Plowed traps

Has anyone else have this happen to them. I have been trapping a farm since the start of the season "the last Saturday of October" the farmer knows I have been trapping the farm. The farmer farming the fields does not own the farm he just farms it and the property is in a program with the game commission and is public property. I get a txt from my brother this morning before 5 am" what traps did you have set and where" I replied my mb650s and Bridger #2's why. He replies well they aren't there anymore the field has been plowed. I got no notice from the farmer that he was coming to plow the field he has my phone number and I have talked to him a few times throughout the season and told him if they are going to do anything in the fields call me or let a note at my brother's so I can pull my traps. Now I have hundreds of dollars in traps gone and all of my mbs were brand new I just got them this year.

Some people just don't care a rat's patooty about anybody else. Know anybody with a decent metal detector?

Small claims court.

Th that's pretty bad of them

Plowed under and run over. It's happened to me many times and it's part of doing business. It's not that the they average farmer doesn't care. They are very busy people and probably the last thing on his mind was your traps.

That sucks! I guess the only thing you might do next time is cut the saplings and strip some of the bark and place in the area to remind the farmer. But that does not help now.

That sucks! Sounds like a lack of communication to me. (not taking any ones' side on this topic) Farmers are at the mercy of the weather to plow and till and plant. Trappers are at the mercy of opening and closing dates for the Season. It would have been nice of the land owner to inform you about the plowing - if he knew about it.

I don't know about PA trapping laws, but if he signed a permission slip for you to trap, you definitely should have been contacted before the field was plowed.

I had that happen last year. It was my fault though. I was trapping a pumpkin patch with three lanes running through it. the season ended and I neglected to pull my sprung traps in a timely manner.

The farmer plowed early. It took me half a day but I actually recovered all six traps and a dozen stakes.

It was a pumpkin patch in February, in March it wasn't:



It was needle in a haystack type stuff made tougher by near perfect camo. There's a trap covered in mud directly below the hammer handle:



Another one (left of the hammer handle):

Its likely not the only field he had to do, and when they get a window to get plowing done they’re in a rush. I doubt he had time to remember a trapper he talked to a couple times.

Just trapping for fur, or were you doing him a favor by trapping predators?

Look
Do that in my area you would not get permission from local farmer’s again.

X100

get a metal detector and go get your stuff. you can probably fix most of them

Tough spot to be in. I would be understandably angry, but at the same time, saying anything to him might ruin any future dealings you might have with him. Maybe it was an oversight or maybe it was a lack of courtesy. Time for a salvage operation.

Happens often I set a place just last year 2 traps along a fence line and 2 at the end of a tree belt, first the guy mows the fence line but missed those 2 did not see where he mowed anyplace else. Later he makes 1 pass spreading manure next to the trees running over one and burying the other trap.

Farmer bulldozed my traps twice last year. Mowed them two weeks ago. He is getting on in years and doesn't have very good short term memory. He doesn't do it on purpose.
I've got a metal detector. I found everything except one drag.
Joe

If you are going to get upset about this you are in the wrong business. I can't count the number of traps I've had plowed under and run over. Just part of doing business. Farming is big business and thousands of dollars are gained or lost every day. I would just suck it up and move on.

I was about 12 when this happened to me. I was trapping gophers in a field across the street from my house. I came home from school to a completely plowed field. The farmer didn't care at all. I will never forget him handing me a couple completely destroyed traps he snagged with the plow. Somewhere in that field are at least a dozen traps that will never be seen again.

I would think the farmer won't want those traps laying out in his fields after they were plowed under.I'd find
someone with a detecter and find them.It's not cheap to fix broken farm equipment, not to mention the bad
PR you would get from him if your trap damaged his equipment or flattened a tire.


Dan

Farmer here. Seriously? As others have said, price of doing business. Those traps are not the farmers responsibility. Farming is

It happened to me one year and thats what I did . They actually weren't that far from where they were set .

This is how I look at it too. Most who trap farm land have had this happen. I have found a few with a metal detector that I was able to fix or save parts from.

Yup, several times. I never complain though, because I am a guest on their property. It’s not the farmers responsibility to know where your traps are, he’s got a living to make. I had one landowner that saw me checking near where he did some tractor work and he texted and offered to replace any traps that got messed up, and I politely turned him down. It’s one of the hazards of trapping farmland, if you don’t want traps run over don’t set em in fields.

Back off he farms you trap, you got permission to trap did he know where your traps were or anything about how traps are set or where? He is trying to make a living, If he knew where your traps were set or for that matter if they were even still set he would not have plowed. Traps can and do get caught in machinery and can cause problems. Pull up your big boy pants and go talk to him, go off on him you most likely won't be trapping there anymore. Most farmers and ranchers have a hard time keeping things going trying to make a living your trapping does not come on the radar. I farm ranch and trap and know both ends, talk to him and things might work out better next year.

I had that happen to me one time. Luckily I run step down trench sets. They were all fine. Even this year a guy came out with dozer moving cedars around. And didn't even trip any.

I'd be more concerned taking out one of their big tires and costing them to repair or replace.

One nice aspect living in an area where there is an actual winter where no field work can get done. They're not even supposed to spread manure nowadays in the dead of winter, just will run off with the thaw.

