Is Trapping Cruel and Unethical?

For as long as I can remember, trapping has been looked down on by outsiders and much of the sportsmen’s community as well. It’s often considered unfair, unethical, cruel, and heartless.

Due to these sentiments, trapping has all but gone extinct nowadays. But does it really deserve all the negativity that’s associated with it?

Like much of the rhetoric surrounding the hunting community, I’ve come to learn that a lot of the negativity about trapping is due to ignorance. My own included.

The journey to the light about trapping actually began with the curiosity of my daughter.

We were deep into our annual winter trip to an indoor water park a few winters ago and while we were spending time in our hotel room, the kids turned on the T.V. There was a show on that was all about trappers living in the far north of Alaska and Canada.

What caught my daughter’s eye was that one of the trappers was a woman. And she was good.

I grew up in a non-hunting family. We fished a tiny bit, but as a whole, we were a city family with very little outdoor activity. Everything I know now about hunting and fishing I have learned through experience, reading books, and watching the pros do it.

That being said, my understanding of trapping is very shallow, and at the time was more in the negative category.

What Changed My Mind

When we arrived home from our trip to our twenty-acre farm covered in snow and the tracks of all the woodsy critters everywhere, Mia saw it with whole new eyes. Little did I know just how big a spark that show had ignited.

Mia was hooked.

She immediately made it clear that she wanted to be a trapper and looked to me, her father, to help her make this dream a reality.

I was apprehensive at first. I felt as many do, that trapping is unfair and cruel, but my daughter wanted to give it a go. What was a father to do?

We started with a little research. Just like there are many methods and tools to hunt, there are at least as many ways and tools to trap. After looking into the different trapping methods we decided that snaring seemed the most ethical since it was designed to kill the animal as quickly as possible rather than leaving them in pain on a foot trap.

We chose to start out with rabbit snares based on the large quantity of the critters on our farm and the fact that their trails were reasonably easy to follow.

We researched what snares we would need to meet Minnesota regulations and how to use them. Then the day arrived when we tromped out into the snow, snares in hand, with dreams of success.

I can still remember the day after we set our first snares. We started out to check the line talking in hushed tones and buzzing with excitement.

Well, as you might expect from a couple of noobs, there was nothing in the snares. We returned to the house, a little disappointed, but also thoroughly enjoying the fun of being out there together.

It was like hiking with the hope of a reward. Like if you were to mix hiking and fishing, I don’t know, something like that. Whatever it was, it was fun.

An Unexpected Challenge of Trapping

Finally, we had success. Well, sort of. Our snare had caught a rabbit, alright. There was no doubt. The problem was, there wasn’t a rabbit in the snare, just fur and blood everywhere. Someone had beaten us to the prize.

Mia looked at me with one of the saddest expressions I had ever seen. She had put in the work, tracked her target, and set her snare right, but someone had stolen her success.

If the T.V. show had lit a spark, this dastardly deed lit a blaze! Mia’s face changed and she looked up at me and declared, “We need bigger snares.”

That was it. She was committed and this little thief was going to pay for stealing her prize.

Over the next several weeks Mia got better and better at her snaring. She managed to snare several rabbits, losing about half of them to her opportunistic foe.

We set only a couple of predator snares on what we believed to be the best trails. She got close a couple of times, but it would always skirt the snare in the end.

As we neared the last week of trapping season, Mia was feeling the pressure. We made a last adjustment to her snare, a simple little adjustment. We placed a branch over the top of it to create a sort of tunnel.

It seemed somewhat hopeless at this point, but we aren’t the giving up type. And due to Mia’s rabbit success, her foe was constantly checking her line for an easy meal.

On the second to last day of the season, I arrived home from work a little early. Since one of Mia’s snares was just inside the woods that ran along the driveway, I decided to give it a look.

My jaw hit my boots when I rounded the little clump of trees between me and the snare.

There, tangled up in the wire, lay the most beautiful gray fox I had ever seen. She had done it! I ran back to the driveway and yelled for the kids.

From that season on, Mia and I have been trappers.

I’ve been a bowhunter for over 17 years, I love the thrill and challenge of the close quarters hunting. Trapping is just as challenging, just as much of a game, and you definitely earn what you get.

There is a thrill on the line, especially with family or close friends, loaded with excitement, teamwork, and strategy. I’ve come to hunger for our time together on the line, even though ours is a small line.

The time together is precious, as are the successes and failures. It’s a whole new level of understanding the world we live in. You have to learn to think like the animals you’re after think.

Is Trapping Cruel?

Thanks to the efforts of conservationists and other people who care, the snares and traps being manufactured today have come a long way. There are two types of trapping or snaring that are both ethical and humane.

All snares and most traps are designed to kill immediately with little to no pain. Another kind of trap, called an offset foot trap, is designed to just hold an animal until the trapper gets there. These are nice because they allow you to release an animal caught my mistake with absolutely zero injury.

Now, just like bow hunting, it doesn’t always go perfectly and there are times when death is slower. But the effort to recover the animal as humanely as possible is the same as any other form of hunting.

I would recommend rabbit snaring to any family. It’s a lot of fun and is a great way to ease into the sport, not to mention rabbit cooked right is delicious.

There are myriads of helpful books and YouTube videos on the subject and Mia and I believe if you give it a try you won’t be disappointed!