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Post by fuzzybelly on Nov 2, 2012 19:37:26 GMT -9
I was wanting to warn any cachers heading to the Portage area for all the fun new caches there..........
Especially, cachers with pets......
TRAPPING begins in the area November 5th thru March sometime.
I'll be having better details of this e-mailed to me and will post those details here when I get them.
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Post by SSO JOAT on Nov 2, 2012 20:15:30 GMT -9
For those who are not familiar with Trapping in Alaska, you should go study up. Start Here. Trapping is a widespread winter activity in Alaska. Next, download the following PDF file that has instructions on how to remove leg hold, snare, and conibear traps from your pets. Study it and you may want to carry it with you in the field if you go out with your dog(s). Carry a pair of needle nose wire cutters and a leash. The wire cutters will get your pet out of a stuck snare. The leash will compress the springs on a conibear trap to release the gate mechanism. The only way to get a body sized conibear trap loose is to have a rope or strap to wrap around the springs to apply mechanical advantage for closing them. View the following instructions: How to Remove your Dog from a Trap or SnareTrapping runs all winter and the activity is widespread throughout all of Alaska. Trap lines will be marked, however, due to theft and vandalism activity, you will rarely see trapline markings that are near or visible from roads or primary mult-user trails. That brings up another point, whether or not you agree with Trapping, it is illegal to touch someone's traps. Due to a lot of anti-trapping folks going out to intentionally remove or destroy traps, there are a lot of trappers who hide game cameras overlooking their traplines. The State Troopers take seriously any report of vandalism or theft of traps. So, if you see a trap, just move on. If you're in a known trapping area or you see signs indicating a trapline, put your dogs on a leash. Prevention is the best strategy.
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Post by fuzzybelly on Nov 3, 2012 7:16:11 GMT -9
JOAT; very helpful links, thank you so much for sharing.
Everyone be sure and check out SSO JOAT's links he's provided, above.
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Post by NorthWes on Nov 5, 2012 6:20:23 GMT -9
Nicely done, Scott - and so quickly after Fuzzy raised the issue too. Gee this could go well under a 'trail safety' kind of event...
Wes
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Post by SSO JOAT on Nov 5, 2012 7:57:24 GMT -9
I have received some great feedback from several trappers that I've been in contact with. One of the first comments is, "no one has ever asked us about this to share with another user group before". Hopefully, I'll leave a good impression of geocachers with these guys as most of the interaction they get with other user groups is purely negative.
I'll be meeting up with a trapper in Soldotna this week and we're going to go over the conibear trap and practice releasing it. I'll be taking photos of the steps for the newsletter article.
An interesting tactic was presented to me by a couple different trappers. They have a method for "trap proofing" a dog. As many trappers have hunting or sled dogs themselves, they are actually taking their dogs to their trap lines and therefore they have to ensure their own dogs are not going to get into the traps as they tend to them. What they do is take a small conibear trap, cut off one of the springs and then heat the other spring to remove the temper, leaving it extremely weak. With just enough force to barely close the jaws on the trap, they train dogs by setting up the trap, baiting it, and then allowing the dog to find the trap, shove its head in there and trip it. The trap hasn't the force to do any damage, but the surprise of the trap shutting on the dog's nose is enough to train the dog not to mess with the traps. They tell me that most dogs only need to get bit once and they won't go near a trap again.
I would also encourage folks to watch the ATA video that is on the ADF&G website linked to in my first post. The video is embedded on that page and runs nearly 30 minutes. It has a pretty good description of what various trap sets look like as they are placed in the wilderness. He also goes over how to release each type of trap.
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Post by SSO JOAT on Nov 5, 2012 8:02:24 GMT -9
Oh, and one more thing for fuzzy...
It varies by GMU and species, but there is open trapping all year long in Alaska. The outside dates of most trapping seasons in SC run from Nov 10 through May 15. A couple start later and most end earlier. But there is active trapping throughout that window of time.
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Post by ladybugkids on Nov 5, 2012 20:40:41 GMT -9
I have received some great feedback from several trappers that I've been in contact with. One of the first comments is, "no one has ever asked us about this to share with another user group before". Hopefully, I'll leave a good impression of geocachers with these guys as most of the interaction they get with other user groups is purely negative. Interesting comment...ATA representatives routinely presented to groups in Fairbanks when I was up there, but that was five years ago. The ATA representative up there opened with "I'm not here to change your mind about trapping. I AM here to help you help your dog(s) if s/he gets caught in one," and off he went with a very informative presentation despite facing an audience who was mostly hostile to the activity and it went very well.
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Post by SSO JOAT on Nov 6, 2012 1:42:41 GMT -9
I suspect that would be the guy who is in the video I referenced earlier. He's from Fairbanks.
The guys I'm in discussion with are down on the Kenai. Apparently they are not being asked these questions down there.
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