Life Skills
There are some skill sets that were valuable back in the pre-industrial world and could be very useful indeed in a post-industrial world, or just if you like having fun and collecting useful stuff and honestly free-range edibles in the great outdoors. In this series, we’ll take a look at some of those skills. Disclaimer: In these articles I’m presenting a thumbnail view of activities one can spend decades learning. More reading and practical experience is (and will be) recommended.
Incidentally, I think this series should be expanded – any Glibs who have any useful skills in any area, please share!
Advantages of Trapping
If you’re after meat and other usable items (hides, fur) the trapping has several advantages over hunting:
- When you hunt, if you use a round of ammo to take a game animal, it’s gone. If you use archery tackle, well, arrows likewise don’t last forever; friends who bow-hunt tell me that an arrow is good for two, three uses on big-game animals. But traps and snare wire can be used over and over.
- While traplines have to be checked and maintained (the accepted term for this is “running the trapline” at least once daily, the advantage here is that the traps are out there working 24 hours a day; if you hunt, the game harvesting can only take place with you actively engaged.
- A trap doesn’t make noise. Neither does an arrow, true, but even a .22 rifle can be heard for some distance.
- So, you don’t have a string of traps or a supply of snare wire? No problem. You can improvise a trap in lots of ways.
So, let’s take a look at traps and trapping.
Types of Traps
There are three main types of purchased traps used on lines these days; I’ve used all three back in the day when I was actively trapping. I still have my traps and wire and may look into trapping again in the Great Land, but more on that if and when. The three types or purchased traps are leghold traps, killer traps, and snares. There are a few others, but these are the ones that are most widely available and are in most widespread use.
Then there are the improvised traps – things like deadfalls and spike pits. We’ll talk about those as well.
Leg hold traps
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- Long Spring Trap
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- Jump Trap
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- Coil spring trap
Leg hold traps are just what they sound like – traps that catch an animal’s leg and hold it. These are the most common types of traps used by fur trappers, even today.
These traps are routinely derided as inhumane, and there’s little doubt that they can cause an animal some distress. But, properly used, these traps won’t break bones or tear flesh; unlike the portrayals in cartoons and bad TV, they don’t have “teeth,” except for the very largest examples used to trap animals like bears and tigers. They catch and hold, as a broken leg would enable the animal to simply twist free and get away. I’ve personally found racoons in a hole set actually curled up asleep with a trap on a front paw.
The key is using the right-sized trap for your quarry, and we’ll talk about that.
These traps come in several variations. While the main functionary part – the jaws – are pretty much the same across the range, the difference lies in the spring used to operate the jaws. There are a few varieties:
- Long-spring traps, which have one or two long flat springs on one or both sides of the trap.
- Coil-spring traps, which have one or two coil springs underneath the trap.
- Flat-spring or “jump” traps, which have a flat spring under the trap that, when triggered, propels the trap upward to get a grip higher on the animal’s leg. As far as I’m aware this type is no longer manufactured.
Leg hold traps are assigned sizes by their manufacturer, generally from 1 through 4, but the actual jaw spread varies some from manufacturer to manufacturer. In general, a #1 or #1 ½ trap is good for muskrat or mink sized animals, #2 for fox and raccoon, #3 for coyote, and #4 for beaver or wolf.
There are disadvantages in a trap which captures an animal alive, as the animal does suffer some distress and some will attempt to free themselves by chewing off a leg, leaving them crippled. But there are other alternatives; some traps are designed to kill an animal instantly.
Killer (Conibear) traps
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- Snare Wire
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- Conibear Trap
The best-known killer trap was originally made by Conibear, but the type has become so ubiquitous that “Conibear” has become a generic term for a body-gripping killer trap. These traps consist of a pair of square loops of heavy steel wire with springs on either side that, when tripped, snap shut on an animal’s neck or body, killing by crushing and/or strangulation.
No, it’s not pretty, but it works.
Possible suffering of animals caught in leg hold traps aside, the Conibear type trap does have some advantages. It’s ideal for trail and cubby sets (more on that later), and there’s essentially zero chance of an animal chewing or twisting free and escaping. Animals caught in these kinds of traps are slightly more prone to being scavenged by other animals, though; a live, otherwise healthy boar raccoon or coyote in a trap is far less likely to be scavenged than a dead critter.
These are not, however, the only traps designed to kill rather than capture. One of the other killing setups has a long, long history.
Snares
A snare is one of the simplest forms of trap – just a loop of cord or wire, set in a place where an animal will enter the loop, with some mechanism to tighten the loop around the animal, either capturing the animal or, when properly set, killing by strangulation or suffocation.
