Sports

Trapping heritage continues to survive

By Dick Nelson

Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

Unless you work a trap line or are part of the anti-trapping movement that is sweeping the nation, chances are you didn’t even know New York’s trapping season opened across the Southern Tier last Saturday. But you most assuredly would know it if the people who want to abolish this management tool are as successful here — as they have been in Washington, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Florida and Rhode Island.

Thankfully, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recognizes that trapping is a time-honored tradition, essential to population control and critical in reducing the spread of certain wildlife diseases, such as mange, canine distemper and rabies, as well as in the reduction in wildlife damage to crops and property.

In a recent press release on New York’s trapping season, DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said, “New York State is an important venue for trapping, and trapping is an important part of our heritage.”

In other words, without the continued harvest of the annual overabundance of the various game species, populations would rapidly grow to the point of habitat destruction. The carrying capacity of the available habitat would be depleted not only for an individual species but also for many others, and ultimately, species would overpopulate until they died off due to starvation or disease.

Prior to this inevitable and tragic die-off in the population there would be significant destruction to habitat — destruction of private property. Much like hunting and fishing, regulated trapping is necessary in the management of furbearers.

Those species such as grouse and woodcock, which are not doing so well due to a loss of specialized habitat or the ever-increasing encroachment of urban sprawl, are receiving special attention and extra protection from the resources we provide.

Trapping falls into the same vein in that trappers harvest the annual overabundance of the furbearer species, and without trapping wildlife biologists would not be able to properly manage the species.

The numbers and types of game animals that interact with each other in a habitat can enhance or destroy each other’s environment depending upon the balance or imbalance that exists. When any wild animal is present in the wrong location or in such numbers as to cause problems for human activity, some percentage of the human population starts to look at them as vermin.

Those of us who hunt, fish and/or trap do not consider these animals vermin. It is through the stewardship of our wild heritage by harvesting the annual overabundance for consumption of a renewable resource that makes the whole system of management possible.

Those who hunt, trap and fish value wildlife for their recreational, biological, scientific, educational, commercial, and aesthetic value. Hunters, trappers, and fishermen need make no excuse for their activity.

Trapping provides income, recreation and an outdoor lifestyle for many citizens through use of a renewable natural resource. It is a part of our heritage, and a primary tool of most animal damage control programs.

Yet despite the values of trapping, portions of the public oppose it, or at least perceive problems with some aspects of it. Some object only to certain trapping methods, particularly the foothold trap on land, but others have moral objections to killing animals.

Much of the opposition to trapping is associated with urban-oriented cultures, particularly those dominated by tertiary (service-oriented) employment. Those who approve of the practice or benefit from trapping are primarily from rural cultures.

This difference of lifestyles and values, combined with a general lack of objective information about trapping, creates barriers to understanding and resolving the controversial issues associated with the practice.

Currently, there are about 12,000 trappers in New York and trapping seasons for 14 different furbearing animals. Trappers must have a license and have completed an approved trapper education course taught by volunteer instructors trained by DEC. These courses stress safe and ethical trapping methods, including best practices for trapping using the latest technology and innovations in trap design and use.

Because of it, furbearer populations are doing well, and will continue to do well as long as they are managed by science and not emotion.

In any event, trapping season for raccoon, red fox, gray fox, bobcat and coyote remains open through Feb. 15 and for fisher through Dec. 10.

Trapping for beaver continues through Mar. 15 and will be open for mink and muskrat from Nov. 25-Mar. 15.

News and Notes: On Tuesday we told you that the R.C. Sportsmen’s Club will be hosting the last hunter education course of the season on Nov. 7. Turns out another two-part class will be held at the Kinderhook Sportsman’s Club, Fowler Lake Road in Valatie on Nov. 8-9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To preregister for this one, call Dave at 518-758-8343.

Stripers Forever, an internet-based advocacy organization seeking game fish status for the wild striper is reporting that the 2008 Young of the Year (YOY) index, an annual measurement of the number of juvenile striped bass taken in haul seines in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay, is one of the lowest recorded since 1990.

According to Stripers Forever president Brad Burns, “striped bass born in the Chesapeake Bay make up a very high percentage of all the stripers that migrate up the Atlantic Coast every year. So the fact that this year’s YOY came in at 3.2 compared to the long term average of 11.7 indicates that the coastal striped bass population is not as ‘fully recovered’ as some fishery biologists would have us believe.”

According to Burns, studies show that three of the best four YOY indexes ever recorded occurred between 1993 and 2001. Yet in the past seven years, only one year (2003) has scored significantly above the longterm average while three other years are reminiscent of the population crash of the 1980s.

“To compound the situation, the recent stock assessment released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) also shows a steady decline in the population of spawning age striped bass. The problem is that the current catch levels and quotas are based on a theoretical abundance of fish that most fishermen simply aren’t finding. Despite the clear downtrend in striped bass population numbers and the low replacement rate, the fishery managers are still not pushing for reductions in catch quotas,” says Burns.

Stripers Forever is working to eliminate the commercial harvest of wild striped bass so that the resource can be managed for the 3 million-plus recreational striper fishermen from Maine to North Carolina. For further information log onto www.stripersforever.com.

The Glencadia Rod and Gun Club will hold its annual Fall Turkey Shoot on Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. The club is located on Nutten Hook Road off County Route 9J in Stuyvesant Falls. For details call 518-799-3006.

Dropping anchor ’til next time.

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