TRAPPING: The logic is missing

On Dec. 4 Fred Trevey, of Lewiston, Chairman of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Commission, wrote a response to the public, regarding resolution to our trapping problems that was so far off tract I felt it required some clarity.

1. He refers to a couple of dogs that were killed last year. In fact, it was 60 dogs that were killed, this year, that we know of.

2. “Trappers empathize with the owners of the gripped to death dogs.” Not really. Trappers have said “the trails are ours during trapping season and the public can use them the rest of the time.” With a concern that a child might step into a trap, a trapper said “You should put your child on a leash.” Really!

3. Mr. Trevey says mandatory hunter education became a requirement more than three decades ago to address the very problem the public is concerned about now. So tell me, Mr. Trevey, why more education is going to solve the problem? The education will include ethics and how and where the best places are for traps to be placed. They hope the trappers will use good sense in placing their traps. There will always be a trapper that says, “The rules say I can place my traps next to hiking trails and that is what I am going to do.” It only takes one guy with an attitude to ruin things for trappers and hikers. The rules need to be changed.

4. Don’t be fooled when Mr. Trevey combines hunting, fishing and trapping all together as a constitutional right in Idaho. In my opinion, he is trying to make it sound like the public has an issue with hunting and fishing. We have no issue with hunting and fishing. Idaho is a wonderful place for outdoor activities. We are not even trying to curtail trapping. We are only requesting a common sense change, to make it a requirement that trappers cannot bait, set and hide a kill trap 5 feet from the center of our hiking trails, such as, Mineral Ridge, English Point, Nettleton Gulch and other frequently used trails.

Please listen. What is wrong with you: Why can’t — or won’t —you see the logic in this?

LINDA SORENSEN

Coeur d’Alene