The key to the snare is the mechanism to tighten the loop. In wire snares, this is done by a little gizmo of sheet metal called the “running eye,” which allows the loop to tighten but not loosen, so as the animal pulls, the loop will get tighter and tighter until the animal dies. Yes, I realize that sounds awful, but the process is usually pretty quick. In cord snares, a loop knot can function as a running eye; or you can rig the snare so that a falling weight or a springy tree branch can trigger to yank the animal off the ground, like a felon on a gibbet. Either way works, although the second requires a trigger mechanism, which generally has to be made on the spot. Which brings us to:
Improvised traps
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- Deadfall Trap
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- Spike Pit
There are as many of these as there have been trappers with bright ideas, but the most common one is probably the deadfall trap. This trap has a few big advantages:
- It can be set up with no tools other than a pocketknife.
- They kill instantly, reducing the chance of an escape or a crippled animal.
- They tend to cover the trapped animal, reducing the chance of a scavenger stealing your quarry.
- They scale up.
These traps were well-known and commonly used long before Arnold Schwarzenegger improvised one to kill a Predator. The design is simple: A very heavy object, suspended in the air or propped up on one end, held in place by a trigger mechanism, with some kind of bait to entice the animal to trip the trigger and be crushed by the heavy object. Said heavy object might be a large rock, a section of tree trunk, or almost anything. The origins of this kind of trap are lost in the mists of time, but that doesn’t make them any less effective.
Anyone who has ever seen a Vietnam war flick is familiar with the stake pit trap, which is simply a pit with sharpened stakes planted in the bottom and some sort of flimsy, concealing cover. Not only is this simple and requiring few tools, like the deadfall it scales up very readily; the downside is that there is a great deal of work involved in digging a pit big enough for a deer, bear, or other big game.
The real trick to trapping, of course, is how to place the trap for maximum success, which leads to our next topic.
Types of Sets
First, a bit of trapper lingo: The method of employing a trap, specifically, where and how the trap is laid and what measures are taken to conceal the trap and entice an animal into it, is called a “set.” So, let’s talk about a few basic types of sets.
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- Drowning Set
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- Dirt Hole Set
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- Cubby Set
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- Trail Set
Dirt Hole sets
Dirt hole sets are pretty simple. It’s just a concealed trap, on one side of a small hole containing bait, with the surroundings arranged to guide the animal over/through the trap as it tries to take the bait. These can be very effective for animals prone to scavenging, like raccoons and coyotes. Using a scent bait (like anise for muskrats or castoreum for beaver) they can work on other furbearers, although there are better ways to take those animals.
Cubby sets
A cubby is pretty simple; it’s an enclosure, designed to blend in with the environment, with a bait inside and a single opening through which the animal has to pass over or through a trap. Back in the day I used these sets a lot for raccoons, as they are inveterate foragers who will not shy away from entering an enclosed space. I took a few gray foxes with these sets, but the only red foxes I ever caught were in the aforementioned dirt hole sets, for reasons I was never able to ascertain.
Drowning sets
For aquatic animals like muskrat, beaver, mink, and otter, drowning sets work well as they kill fairly quickly and shield the caught animal from many scavengers. The key to a drowning set is that the trap is set on the bank near deep water, and when an animal is caught, either a weight or a drowning stick (see illustration) ensures that when the animal dives, it can’t resurface.
Trail sets
Trail sets work best with Conibear traps or snares, where you can place the trap or the snare loop at about head height for your intended quarry and encompassing the trail. Leghold traps can be placed in a small depression in the trail and covered with leaves or a very light layer of soil, but any disturbance of the trail will make many animals suspicious; concealing the trap or snare is vital here.
Trap preparation
Traps can’t be used as sold; the smell of metal and oil, not to mention the shiny steel, will make them too detectable.
Most folks boil their traps in a dye bath, rendering them black or dark brown. This takes the shine off the metal and makes them more concealable. Then, traps should be dipped in a wax bath for lubrication and protection against rust. I used to boil my traps in an old oil barrel, but at this distance in time I don’t remember what I used to color them. I’ll have to look into that when I start the hobby up again in the Great Land.
The purpose of preparing traps thusly is simple: It reduces the chance of the trap being detected by the target animal, by making the trap less likely to be seen or smelled.
Running the Line
Another bit of trapper lingo: Checking, maintaining, and collecting from your traps is known as “running the trapline.” (Personally, I always just “walked” mine, but whatever.) Ideally this should be done twice a day, although (especially in cold weather) once a day will work; bear in mind that this leaves more time for scavengers to raid your line. Raccoons, minks, weasels, and their relatives will form the habit of following your line and scavenging the trapped animals, robbing you of fur and food. The more often you check the line, the less chance there is of this happening.