My dog found a couple that got buried in Wyoming once
With her nose

i trap early season here so i have traps run over and or discked under every year. between combines, tractors pulling wagons, tractors plowing fields, semi's, farmers in trucks, sprayers, lime trucks, soil testers, deer hunters driving around. etc etc. its pretty rare not to have at least one or two traps run over or plowed under a year.

i've had farmers tell me they will not be working the ground until spring, only to come to a plowed up field a few days later. or won't be working the ground for a few weeks or at all and then out of the blue there it is all plowed up.

had one farmer once tell me he wouldn't be working the ground at all and so i set traps that day only to come back the next morning to a plowed up field. that one really (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) me off. lol

had another farmer tell me he was done working the ground for the year and so i set traps. 3 days later he disc it again.

working around dairy farms i have no doubt that the illegal mexians like running over your traps. have had them watch me make sets and come back the next day to run over traps.

i could go on and on

if your gonna trap farm ground you got to get used to it happening and get used to fixing traps. i they run it over with one wheel its usually just reset it and go but after that first wheel runs it over and the trap snaps shut then if another wheel runs it over thats when it gets all bent up.

you need a cheap metal detector. usually when there disced under there usually right there where you set them. just buried. try to get a pretty good idea in your mind about where they are when you set them. just in case.

I had a neighbor run over two Belisles when he was cutting hay. His father knew they were there, (he asked me to trap that corner), but his son didn't.

I got them back and could fix one. I was just happy I didn't screw up his hay bar.

Pete

i've gotten pretty good over the years at setting locations where there not gonna get runover, etc. it amazes me sometimes how no matter where you set them someone comes along and runs them over. place you would think no one would ever run them over some one does. lol

I've lost some good traps that way. The ground has to be under 50 degrees for the anhydrous to work properly. First time really upset me. I'd would have been really ticked if I lost MB's. I found a solution though. Buy way more traps than I will ever need, at reasonable prices.

A Bridger and a Jake cannot hold a loaded semi trailer of corn either. I found that out this year. Got the Bridger fixed working on the Jake. I would find a metal detector and go find them, they might be ok.

I have a detector and fresh batts in Butler you are welcome to use.
It has never failed to find traps.
You do not want to know machinery repair costs.

Yup. The farmer and owner of the field who had given me permission to trap ran his dozer around the field edge. Of course that was where many of my traps were. He had dozer work to do in an adjacent field and I think he just cleaned up the edges on his way. Also, I think others who had trapped there in the past just trapped the big flood mitigation pond on the property. Eventually I found all my traps. All but one MB-550 were able to be returned to service. Catching 2 nice otter from the pond helped ease the pain.

careful,we are not high on their list and a lot of times it would be easier for them if we were'nt there.i feel for ya-have had dozens damaged and my first thought is always-man i hope i didn't mess up the farmers machine.

You guys have it rough, lol
Not saying I don't feel for you but....try setting 100 conch pots, and losing 20% EVERY YEAR...and that bouy isn't buried but floating high and bright.
Most are run over and cut off by recreational boaters , frankly , by guys like a lot of you out recreating, and I go out of my way trying to keep them out of the line of fire.

When I add up the lost conch, crab, eel, etc, gear, it adds up to serious money for replacements. I don't complain, I just make more and carry on, it's part of the business.
Just thought I'd throw that out there as a comparison...

Yep you can add me to the club got some out there now gone 40 years or more.. Last 6 I had plowed down took me three trips with metal detector but I finally found them all. They had been gone over with a chisel plow and only one stake got hit. So they were all still staked in place all fired, just covered enough couldn't see them.
Had some years ago chiseled over and covered with slurry manure too. That was in the days before I had a metal detector. Those are some that are still out there somewhere. The slurry manure adds a whole different dimension to the search. Have had plenty traps run over by combines or tractors making turn at end of a field when working it. Thought I had them traps set where wouldn't get hit. Just no accounting sometimes for where they may run machine or turn, stop off load. Just live with it if you have lots of iron out in lots of ground.

Mac

swear i've learned -the place i think they would be last--is also the place they do go first.

It's kinda like stolen traps just try to ask if fall tilling is done are you gonna spread manure ect. It will happen.

A couple of years ago I was asked to see if could set some traps to get rid of coyotes and coon. The farmer took to the area and it was a picked corn field. There was a small creek about 10 yards from the one end. We walked along the end of the field and there was a well used trail cutting across it. I asked him when he was going to plow and didn't know. I told him that if he plowed over one of my traps it would crush it, and probably puncture his tire. He didn't like the idea of that happening and ask me if I could mark them some how.

So I got some saplings about 10 to 15 feet long, wrapped a bunch red flagging tape just below the top of the saplings. I did that about a week before I set my traps. I set the trap and then about 10ft on either side of the trap. I set one of my markers. I had 3 sets in the area and caught a couple of yotes, 3 coon and one red fox.

I noticed after the first few days there was scratching in the soil around one of the marking stakes, like something was using it for urine pole. SO after I had caught the 2 yotes I turned one of the stake into a urine post set... that is where I caught the read fox.

When the farmer plowed he just cut the wheel on tractor and missed my traps. When I pulled traps, I thanked him. He it wasn't anything and there only a 3 foot strip in those areas and they would cleaned up when ran the disc.

Garry-