You gotta read the comments on this

I read some of them. It seems like a lot of personal attacks are being thrown with very little reasoning on both sides. It reminds me of a girl I knew that would provoke people into loosing their temper then jump back and point out to everyone how you were acting and act like she was the victim. I could just vision her walking away, smiling inside, and knowing she made you look like the bad guy. The antis throw out nasty comments about trappers and we respond with nasty comments. They entice us to make fools of ourselves and we oblige them.
If we could only respond with reasoning and let them be the ones to make fools of themselves. It's hard for me I know.

BTW, I was visiting my house in Utah when my step-daughter called and said my little dog Max was caught in a leghold up at the lake. I knew the trapper up here so I called him and went and freed him. Max was a little freaked out, had a cut on his leg, but in a couple days he was non the worse for wear. I was quite surprised how tightly he was held and how little he was injured.

Good question UG

We all use the justification of a different tool for different jobs. Whether in the garage, or when buying a rifle (you just don't shoot a bear with a .17 HMR, you need the right tool right?). So I will use that analogy somewhat loosely here.

Traps are much the same in concept. Each has an appropriate application and role.

My dad's preferred trap was the conibear trap which almost always caused instant death. See the attached video for a little explanation on how the trap works: These traps almost always killed animals instantly by breaking necks / backs.

But you are right, how does a foot hold trap kill? I have always subscribed to 3 thoughts on this: 1) the trapper wasn't ethical and didn't check his line as frequently as is a) ethical, and b) as required by law and the animal succumbed to the elements. 2) the animal became over stressed and essentially died of anxiety (deer do this rather easily), and 3) it bled out by the fractured bone.

So yes, trapping can be gruesome. However, most trappers don't leave their lines out for extended periods without checking them regularly to prevent such instances. Heck, I remember going in the morning and evening with my dad as a kid.

Snares are all about how they are set, but if they do strangle the animal, it should work within 2 minutes or so. It would be rather odd in my mind to catch an animal around the abdomen or neck and not have it expire very quickly.

My preferred method for smaller critters (fox, raccoon, etc) is still the box trap. Its pretty well guaranteed that you wont kill your animal in these unless you are irresponsible and don't check the trap regularly.

But each trap has its specific use and there are many situations where a conibear is not possible to use, nor a snare due to the terrain being trapped. So a foot hold trap is the only logical solution. Speaking of which, did you know that most animals lead with their right foot? Most animals will step into a trap with their front right paw.

Where I don't agree with trapping is when trappers aren't ethical about checking their traps. Leaving an animal in a trap for days is wrong and not sportsmanlike in the least.