Sometimes Asking Nicely Just Isn’t Enough

Count: 578

Print

FWP warden Tom Watkins was south of Bridger, Montana Saturday, January 2000 on Bureau of Land Management property.   “I came across a small red pickup truck parked on a dirt trail. The registered owner was the brother of a known trapper from Laurel,” Watkins said.

The warden waited by the pickup and soon he saw a trapper from Laurel that he knew come back to the truck. Watkins talked with the trapper and learned he and his brother were checking snares.  

“I asked him how many traps and snares he’d set and he said he thought about 40,” Watkins said. “I asked if he was done checking his sets or just beginning, and he said he was just starting. But when I told him I’d follow him while he checked his next sets and check his trap tags he replied he didn’t have enough gas and might not check them after all.   When I told him he could ride with me, he said all the snares were tagged.”

Being a patient sort, Watkins followed the trapper and his brother over to Bobcat Pass. When he got out of his truck, the trapper’s first words were "my snares are not tagged." Watkins walked out his line and none of the nine snares were tagged, so he seized one snare for evidence and informed the trapper he either needed to pull all his sets or have them tagged by the next day.   Watkins issued a citation and left.

The following Sunday, Watkins, with FWP warden Brandon Carpenter, decided to see if the trapper had pulled his snares or tagged them. On Bobcat Pass they found eight of the original nine snares, each tagged with the man’s name and a Bozeman address and phone number.

Watkins knew the trapper in question had moved to Laurel from Bozeman two years earlier. He seized all eight snares and contacted the man at his residence later that weekend and issued a second citation.

In December, Watkins once again went to see if this trapper was trapping on BLM property. Foot tracks in the snow led to some wing attractors hanging in the trees and traps below them. One of the traps, including the chain, was completely visible. Watkins couldn’t see any trap tag so he uncovered the remaining traps and found that of the 12 traps, six were untagged.

“This is what is frustrating about my job,” Watkins said.   “I called the trapper at home and left a message for him to call me back on my cell phone.” Several hours later, Watkins heard from the man.   “ I told him that I was checking his sets and found six untagged traps. He told me everything was tagged. I asked him how many traps he had set and he said he had 24. I informed Lucas that I found 12 traps, six untagged. I asked him if he would come out and show me the rest of the sets and together we would see if they were tagged or not.”

The trapper walked with Watkins to where he had the traps set and they located six traps, five of which were untagged.

“We went back to the truck and I issued the THIRD citation to him for failing to tag traps and snares with his name and address. I made it a mandatory court appearance this time and, after pleading guilty, the judge fined him $220.00 and suspended his trapping privileges for six months.”