When running the line, besides collecting your take, you’ll want to examine each set for interference, replace baits as necessary, and remove traps from sets that aren’t collecting for movement to some other site.
As for where to place your sets, well, that’s the real trick to trapping, and a bit of education that’s beyond the scope of this article, so…
Resources/Further Reading
Recommended reading:
The Trapper’s Bible, by Eustace Hazard Livingston
The Complete Book of Trapping, by Bob Gilsvik
Fur, Fish & Game, a monthly magazine still published by the fourth generation of the family of the magazine’s founder, Arthur Robert Harding. This is probably the best periodical published for the practical outdoorsman – no flashy ads, no expensive guided celebrity trips, just good common sense, practical advice and regular-folks stories.
In Extremis
When I was a kid back in Allamakee County, trapping was a fun pastime that kept me in pizzas and shotgun shells. It’s been a long time, but I still have my trap string, and I may take the hobby up again once we’re fully settled in the Great Land. We’ll see. But I can see circumstances where it would be handy skill to have.
In a true SHTF situation, trapping can go well beyond the bounds of the recognized, regulated taking of furbearers, which is its primary use today. A snare that will take a rabbit or a raccoon will scale up to take a deer. It’s not pretty but it works and could mean the difference between enough venison to feed a family for a few weeks or an empty stomach. A deadfall can kill a bear if you’ve the strength (or the help) to set up something big enough. A stake pit can kill damn near anything, but it takes a lot of energy in the setup if it’s big game you’re after.
Fair chase? Maybe not. But the basics of trapping small animals scale up pretty well to bigger ones, and if you’re in a situation where starvation is at hand, knowing some basic techniques for trapping might literally be a lifesaver.
I’m looking for a way of trapping the wily morel.
Trap a pig and then train it?
Hardly kosher.
We had pounds of morels growing up on the farm. Sliced and fried in butter, it was a special meal!
Those dont run very fast. You should be able. to chase one down and grab it with your hands.
Mmmmmmm morels. Do they have any there in the desert?
I wish we could figure out how to domesticate those. In a normal year, fresh morels where I live run $100/kg.
That’s on the list of things the mushroom farm Yusef works at is trying to accomplish.
Maybe they’ll succeed.
T’would be awesome.
I would like to learn how to trap the deer in my neighborhood.
Those fuckers frustrate me every year – they eat the squash blossoms off my vines, they eat the tomato vines, THEY EAT EVERYTHING!
I’m seriously thinking about buying a cross bow and applying for the in-city hunt. There are too many deer around here.
Have you thought of installing an abatis around your property?
Or, barring that, a ha-ha like they use in deer parks?
Maybe that’s why the deer still get in, I built an Ah-Ha, not a Ha-Ha.
Interesting, I’ve never heard it called that, but that is exactly how you dig a tank ditch…
Nose down will stop a tank, and if they do make it out, they have to expose their belly to fire.
Both of those types of trenchwork date back to antiquity.
Put a large hook on the end of a few feet of cable then put an apple on the hook. Tie on a tree limb so the apple is just high enough for the deer to reach standing on its hind legs. Easy-peasy.
*Do not do this Do not do this Do not do this Do not do this. Forget court. The game warden…or anyone really that sees this will shoot you on the spot.
Car battery, 200 feet of razor wire, and some insulated T posts?
(seriously though, my grandparents have an electric fence around their garden to keep the deer out)
My grandparents just used blood meal, and it seemed to work, we stopped using it after they died because we got lazy and animals started eating all the plants. It was either the blood meal or the fact that hunting restrictions have increased the number of pests in the area. I’m too lazy to tell. I finally let the garden go to lawn a couple years ago because I can’t be assed to do any of it.
I had an uncle that waited until the circus came to town (yeah, the Shriners still do that in some places). Got himself a nice big bag of tiger poop. Apparently it worked, but his wife basically forbid him from ever doing it again (the smell was unbelievable).
My wife calls me dear, and she trapped me, so there’s that.
What did she use as “bait”?
She must have been a master baiter, amirite?
Well this is a trap of a different type – upper management is asking for feedback on their google mail pilot program while ranting angrily about the feedback about the google mail pilot program.
Suggestion box
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhZRi2x8mk0
My company went from Lotus (IBM) Notes to Gmail a few years ago. Then we went to Outlook.
Notes >>> Gmail >>>>>>>Outlook
I have to disagree on your assessment of gmail. It is bar far the worst email product I’ve been forced to use for work.
