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Local Jackson Trapper Cited for Illegal Trapping Along Snake River

WYOMING – TRAPPING ALERT

Trapping Citations Issued in Lincoln County
Defendant from Jackson, WY, Teton County

Out of sight, out of mind? No longer. It’s estimated that three or more non-target animals are killed for every set trap on our landscape. Thousands of non-target species are killed as bait or tossed in the creek or ditch, unreported.

WGFD received a report of a trap that appeared to be illegal along highway 26 in the Snake River Canyon (Dec 2, 2017). The reporting party stated that he and his son had been walking on trail located ~.6 miles west of the Sheep Gulch boat ramp on the south side of the highway when they found a trap set that appeared to be illegal.

A local game warden investigated and found traps baited with 2 whole grey squirrels and a magpie, in violation of baiting regulations.

The next day, another trap site was located in Lincoln County, Wyoming along highway 26 just south of the Lincoln/Teton County line and north of the Elbow boat ramp. This trap was again set with a whole grey squirrel and a blue jay. An ermine was caught in the trap.

In 2 illegal traps – 3 grey squirrels, a magpie, and blue jay were caught and killed indiscriminately and then used for bait.

It’s illegal to:

  • Fail to tag a trap
  • Fail to return within the 72 hour trap-check time
  • Use game animal as bait
  • Take a migratory bird (magpie and blue jay) without a permit under the The Migratory Bird Treaty Act
  • Failure to report required non-targets

The defendant was placed under unsupervised probation for a period of one year for:

  1. Failure to tag trap, the defendant will pay a fine of $100.
  2. Using a Game Animal to Trap Wildlife, fine of $250 and mandatory court costs $55.
    Total of $450 in fines, fees and assessments
    **Trapping privileges for 2018 are suspended.**

These indiscriminate and illegal trap sets broke several trapping regulations. If not for public awareness and alerting authorities, these trapping incidents would have gone unreported resulting in additional unnecessary take of our wildlife.
Please report wildlife violations to WGFD, 877-WGFD-TIP.

***Thanks to the caller who alerted WGFD to this illegal activity, and to Game Wardens Levi Wood and Kyle Lash for their extensive time and effort to this successful investigation.

Photo: Grey Squirrel, Small-Game animal in Wyoming

Photo: Black-billed Magpie caught in leghold trap.  Trap Free Montana Public Lands

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