Carrie Zylka
CWS Staff Writer
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I love living in America, I love freedom of speech. I love being able to give the finger to anyone who tells me to shut up.
The great thing about having your own personal blog is you have the God given right to express your opinion. Which is exactly what I did in my previous post.
Let me be clear they do not necessarily represent the views of any of the companies I write for, I didn’t repost Part 1 or Part 2 on Central Wisconsin Sports, Wisconsin Outdoor Fun or FMPBowCast. I didn’t feel it was appropriate. (After conferring with the Editor of Central Wisconsin Sports, we decided to run the two articles here anyway.)
Part 1 elicited many responses – about 40 of them negative, stating I was going against my fellow hunters (which is funny since I was talking about trappers which according to regulations are two separate things), I was giving the tree huggers fuel for the fire, that I was out and out crazy and that my post was a bunch of “phooey” (yes exact terminology there) – but I also received almost 100 positive ones, mostly from women hunters and women who’s family members hunted, either applauding my courage to state what my opinion was and not care about what others think or flat out agreeing with me.
(as of July 3, 2011 – at least half of the people who sent the more negative emails followed up with a more positive email after reading Part 2.)
Of course there was the one person who simply sent “I love trapping, raccoons taste good”. Hmmmmm ok buddy, you go with your bad self…
What did make me sad was that a few of the positive emails were from industry leaders who felt the same way but couldn’t comment because they’d be attacked by their “peers”.
Bottom line is in my world, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks but me. I’m not a blind follower who just goes along with the masses even though I don’t believe in it just to save face or because of some misdirected grand directive.
That’s how Obama got elected remember?
I find it amusing that my elaborate death scenarios; which obviously were dramatizations either made people empathize or made them angry. Obviously since I’m pretty sure even a small doe would be able to break free of any trap set for a beaver.
Either way let’s be realistic, they were written that way to elicit a response. Good response, bad response just anything other than an indifferent response. The hunting community can be such a bunch of pansies sometimes. Everyone is afraid of opening their mouth and disagreeing with someone because they may be ostracized. Whatever – you can attack me if it makes you feel better. My opinions are just that – my opinions- which I have an absolute right to. I’m not afraid of turning readers off, if you don’t care for my stance then don’t read my blogs. I’m on one of the most controversial outdoor teams in the country, I’m not afraid to write about topics that are “prickly” and cause a stir (EAB, Pink Bows etc – go back and read my entries, there are too many to list).
So what even started me on this tangent? What got me so upset? What caused me to write yet another “controversial” blog post?
I suppose everything I stated in my previous post can be debunked here. Except for the fact that I wasn’t quoting any animal rights group, I was speaking from the heart and my own experience with “humane” traps that sometimes fail, that the underwater traps don’t always kill so quickly and trappers don’t always follow the regulations and leave animals to die of exposure. It’s those cases that I truly can’t stand. A little know fact…until just a few years ago, my uncle was a trapper, so I am quite knowledgeable on the subject, I know how all the traps work, how to set them properly, how to dig the little holes, how to dispatch an animal caught in the trap quickly and efficiently, how to skin them. When I was in my teens I spent several summer weekends learning this stuff. Not exactly summer camp but whatever. It was then that I decided I hated trapping.
To be honest I don’t really care if people trap. If they do it legally, if they do it “ethically” I could care less. I still hate the thought of it, but it’s a legal activity so I would never stand up and say it should be banned or made illegal.
What I don’t want is to see it in the State Natural Areas near my house, I don’t want to step on any traps and I don’t want to come across a trap with an animal in it that’s been sitting there for hours. And many hunters, archers, outdoor enthusiast and biologists agree with me.
Unfortunately special interest groups seem to be having their way – BIG SURPRISE. And that’s what’s really got me so mad.
Wisconsin’s Dane County Park Commission took public comments regarding a proposal that would allow trapping on public land that had been previously off limits. Final tally – 70 against, 8 in favor.
And before you say it’s a bunch of tree huggers voting against, I personally know 2 die hard hunters who live near Madison that went and spoke out AGAINST. They are the ones that brought this subject to my attention.
The proposal – dictating that any state land purchased must allow hunting and trapping, would allow local trappers to catch raccoon, muskrat, mink, otter, beaver, coyote and fox between Nov. 1 and Feb. 15 using specified styles of traps, including steel traps and cable restraint traps that snap shut over paws; conibears; and traps that will be placed underwater so the struggling animal will drown. But it states in there that it may only apply to lands purchased after 2007. But special interest groups are putting pressure on the state to open up lands purchased before the effective date.
Currently trapping is allowed on about 1300 of the 12,000 acres in the area in question around Madison.