Haha! got you! It’s been a long con, but I’m your boss, and I’ve been sitting here for the last 8 years waiting for you to shit talk my ideas! I even hired that actor in Wisconsin! But I’ve got you now! In 7-10 years once the union negotiations are done, you’re out of here!
This statement can be used in the grievence and lawsuit.
Thanks for the fat settlement.
I’m about to start my second grievance. They are just code for, ” let’s all just for get about this and use the flimsiest of excuses to deny it” Nobody listens until an outside lawyer gets involved.
This is a hate crime. Lotus Notes are a tool of the Devil.
I suffered the privation of Notes in my time as a warrior for Big Business (Chicago). One can only weep so long at the memories.
Unless Notes has changed a whole lot since last time I used it, I fully agree. Notes was a tremendous POS.
Outlook is great, but GMAIL’s search function is so much better. Outlook either has a terrible search function or it is really hard to use. Either way it’s a fail.
**HEAVY SIGH**
Yeah, my ISP switched us all over to Google Mail, so I’ve fired up my ProtonMail for the important/sensitive stuff.
GMail blows.
Bought a domain 15 to 20 years ago.
Pay it every year, so that I can have a private email address.
I use the webmail function, but any POP3 client will work with it.
Sadly, I’ve had the same e-mail address since August of 1996, which my ISP preserved when they moved us all to GMail. It’s like a phone number to my friends — they know they can always contact me at that address. If they’d simply blown my long-standing e-mail address away, I could’ve just walked, but I’m somewhat encumbered by tradition, I guess.
I’ve had the same hotmail account since 1997, years before Microsoft bought out the company.
I still have an aol.com address from 1992.
What no Juno or Earthlink address?
Compuserve or GTFO
This is a skill I want to learn and want my kids to learn. This summer I think I am taking the boys on a backcounty hike/camping half-week. While we will have food, I want us to work on getting our own food via the land/waters. Of course there is a lot of regulation on what we can catch etc, I think them having exposure would be great.
Vere Are your papers!
At least set up and take down the trap/snare so they learn the mechanics of it.
cartoons taught me all you gotta do is tie
nooseloop and lay it on the ground for a snare, easy-peazy.I keep an over sized wooden mallet for this very reason.
I have rocket skates for this very reason.
Acme trap company.
My grandpa, who died when I was 4 or 5, trapped as a hobby. The only time I remember going out with him to check the traps he caught a snapping turtle. I don’t remember what he was trying to trap, but I remember he was pissed it was a snapper.
I put chicken livers on a trotline, fishing for catfish, and that’s what I caught.
I have a friend who was a trapper as a kid–apparently did pretty well–I should see if he’ll teach me some stuff.
I was probably six years old when my grandfather demonstrated a bear trap in his living room by dropping a Sears catalog into it. The crashing noise and mangled catalog made a life-long impression on me.
When a scout Dad showed me a trigger for a deadfall trap that you could carve out of sticks. All that I can remember was that is was in the shape of the number 4. Ever hear of something like that?
Interesting article, thanks.
A figure 4 deadfall trigger. One of the classic methods of firing a heavy deadfall with a light touch.
https://practicalselfreliance.com/figure-4-deadfall-trap/
That’s the one. Thanks!
I have the most useful skill. The First skill. But I could never share it. It’s something you are born with.
It looks like there’s a facet left un-discussed: dogs.
There are plenty of reasons why trapping is more advantageous than hunting. For controlling things like coyotes, it’s just plain more effective. But if you have dogs that wander, they’re every bit as susceptible to traps as the quarry you’re actually after, so definitely be careful.
If raccoons are what you’re after, they do make dog proof traps, which work fantastically. They’re small foothold traps that can only be triggered by animals with 1) thumbs, and 2) hands small enough to fit inside the roughly toilet paper tube sized trap, which means that they only work for raccoons. But they do work.
One super-rainy night, while I was helping my brother move into his new place, we heard this horrible howling from a neighbor’s back yard.
A small-ish dog had gotten into a Havahart live trap the neighbors had put out for, I assume, raccoons (he was basset-hound-sized, so he was wedged in pretty good). We managed to free the poor pup and he immediately scampered up the road – I’m assuming he was local. Poor guy was absolutely drenched, must have been there for hours.
D-bag neighbors had gone away for a few days but left the trap set. Assholes.
Fuckers!
Dumb question: if you trap a raccoon in a Cubby set, don’t you still have to shoot them?
Thanks, Animal! A very helpful introduction.
Answer to (not) dumb question: Yes.
