Trail cameras snare bootleg trapper

SANDPOINT — A Coeur d’Alene wolf trapper is facing misdemeanor charges for trapping without a license and unlawfully using game to bait one of the traps.

Dylan T. Edwards is scheduled to be arraigned in Bonner County Magistrate Court on March 1, court records show.

The traps were discovered on the south side of Hoodoo Mountain after a dog was caught in a snare trap in late December, an Idaho Department of Fish & Game conservation officer’s report said. A second snare trap and a foothold trap were subsequently located. Deer hair, hide, bones and flesh were used to bait the foothold trap, the officer’s report said.

The snare and foothold traps lacked the required identification tags, prompting Fish & Game to install trail cameras, which captured footage of people using an all-terrain vehicle to periodically check the traps, the report said. The ATV’s license plate was traced back to relatives of Edwards.

Edwards, 19, was confronted about the traps and he admitted setting them, according to the officer’s report. Edwards said he tried to buy a wolf-trapping license, but was advised by Fish & Game that he needed to take wolf trapping course which are only held periodically.

Since July 2018, the state has required Idaho wolf trappers to take an eight-hour, instructor-led course covering the practice’s regulations and ethics, in addition to tips on rigging traps and snares. The cost is $8 per student, according to Fish & Game.

Trapping without a license is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine not less than $25 and no more than $100, according to Idaho Code.

Illegally baiting a trap is punishable by up to six months in jail, a fine ranging from $100 to $1,000, and a one- to three-year license suspension.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.