The kicker is this proposal would allow traps to be set up in dog parks, golf courses, forests, fields, marshes and wetlands. The only stipulation is it can’t be in public use areas like designated picnic areas and must be set 30 feet from trails and paths so that the public can not see it. Dog parks? Yes this was confirmed to me by a source inside the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
I totally understand the need for trapping, it can help with overpopulation, and it’s a very lucrative trade. Still doesn’t mean I’m ever going to like it.
Growing up I had a friend who lived out in the country, she found her German Sheppard in a trap set by a local farmer who trapped raccoons. He did NOT die well. And it was days before he was found – so much for trappers being required to check their traps daily.
Hate me or love me, my opinion is what it is and I would never retract it.
I’m not against it – I hate the thought of it but then again I hate the thought of getting a root canal – maybe even more.
I’m just really, really tired of the special interests putting pressure and ramming through crap that no one but a handful of people want.
So go ahead and leave me a comment why don’t you? All comments are always approved, the good, the bad, the ugly. I’d be more than happy to allow you to try and convince me my outlook is wrong. Give me the courtesy of letting me know how you feel so that I can respond in kind.
But don’t just sit there, if you agree, let me know, if you think I’m blowing smoke, let me know. Scream at me, yell at me, call me out, curse at me, whatever makes you feel better – just comment.
I dare you…..
3 Comments
Message
I left the following on your other trap part 1 – but thought you might be more likely to notice it here:
Why kill at all? Schweitzer famously said, after watching a mother hippo with her baby, in South Africa that he had the epiphany that he was life wanting to live in the midst of life longing to live. Reverence for all life extends the understanding that your life is the only life you have and it is YOURS – to all of the brief experience of life on this planet – in all of the lovely manifestations of paws, and webbed feet, wings and furry butts. I truly have never met an animal I did not love. Cannot say the same for convoluted human rationales for what they do. It makes Zero sense to take a living creature and destroy its life for your own utility and madness. We do not “need” to eat animals, wear animals, USE animals as though they were a commodity for our utilitarian commodified culture. Killing is not “respect” for the wild – it is just an ego identification usually taught by a father or boyfriend or husband – and usually taught before a child has the moral maturity to know what killing means. Torture and killing is a whole other level of depravity – but at the center of it all is killing for human utility – whatever that rationale is.
I write a new column advocating for generosity and respect for living wildlife. It is called Madravenspeak and can be found at the Capital Times online web site every other Sunday. If you place “Madravenspeak” into GOOGLE or into the search engine of madison.com, all 14 articles to date will emerge. I am currently doing a series on the treatment of Wisconsin peaceful, funny, smart and playful black bears – the planned slaughter of over 5,000 of them this fall with tens of thousands of blood lust men and women, and their dogs running the bears July1 – August 31 in this heat (some will die of heat exhaustion as black furry heavy animals) – and then ongoing Sept. 7- Oct. 11. Two thirds will be killed as cubs or yearlings (less than 2 years old) shot out of trees or over bait piles set for months since April. High tech weapons, lures, bait, nightscopes, radio-collared dogs, SUV’s and 4 – wheelers – just another killing spree of ignorance and thrill kill. More of the DNR lack of democracy and hunter/trapper elite control of our wildlife for maximum killing opportunity. Tragic at a time that across our planet wildlife populations have plummeted 35% in 35 years and accelerating – while we humans overpopulate, despoil the environment and our water systems, destroy our oceans, destroy other species in a human – caused extinction faster than the dinosaur extinction – and kill the climate – but just cannot stop killing our wild brethren on top of all of that – for fun and recreation – or food when a plant based diet is the only thing that can possibly avert total collapse. It is a lack of education, understanding, empathy and total lack of the golden rule.
I am glad you think trapping is disgusting – but in the end, death is the result of all of this – and carcasses are not so pretty either – not even the dead skins adorning women who show their lack of consciousness and love by wearing them.
Current column on fenced hounding of our indigenous wildlife:
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/article_fa654e81-b210-56c2-9a2c-883db3fdb861.html
Sorry you got hate mail. I am familiar with that and hunter/trapper death threats.
Message*If you would like, I being a trapper live about 15 miles north. Am willing to show you the new traps that will allow trapping in the parks from mid December to mid January. These are enclosed trigger traps and refered to as dog proof and is intended to just restrain the racoon. I applaude you in your outdoor endeavors. I am a trapper education instructor and teach the most humane and ethical methods known. We have had many women graduate from our class. Like all sports it takes just one bad apple to spoil the name for all partaking in that sport. I am sure you have read about bow hunters shooting pets, but we both know that does not represent the majority. That being said , we dont need the antis getting these kind of points of view to tear apart the outdoor recreation we enjoy, one brick at a time. Anytime you would like to stop here, I am more than happy to show and talk to you about tools that are used and bettered for MY sport.