My bleeding heart side comes out with this subject. Something about trapping just makes me queasy. The lack of sport to it, I guess. Obviously, in a survival situation all that goes out of the window, but my suburbanite goo-goo feelings about animals would be harder to overcome that way versus just shooting them.
Even ‘live traps’ can be deadly, I caught a young ground hog in one, took it somewhere else to release it and it set the trap off trying to leave, breaking it’s leg. BAN ALL TRAPS! ANIMAL RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS!
I just give animals resident in the USA all the rights guaranteed* to humans in the constitution. Lord help the tyrant who tries to quarter soldiers in a bear’s cave, or deny a chipmunk the right to a speedy trial by a jury of his peers.
*well, they’re supposed to be guaranteed, but…
Yeah, if you are really hard up to and need to trap to eat I get it, but it’s objectionable to me otherwise. Historically if your trade was skins/pelts/fur whatever, then I suppose It made sense, but from my priveleged position as a pajama boy vegan beta man in 2021, I generally maintain my objections to it. To claim certain traps are more or less guaranteed to “kill instantly” is a special kind of fooling yourself. Do it if you must, but own it, and be honest with yourself about the likelihood of it being a not particularly efficient or humane method of dispatch.
This post is Applied Toxic Masculinity, and ATMs will be in short supply when SHTF.
I am not a fan of trapping but then I have a freezer full of meat and I am not hungry.
On a philosophical bent about ‘animal rights’ I will posit that for any species to have rights, they need to understand the responsibilities and repercussions that come from said rights and violating the rights of others, as a species at large. Meaning, if you only find one dolphin that can communicate that it understands such limits, that one dolphin could be granted rights, but not the species at large. When we know 90% plus dolphins have the same ability, it can be acknowledged for the whole species. Until I can prosecute a dog that humps my leg for rape, they can not be afforded rights, was we here think of them.
Meaning, if you only find one dolphin that can communicate that it understands such limits, that one dolphin could be granted rights, but not the species at large. When we know 90% plus dolphins have the same ability, it can be acknowledged for the whole species.
So much for human rights, then.
Wonder Dog understands her rights: any food that hits the floor is legally hers. She understands her responsibilities: keeping coyotes and stray golfers out of our yard and making sure to disrupt putts with sudden furious barking.
Speaking of dogs and golf, what’s the usual policy on dogs at dis’golf courses? I figured, from a dog’s perspective, it’s a great big park in which literally everyone wants to play frisbee.
If I learned anything from Naked and Afraid, besides that “uncensored” doesn’t mean what you think it means, it’s that having trapping skills in indispensable. A lot of other activities like gathering fire wood and getting clean water seem to take a lot of time and energy, and the contestants sometime waste a lot more energy trying to hunt. I’m not sure how realistic that show is, but you do see that people tend to go in with a few Boy Scout skills, thinking it shouldn’t be too difficult, and they are always wrong.
Same if you watch Alone. You get some guys/gals with a lot of survival skills out in just a few days cause things go south quickly. I think there was one where it was a former Army grunt and first noise of a bear and he tapped out. j
Shelter, firewood, steady food supply…not as easy at it sounds.
first noise of a bear and he tapped out
Really? That’s just sad.
Just make noise. Bears don’t want to be around people.
Absolutely
I get more concerned with snakes looking for a warm spot at night. Had one curl up next to me one time.
I was not amused when I woke up.
I also had a skunk decide that I was sufficiently warm to sleep next to. My bag stunk for weeks.
I got drunk while camping once. Slept in a bag under the stars. Woke up the next morning with in inch or so of snow on the ground and an Opossum curled up inside the bag between my feet.
Good times.
Possums are mostly sedate.
Until they aren’t.
You know a chick is truly good looking when she still looks good after being out in the wild for a few weeks, all dirty and tired. I don’t watch the show anymore, but when I did there were a few I saw who fit the bill.
One mistake it seems many people make is being active in the hottest parts of the day. I used to see that one a lot and it baffled me that anyone would make that mistake when conservation of energy is paramount.
The siesta exists for a reason.
Laziness is a survival trait produced by evolution. It is why most predators spend most of their life sleeping. It is why birds eating seed off of the sidewalk plop on their bellies and peck at what they can reach then hop forward a bit and plop back down.
Max energy intake, minimum output.
Sorry, but I don’t believe any of those “reality” shows for even a moment. I can’t believe the whole thing isn’t staged for the cameras, performed by actors and set down in a script.
I tend to believe that for a large portion. Unless these actors on Alone are doing the Tom Hanks a la Cast Away treatment to themselves, that one is probably the least scripted in my view.
