Other Activities > Trapping

WA bobcat study

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Humptulips:
Think of the alternative. In California they closed the bobcat season, and the reason was, they had no data to support a harvest.

Loup Loup:
Thanks Humptulips.
What I call “wildlife management by imagination”. This state is leaning that way:
“ Theres been very little harvest of badger since 1996.” “And our graduate students can’t catch any badgers, so we need to arie on the side of caution and outlaw badger trapping.” (I’m paraphrasing)
I could counter: by looking at the harvest data for the eastern wa county’s with badger there are almost zero coyotes trapped, there are almost zero skunks trapped,there almost zero weasels trapped, there almost zero muskrats trapped,there are almost zero beaver trapped, there are almost zero mink trapped.
So the reason for low harvest is either following WDFWs graduate students logic, these species are on the verge of extinction. Or the real world reason is: running cage traps in a high fuel cost, low pelt price world with a 24 trap check law in a large geographical area equals low or no trapper effert.
I pick on badgers as I’ve been involved with our badgers for 40-45 years. As a private trapper, and as a contractor doing predator control for WDFW for the protection of endangered species.
In a nutshell: “ Absence of evidence, is not evidence of absence”.

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