Wolf hunting not appropriate near homes, trails

As I was cross country skiing uphill behind our house for the first time this winter I was reminded of an almost tragic encounter of one of my dogs with a wolf trap. Being within the first month of trapping season I would like to issue some warnings and suggestions based on this experience.

In preparation of this letter I read the Idaho Department of Fish and Game rules on wolf trapping and was surprised to not see any rule about required distance from known residences or human traffic paths, which explains why one of my dogs got trapped last winter. This particular trap, amongst several others, was placed within several feet of our regular cross country skiing path on a Forest Service road and within half a mile above our house.

While the trapper let us know the previous year that he was setting traps and even posted a sign, he didn’t do so last winter as we went to explore the traps — and, to be honest — to try to chase the wolves away. When I didn’t see any sign of trapper tracks anymore last season I let my dogs run freely, which is when one of them got trapped in a noose.

I had never seen one of these things but was able to unclip it from the tree. The trap did not have a tag with the trapper’s name of number as is required now, so I couldn’t call him for help. I was not able to undo the noose itself and led my dog holding the other end all the way home — about 2 miles along the road. Unfortunately, every time she resisted my lead the noose tightened more. By the time I got home she could barely breath. It took me over an hour, accompanied by great distress and fear, to cut through a metal stranded cable that just flattened the more you tried to cut.

To the credit of the trapper, he came by when he discovered the scene, quite concerned about the outcome, and we had a very fruitful discussion. While I still resent wolves being hunted or trapped (we had previously enjoyed tracking them and listening to their howling), I really honor the integrity and diligence of this trapper who is putting in a lot of time and effort to continuing an age-old practice out in the woods.

However, since we happen to live way out in the woods and take advantage of this even in winter, I would like to see some requirements as to setting traps far enough away from known human traffic and residences to avoid trappings of children or pets. Our kids frequently explore the woods above our house and this path is frequented by snowmobiles with kids who wouldn’t even know there were traps without posted signs. If you’ve seen one of those jaw type foot traps you could see how a kids foot in a soft boot could easily be hurt — not to speak about pet paws. I even heard of competing trappers getting stuck in each others’ unmarked traps stepping off the path to go to the bathroom. It makes me very uncomfortable to not know whether there are traps set anywhere in the woods and think that a requirement of a sign at the bottom of an obviously used road or path, saying that there are traps somewhere behind this sign would be a very reasonable request.

GABRIELLE DUEBENDORFER

Sandpoint