With that show what we don’t see if probably the daily/weekly med checks those people are getting so they truly aren’t ‘alone’.
The biggest difference between scripted and “reality” TV is that, in the latter, the acting is mostly improvised. Reality TV is like Whose Line except they’ve edited out the part where the host sets up the scenario. There is a script but it’s (mostly) broad strokes rather than exact dialogue and specific stage directions. They are also not above railroading participants to fit the script; even if the producers aren’t telling the participants exactly what to say, the threat of penalties or expulsion can get the desired effect just the same (up to a point, anyway).
I’ve been listening to Jimmy Smith who did Fight Quest on his behind the scenes experiences with Fight Quest. Part of the problem he had with the producers is that training can be boring to watch/film. And he felt the producers put him and his co-host in dangerous situations for the sake of visually interesting TV.
I don’t know, I think there have been enough stories about what really happens with the show to see that the truth is somewhere in between. First of all, they aren’t actually alone all that much because the camera crews film them for all but a few hours. They often aren’t very far from civilization. It’s probable that they are provided with food from time to time. They get some medical care. They also edit in a way to play up as much drama as possible.
The ones who last more than a few days do noticeably lose weight, so it’s not entirely bullshit. There just is never any actual danger. It’s simply about how much discomfort you’re willing to put up with.
“…they are always wrong”
No shit. I did a lot of that in my youth but I. had warm clothes, a sleeping bag, granola bars etc.
In an uncultivated environment there really is very little food and what there is is spread out over a large area. Depending on the time of year your diet will be very restricted to one or three different fine cuisines.
I would make traps but I had my shotgun with me also. I would always bring a roll of fish line and a box of hooks. Salt and pepper. I could stay out for up to a week and I was ready for a hot shower.
Tip: There are a lot of hungry animals out there. If you see a potential food source in great abundance (ex. black clams) there is a reason nothing is eating it.
That’s why Bear Grillis just had a catering truck out of frame at all times.
There are a couple of older English books on Poaching, which is what things of this nature would have been called at the time of the printing, that are available free on the innertoobes:
https://archive.org/details/gamekeeperathome1906jeff/page/n9/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/poacherspoaching00wilsrich/page/30/mode/2up
It might take a little bit to parse the English used as they tended to be a bit verbose, but people who are interested in trapping and other such endeavors might find a lot of useful information in these books, information that due to the time they were written might turn up very handy.
And would you look at that, there is even a free audio-book for the reading impared!
https://archive.org/details/gamekeeper_at_home_1102_librivox
Here is another one: https://archive.org/details/amateurpoacher00jeff
I had a Conibear trap when I was younger for muskrat.
Thing always scared the shit out of me. They tend to jump.
I was just about to type that…
I got one to try to get beavers out of a pond, never having any previous trapping experience. I thought I was going to lose a hand (or a dog) every time I touched it.
Of course when the KY Supreme Court made that ruling, they made it under the law at the time. Now the law has been changed by the legislature in accordance with state law.
What the court said previously has no fucking bearing since the law has now been changed, you disingenuous cunte.
IMHO, filing this lawsuit should push the legislature over the edge to vote for impeachment. Beshear is simply crying because his unilateral power is about to vanish, and has asked the KY courts to ignore KY law because reasons. I mean seriously, filing a lawsuit with the explicit attempt at nullifying the KY constitution because his EOs are NECESSARY! should be enough to hang him, much less get him out of office. He’s drunk with power, and by golly he’s gonna do everything he can to keep it.
https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article249314195.html
PA’s Supreme Court managed to split the baby on this one by saying that the provision of the statute that allowed the legislature to end the governor’s emergency powers was invalid but that somehow the governor could maintain those powers under that selfsame statute anyway. You could essentially sum up the PA court’s ruling as “neener, neener, you don’t have a veto-proof majority, so the governor can do whatever he wants.” In KY, at least, the Republicans have a supermajority in both houses, but I don’t know if they’re all on the same page.
Basic timeline.
Governor is Covid drunk.
His actions pass constitutional muster in the state Supreme Court late last year. The previous law gave him wide authority to pretty much do whatever he wants.
Legislature changes law because they know it’s fucked and want to prevent more of it.
Governor vetoes new laws curbing executive power.
Legislature overrides veto, telling him to eat a dick. Law becomes active immediately.
Governor files lawsuit saying the legislation is unconstitutional because the Supreme Court held up his actions under the former law, which, according to his argument, means any new law curbing his powers is bad.
Fuck this guy.
He’s literally saying that the legislature has no authority to change the law because it jeopardizes his unilateral power.
If the courts give him his way, the rule of law in KY is dead.
