So Im wrapping up my line for the year. Ill be picking up tomorrow. Coincidentally, someone had swooped into my area. Im trapping a spot that is mostly just coyote and fox. Maybe some water trapping here and there. Close to town.

Well this guy started throwing bait piles all down the road. Let me premise I dont mind i suppose, its public and we can all play together. First I saw the wolf snares. Now mind you, ive never seen or heard of wolves this low. Thought it was weird, but the sets look legit. Big loops of 1/8” with cams and one side of the loop held up with a thin wire to make it drop quick. Then I saw a cat set. Real close to the road, sort of poorly made. He had a sifted covered coilspring guarding a 120 news paper box for marten. Weirder still there are definitely no marten down there and few if any cats. Ive be trapping there for 15 yrs and never saw any evidence. I guess the weirdest things was his snares. He had a snare by the cat set. A big droopy 1x19 1/16. No loading on the snare. Maybe 8-10” off the ground but a loop maybe 12” wide and 16” tall. ??? Then i saw some coyote snares i think by another bait pile. Never heard of anyone doing it like this. 1x19” with cams they were 8-10” of the ground. No loading. The first was 16”wide by 18-20” tall. Looked like I could jump through it. Then another nearby had an even bigger loop. Our wolf snares have to be 18” off the ground so I imagine these were for coyotes. The loops were just insanely big. I had the thought of leaving him one of my snares but at the same time I like being a ghost. He sort of looks like he knows what hes doing and at the same time it seems bizarre . And Im pretty sure he stole some scat off my flat set, lol. What say you?

The bottom almost looks a reused snare. You can go high and high easily with canine snares . As long as the snare hits the chest and drops fast enough, you'll have a coyote. Having a higher top of the snare gets the bulky part of the lock out of the animals vision


Bigger concern with that setup would be if you had deer in the area.

It's amazing what people come up with, all the utube videos and all trappers got it made this day and age.
I never had any of that, just demos at conventions and stuff.

Well that was my concern sniper. There are deer and currently elk in the area. Honestly, if a guy were to snare deer this would be my setup. I know everyone does it different, but this seemed odd from what ive seen out there before

For what its worth, he does have deer stops on them, but the height just seems perfect for a deer to nose through

Might be setting hand-me-downs with some "sage" advice? Maybe leave a note with your number?
I had a guy start jumping on one of my lines in Alaska, and he had the audacity to literally make marten sets 5 feet from my sets! He followed my tracks around in the snow to each set and made his own on the tree next to the tree or pole I set.
I left him a note, but next check, his tracks from the day before, new bait, and no phone call. Well, upon examination, I found un-breasted ducks and venison in his flower pots, and venison on his leaning poles, all highly illegal in Alaska.
I took pictures and went straight to our wildlife officer. The officer had a nice talk with the guy that ended in a citation. He was a Coastie, and I shared this information with his C.O. I heard that didn't do him any favors, either.
My next trip up the line, he was gone, and I never saw his sign again.

Maybe a youngster or greenhorn?

Part of public land I guess

The way hes set his line makes me think its not his first time. On the other hand, the snares look terrible to my eye as well as his bobcat setup. Im no guru, thats for sure, but I just cant see these things being that effective. Also, i like to be low key and now there magpies and ravens all over the place, cameras, and wolf snares in a place pretty close to town. Add to the mix hes chasing critters that simply aren’t there. Im debating leaving a note or not. I like this spot, its hard to trap in a way, but I also like being friendly. Ive always been super nice to any hunters Ive bumped into (especially the ones with dogs that i go out of my way to avoid) and its always been pleasant experiences.

They might blame you if something goes wrong.

Is the bottoms one for wolf? The fella is really rolling the dice on losing the thing if one wanders through it. The Lightsout spring isn’t set, but maybe your regulations prohibit them being set with the spring compressed? I know Nova Scotia can’t have them compressed but can use them relaxed like that, they still work.
Looks like someone a bit newer trying his luck?

No these technically should be for coyote. Wolf snares have to be 18” off surface and no springs are allowed. I swear i can throw a bucket sideways thru the one. I might leave one of my snares and a note on one of his cameras. Im not sure if he even knows im there, but i did add some scat to a flat set and it just disappeared when the snares appeared. Haven’t had scat walk off before…. Maybe I almost caught him lol

Man, that set would keep me up at night. Looks like it will catch anything but what he's after. That's a perfect deer catcher on that trail.

I wrote a note but im not sure if i want to leave it.

He got duck sticks on some too. Hes go all the gear. Hes dumped hundreds of pound of bait. But some of it looks so bad


One time five or so years ago a guy showed up beaver trapping the same spot. The duck hunters ended up putting sticks in his traps. They literally sat like that for weeks….. sometimes i wonder why people give trappers a bad wrap

If it were me, I would leave the note. Polite, but to the point.

I hemmed and hawed and decide not to. I have enough going on, I don’t need the association.

Some elk ran down one of his mega loops. I brought a tape and the one loop was 17”wide and 21”tall. 71/2” off he ground. 1/19”. No loading.

On a more positive not my wife watched a fox get hit and picked it up with the kids on the way to school and it decided to come back to life in my yard! Never ends…