This pre staking court is now in session

[k9]

We have debated prestaking and will continue to do so.

What I would like you to do on this thread, is present your case. Do not debate each other here, just present your case for or against prestaking. This debate is being viewed by a lot of people, a lot of them are ITA Directors.

So, pretend you are standing before the DNR or the ITA Directors. You have to convince them why prestaking should be continued as is. Further you have to provide solutions to the current percieved problems.

If you disagree with another trappers presentation on here, take it to another thread, do not muck this one up with back and forths. I just want all of us to "make our case" without muddying it up with chit chat.

I will post mine later tonight or tomorrow, as I am needing to get out the door.

I would ask that you

-Define the problems before us as you see them.
-Provide solutions to the problems as you see fit.

[TexA]

Remember that the question only pertains to PUBLIC LAND,

which includes the ditches and all other State Owned ground.

It has nothing to do with Private land.

[4fur]

Trapping is an effective, humane and highly regulated form of wildlife management in Iowa. Reducing animal populations increases general animal health and reduces the most common forms of animal death which include auto fatalities, predation, disease and starvation. Harvesting fur bearers, a renewable resource, provides thousands of Iowa sportsmen recreation and allows them to participate in the heritage and history that was responsible for the exploration and founding of much of the Western United States, including Iowa. Harvesting fur bearers also greatly reduces animal/human conflicts as our state becomes more populated with both people and animals.

Prestaking is a long accepted and legal method used to effectively harvest our excess fur populations. The practice is not utilized by everyone but can benefit everyone, young and old; full and part-time. But the biggest benefactor ultimately is the general health of Iowa's fur bearer, small game, nesting birds, water fowl and livestock populations.

Please consider the ramifictions of eliminating any tool which reduces the ability of Iowa fur harvesters to effectively manage excess animal populations.

[daveplueger]

As we are all well aware, Our IA winters can be quite brutal. Some years the cold and snow set in earlier than any of us would like. I can recall several trapping seasons when we have had our ability to harvest furbearers, mainly raccoon, severely hampered to completely shut down within the first week of the season. Had it not been for the ability to place out our equiptment prior to the season opener, our ability to mainain healthy furbearer pop. would have been greatly diminished.

[justwannano]

I'm kind of an old timer at trapping. Been at it, although not real active until recently, since the late 70s. I've seen it become unlawful to set traps in fence lines and not closer to out buildings just because someone complained. I personally never heard a single person complain about those things but lost that territory anyway. There was no give and take about it just either lose this or lose that. There may even be other laws that have been enacted I'm not aware of.
I believe that was the dog hunters that were the instigators back then. This time its even worse.
Its evidently trappers that are the complainers.

Fighting and argueing about trapping/hunting areas are not a new thing. Indian wars were fought over them. So this thing is not something that should be a surprise to anyone. Nor should it be something that officials should over react to.
As shown here at ITT cooler heads do exist.

Its been mentioned that it is not fair to youngsters that pre staking exists. I beg to differ.
It'll only take a year or so before that youngster is pre staking himself. Most youngsters are quite competitive. If he's not trapping isn't for him.
Finding trapping ground is the largest problem he'll encounter.

Understanding what pre stakeing is/means seems to be the problem. I've read many complain about pre staking and state that they will not set where someone has pre staked. Well its not surprising that he is frustrated. He's caught between his ethics and a misconception.

I'm not sure if it is a feasible solution but the Iowa DNR has the name and address of every trapper in Iowa. Perhaps if this is such a big issue a post card would solve this whole mess.

the best 2 ya
just

[gopherkiller]

Trapping is done at varying levels from those who rely on furharvesting as a main income to those who harvest fur for recreation. The ROW is public property which we the public has every right to use. Prestaking is a tool that is designed to allow a trapper to activate traps as soon as possible on the opening of the fur season. This is important because Iowa weather is unpredicatable. Animal activity is dominated by the weather and trapping success relies on the animals being active. Prestaking reduces the work load once the season is open thereby maximizing available trapping days. Prestaking in furharvesting is a carbon copy of hanging a deer stand in deer hunting. It is preparation for the season to come. I feel that two weeks prior to season is enough time to prestake and with set definitions and timelines fellow trappers will have a better understanding for the rules and get along with less conflicts than the present situation allows. This two weeks of prestaking would allow trappers time to contact landowners to gain permission to private land if they wish to hop a fence to avoid conflics with someone who has prestaked or might in the ROW.