So its akin to presidental EOs…some are lifetime decrees. We are beyond parody.
It’s worse than that.
It’s literally saying the legislature has no right to make new law that curbs the power of the executive.
He has to wait until the Emperor dissolves the Imperial Senate and gives regional governors control over their territory.
PA’s supreme court has also shown that it don’t give a fuck about law, as we all saw during the run-up to the election.
That is what I have seen from various state governors – “I have the authority!” That is correct you do, under whatever legislation granted those powers. Now the legislatures are realizing it was too broad (maybe not realizing it but definitely recognizing they might want to appear to do something) and are trying to reign in powers they gleefully handed to the executive.
Now the legislatures are realizing it was too broad
Not in Virginia.
Dems have a one vote majority and have no intention of ending Northam’s reign, particularly not in an election year. The governor’s race has turned into a race for a monarchy.
I am sure we are going to have that here in NV also. “Republicans” in state legislature want grandma to die by limiting governor’s forever powers. /basically every news report on the subject.
“…a race for a monarchy.”
Totalitarianism and international communism was always the point of this. Chances are they have been planning it for years. Their actions have had no effect whatever on public health but it sure has increased their power. In England there are public health experts warning that nothing short of a ‘temporary’ harsh totalitarianism will stop the ‘pandemic’. Dont worry, it Is only temporary.
Here 15 days turned into 15 months , each increment increasingly longer and now Fauci is saying triple mask and it will last into 2022. Uh huh. Always just around the next bend. They intend to keep this up forever.
Yeah, I am cynical but my cynicism has been correct more times than not. It is when I am optimistic that y’all shouldn’t listen to me.
Let’s be clear. It’s not a monarchy. Neither Wolf, nor Beshear, nor Northam are monarchs. They need the courts and they know it. It is an oligarchy</em, however (or a hierarchy of oligarchies; our actual constitution is just as unwritten as the British system, maybe even more so). The governors (except Noem), most of the courts, some of the legislatures, and nearly all of the press, academia, and bureaucracy are part of the system (whether as actual oligarchs or just as the support system for the oligarchs). The governors’ terms will end and new governors will take their place, mostly as part of a rotating system of social climbing figureheads, but the judges, bureaucrats, and professoriat will endure.
We can’t afford how a change in governor will effect our pandemic response. Blackface needs to call off the election for the good of the people.
Exactly right.
The new laws neuter the governor to a great degree, and give the legislature a say.
The new laws are basically:
The governor cannot extend an emergency order beyond 30 days without legislative approval, and that the AG will have to sign off on the suspension of state law during an emergency. He would not have the power to curb business, religious services, and the like beyond state issued or CDC guidelines, whichever is less restrictive.
The governor and Secretary of State may not unilaterally change election law during an order of emergency.
The governor cannot “temporarily reorganize” state boards, commissions, etc while the legislature is out of session (basically, the legislature sets those boards, and he used some obscure law to “temporarily reorganize” them how he wanted until the legislature appoints new ones, that he can then just undo).
The AG will have control over abortion law during an order of emergency.
Those sounds like provisions only a white supremacist would support. /derp
One of these things is not like the other.
The AG will have control over abortion law during an order of emergency.
Locals were PISSED businesses and churches were forced to close, but abortion clinics were a-okay to be open.
We are seeing the evolution of our constitutional system before our eyes, and along the way there’s nobody writing any of the new rules down (officially, anyway). The legislature, despite being essentially “first among equals” of the three-branch system, is being neutered whenever it’s inconvenient to the unelected and sometimes even unenumerated branches. Robert Bork was an asshole but he was essentially right about one thing: legislative majorities should generally get their way because they are majorities. The legislative membership is both elected and diffuse which guards against the problems of unelected membership (judiciary) and concentrated power (executive). Though, of course, there is still the problem of the mob mentality, but none of the three branches are immune to that. In practice, we are seeing that the three-branch system is just a fancy facade applied atop an entirely different system of government, one in which the voice of the average person is almost completely irrelevant (sometimes for good but increasingly for ill).
This is a skill I want to learn and want my kids to learn. This summer I think I am taking the boys on a backcounty hike/camping half-week. While we will have food, I want us to work on getting our own food via the land/waters. Of course there is a lot of regulation on what we can catch etc, I think them having exposure would be great.
Muses about the consequences for somebody getting caught eating a freshly caught woodland creature in Yellowstone.
Spoiler alert: There is a federal court in Mammoth Hot Springs for the adjudication of crimes in the park. From what I have been told, they are not known for leniency.
