Preventing Trap Theft

Follow these nine rules to reduce trap and fur stealing.

1. Tag all traps. In addition, mark your traps with your initials or a particular number.
2. Dye your traps, and try to camouflage your sets. If a thief cannot find them, he cannot steal them!
3. Do not brag about your catches. Keep your trapping locations a secret.
4. Keep track of your set locations on paper. (Your trapping journal is a good place to keep information and sketches showing the location of your sets.) Do not use flags to mark traps. If you must mark sets, use something natural, such as a stick.
5. Check your traps when no one else is around.
6. Do not make sets close to roadways or other places that have a lot of human activity.
7. Get to know the other trappers in the area. Look out for each other's sets. It is a violation to disturb the traps of another. If you see someone doing this, get a car or hunting license number and report it.
8. Ask landowners to keep their pets restrained.
9. Ask landowners to inform other hunters that traps are set on their property.