote step in the remake practically as soon as I left. In an area where you wouldn't expect anybody to be, someone found out it and shot it multiple times with what appeared to be a pistol (no gaping exit wounds, but large caliber by the hole through the ear that wouldn't have had any expansion, and managed to shoot the trap chain one time, breaking a link. Coyote was gut shot and very bloated by the next trap check. And this was between archery and rifle seasons. A couple weeks earlier I had caught a wolf and remade the set, next check I'm unsure if I had another catch or not, due to the existing large catch circle, but the catch circle was full of boot tracks and the trap was gone.

It is frustrating for sure. One that stands out was a catch circle with blood and a empty 20 guage shell. Coyote was missing and there were 2 boot tracks centered over the trap where it appeared they spent some time trying to pull the super fin stake by hand. I hope his back is still sore.

^I think this pretty much sums it up.^

If you trap long enough and especially if you trap during deer season, you're likely to have a trapped animal shot. Sometimes the idiots even manage to shoot the trap.

A lot of Pennsylvania trappers suspend operations during the rifle deer season, especially the first week. I do for a few reasons; I don't want to disturb my deer-hunting landowners and their friends, I am often deer-hunting myself and don't have time for a morning check and I've had critters shot on some of the properties I trap when I used to trap them during the season. .

I had a big snared beaver stuck full of “X” shaped holes and I asked the landowner. He said a kid bow hunting didn’t want my beaver to get away. It was riddled with holes.

Yes I can’t tell you how many coyotes I’ve had to toss from some do gooder that didn’t want my coyote to get away. Shotguns, rifles, one beat a coyote with a fence post and laid the fence post next to it so I would know what he did. That wasn’t salvageable either because temps climbed in afternoon and by time I got to check traps after work it was already green on the belly.
Sometimes they took the coyote too. Sometimes they took the trap, sometimes both.
I’ve had traps ran over multiple times the tire tracks showed them backing up and going forward repeatedly. If they couldn’t pull the earth anchor they just destroyed the trap. Wasn’t often but sometimes. Mostly they just shot the coyote to (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) for me.

One time I had a coon im a cage trap. They skinned the coon and out the carcass back in the cage for me., took the pelt. That was maddening.

Most folks don’t realize it’s way better to leave that coyote bouncing around and fresh they are not doing us any favors by putting them down or damaging the pelts.

Jim

Last year, I had a group of rabbit hunter come across a coyote I had trapped. They proceeded to shot the coyote with 410 from a distance, slowly getting closer until they got close enough to leave powder burns. From the start of the empties to the coyote, there must've been a dozen empties. They left the mess for me to clean up. When I confronted them they said they were afraid for their hounds, they also felt they were doing me a favor.

Most deer hunters have never saw a coyote before and they've always been told "if you see a coyote shoot it". I would chalk it up to a general lack of awareness

Never could understand that myself.

I read in an old copy of NTA trapping handbook that it is acceptable to dispatch someone else’s trapped animal but I would be furious if someone did that. Denying me the experience of seeing whatever animal it is while still alive. Mostly for photographs

Like I tell the kids when small if its not your's don't touch it. Smash you had a catch circle with blood and missing catch or trap yet? I have had both I guess a duke trap was not good enough for them to steal when they left the trap or maybe I was walking up and they were in a hurry.

I would think stolen catch would be less with today's prices but I dont know since I only trap my farm and a limited amout for a friend. No more right of way road trapping under bridges or any public land I can find.. Just predator control for us and friends.

This is how I see it ... There a bit of a hierarchy in the hunting and fishing community aannnn trappers...Well alot do then regard us as ..... Basically like trailer trash .... Well us and houndsmen alot of times ...

Have had A LOT of conversations with the more upper class of the outdoor world .... And yeah large majority kind look down on us.

Shoot was helping my states association on time with our lil at a bass pro and we had a table for signing up , had the furs traps ect and man some of the up turned nose looks we got, from OTHER OUTDOORS MEN ... And some of the comments..

Anyhow most have a pretty skewed view of us and what we do and they think it's cruel and inhumane to just have a critter in a trap and they feel they are doing the right thing by "putting it out of its misery" because heck most of them still think traps break legs and all that. That with the whole hierarchy mind set of , "were better then those ...trappers " well...

And don't get me wrong...I kinda get it , your in the woods walk up in this coyote or whatever, you probably scared the thing so it's bouncing aroun can't get away , you don't know how long it's been there , ignorance and imagination do there thing and the logical conclusion for you to shoot the thing.

But honestly I do think there's some circumstances where I really wouldn't mind all that much ....

My issue is with the thermal guys…I’ve had them blasted in the trap… and then the coyote was taken out of the trap and pitched into the weeds trying to hide the evidence.
This is on private property when this happened.

I’m not experiencing it now because there’s no coyote market now.

Ide be cool with someone dispatching my catch as long as they did it in an intelligent manner.

Not a job for the orange army. Another trapper maybe. We once saw a very obvious dirt hole set in public land while we were small game hunting and did everything in our power to stay away from it. I’d expect the same courtesy

Maybe on 24 hour checks but we have 72 hour check requirements. If it turns off a little warm a coyote can get pretty green in the belly over a weekend or may get scavenged by hawks and eagles. I check M-W-F so I have one 72 hour check, the rest are 48s. Even in 24 hour checks, I really don’t want anyone killing my animals.

In a lot of cases when a deer hunter shoots a trapped coyote there is a substantial exit wound and the coyote lays in the blood for a day or two. It gets soaked all the way to the skin and dries and takes a lot more washing. Not to mention the sewing job after getting it cleaned up and fleshed.

And in a lot of states, coyote seasons are either year round or start earlier than other species like bobcat. Game wardens don’t always have a sense of humor when they find a dead, closed season species in your trap. Even if cat season is open. I don’t want anyone killing my several hundred dollar cat and having it green belly or become eagle dinner.

We have Iowa hunters that come up in cars with dealer plates and they hunt with no visible blaze orange, and thats a fact our DNR covers for poachers .

i use to trap during the deer season on property that was known for deer hunters met with many of them and made it public knowledge as most deer hunters hunt in groups of some sort that if animals caught in traps where shot when i arrived that they would never shoot a deer on that property because i would check my traps 5-10 minutes before legal shooting time some threatened if i did they would shoot at me and i would reply is that a threat because i doubt you will own a gun by the end of the day if it is a few learned the hard way but most understood and i would wait at the gate usually till they cleared the property if they where still there when i went to check

I have many trespassers on camera. They just drive and act like they own the place. Signs gates make no difference I don't know if these people have a conscience.