My cousin in Grande Cache actually does “run” his trapline, because it’s approximately 100km (60 miles) long. Takes him a week on a snowmobile if the wildlife’s been busy.
One quibble: all of the leg-hold traps you have pictured have unadorned steel jaws. For the kind of animals he’s after (he’s a fur trapper), he’s required by law to use leg-holds that are covered in a relatively soft rubber, and he actually demonstrated their action on his own hand. No ouchies, but a firm grip once triggered.
There’s a kid in East KY with a YouTube channel. He’s actually pretty funny, and I hope he’s making decent money from it.
He issued himself a 24 hour challenge: he’ll trap his hand in the same traps he uses for coyotes, and leave it for 24 hours.
No permanently ill effects. He said his hand tingled for a couple days from restricted blood flow, but he was otherwise okay. No injuries. Not even a little blood.
If it tingled for a couple of days, that’s not restricted blood flow, that’s nerve impingement (hopefully temporary).
Don’t ask me how I know.
Fair enough.
I definitely don’t expect a young kid from East KY to know those differences.
Definitely temporary.
Sorry, but I don’t believe any of those “reality” shows for even a moment. I can’t believe the whole thing isn’t staged for the cameras, performed by actors and set down in a script.
I used to watch that junkyard show, now and then. The scripting was amazingly flagrant.
“We seeded this “junkyard” with everything these idjits could possibly need, and we still have to lead them around by the hand and coach them like cub scouts in a science fair.”
Didn’t matter. It was still entertaining.
I had a friend who had a family business in advertising. They filmed ads. One of the cable networks filmed a pilot for a reality show with them. The show didn’t get picked up, and my friend was relieved. He said it was exhausting doing normal work during the day and then filming for the show at night. They had to do multiple takes of the same scene if it wasn’t dramatic enough. So in that case, it wasn’t at all “real”.
I laugh at the old Top Gear and the new version on Amazon, but I know most of the shenanigans are scripted.
They didn’t much pretend that the shenanigans, in the broad strokes, were anything other than scripted, IMO. Everything was done with a rather large wink at the camera.
They had an episode where they didn’t do anything scripted (okay, even that one was scripted). https://topgear.fandom.com/wiki/Series_2,_Episode_4_(TGT)
Beaten to the punch and you had a link.
They even lampshaded it a bit with the “unscripted” episode in Croatia, where they ambled about aimlessly. That still took some preparation on the part of the production team, they just did (a little) less than usual.
don’t like unsolicited dick pics? Too bad, that’s the way the world works
“Are you sure its not the isle of man[?]”
Bravo.
Even God has a sense of humor.
I’d be impressed if it had a volcano at the tip.
The Daily Mail with the hard hitting news.
Heh, heh, he said “hard!”
Busted.
Contact your doctor is you get stuck on this island for more than a three hour tour.
The professor could recreate a modern technology from coconuts but he couldn’t get them off of the island. Something was fishy about the whole thing.
Stranded with Ginger and Mary Anne?
“Gosh, I just can’t figure out how to get us off this island. Its a baffler.”
Ginger AND Maryann.
The Virgin Islands are that way –>
God is the patriarchy.
Just ask Madonna!
uh-huh.
“Unfortunately”? I would have gone with “awesomely”.
She “came across” it.
Yep
Appropos.
I am disappointed in YOU PEOPLE!
Almost 4 hours we’ve been talking about trapping. Trapping requires bait.
NOT ONE OF YOU PEOPLE MADE A MASTER BAITER JOKE?!?!
I was waiting for “traps are gay”.
/disappointed
*scrolls up, leaves joke on blackjack’s comment*
Thanks, Animal, brings back the childhood memories. Weasels, an occasional muskrat, a lot of snowshoe rabbits snared. In my younger days foxes had a $6 bounty, paid by the local game warden. I only collected on 1. Coyotes were $25 but never got or shot one.
Now its summertime wood chucks, coons, and skunks, around the garden. If the critter is digging under a fence a steel trap on each side of the fence and a live trap baited with corn/sun flower seeds. Last summer was striped gophers, 2 wood chucks (worst of all), maybe a skunk or two and maybe a raccoon, can’t remember. I solve the problem on the spot, not transferring my problem to a neighbor.
Mice are a problem in the garden too, destructive and tough to catch. They will eat the bark from a small fruit tree in the winter, kill the tree. I put aluminum foil around the small trunk, about 18 inches of foil
Keep the articles rolling, we’re waiting to hear the tales from the Last Frontier..
Meh, sounds boring. Why not just lay down some mortar fire over a few acres. Then just walk through and pick up and the already half cooked remains?
General Westmoreland, is that you?
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