[iayogi17]

I wanted to write a letter but my writing skill are weak so there is some key points

-pre staking is fair for everyone, just some do it differently (makes the world go around)
-if we loss this privilege we are one step closer to lossing trapping, as it is one less thing that the anti's have to fight
-the more rules we have the less people do the sport, they don't want to do anything wrong but if you have to be a lawyer to do it screw it
-men and women have died for ower freedoms and to just give then up being trapping regs or other laws just doesn't make sense to me

[k9]

Dear BOD

I have tried to assess the problem before us, prestaking, and one thing which has kept me from making an informed decision is the lack of data we have to work with. By that I mean no one has come forth with numbers of complaints, types of complaints, and what region such complaints have come from. I hope this board made it's decision based on complaints, and not speculation.

That being said, I think that the vote was taken when many Directors were caught off gaurd and unprepared to make an informed decision. Of course, I have the advantage of armchair quarterbacking an event in which I was uninvolved in. It would seem more desirable to speak with trappers in your Districts about the issues. When one only talks with trappers who have called the Director complaining about prestaking, one does not get a good feel for both sides of the issue,

It seems to me from looking into this, that the problem is two fold. Complaints about prestaking, from trappers who do not understand the concept would be first. A Director can take that opportunity to educate the trapper about prestaking, or the Director can just agree with the trapper that the trapper has somehow been "wronged" or that prestaking is somehow wrong. I think the reaction by the Director can make a world of difference as to how far this goes. A Director can neutralize the situation with his reaction, or if the Director already does not like prestaking, they can bad mouth it and make the situation worse.

The second would be the idea that mowers can hit equipment left behind by the trapper. We do not know if this is actually happening, or if we are dealing with speculation that it "could" happen. Either way, we need to clearly see that this is a different issue from prestaking. This is an issue of trappers not picking up thier equipment. This it seems to me can be handled by the traoping fraternity, without new laws being put into place. If name tags are on the equipment DNR can be called. If no tag is on the equipment trappers should take the initiative to pick the equipment up. This problem will correct itself when the trapper comes back the next year and finds his gear gone. He will pick it up next time, rather than donate it to others.

Again, we have no idea how many incidents have actually happened. I would submit to you that the problems are regional, in that I have talked with other trappers who say that Western Iowa has a number of trappers who run thier lines this way. In my area, this is not a big problem.

If this Board decides that there is a real problem that requires action, I would ask them further to look at the types of sets involved in the complaints. It would seem, that this is a dry land issue and not a water trapping issue. I would ask the Board to seriously consider the difference in the styles of trapping, and not punish all trappers for the actions of a few.

I would ask the Board to present to trappers some hard data that they can work with. If Iowa trappers know what areas are having problems, perhaps through peer pressure and vigilance, they can effect change in thier areas, and resolve the problem within the trapping family.

If no hard data exists, then the Board may need to re assess the situation, and see if a real problem actually exists.

I would ask the Board to consider the fact that prestaking is a valuable method used to greatly increase the raccoon harvest, which directly assists farmers, hunters, and other people. Further, I would ask the Board to consider the fact that the probable handful of complaints (no one can tell us how many complaints exist) pale in comparison to the large number of trappers who prestake each year with no problems or complaints.

I would summarize the solutions to this problem as follows:
-If no data exists there may not be a problem therefore nothing should be done.

-If trappers are just complaining over legitimate prestaking, you should consider the fact that a large majority of trappers are not complaining, support pre staking, , and that you cannot please all people all the time. Perhaps the solution would be a vote of the entire membership at the next ITA Convention.

-Now that trappers have a hieghtened awareness of this problem, they can and should deal with issues in thier local areas such as equipment being left out. A trapper finding all his "year round" kill poles gone the next fall will pull them next time. The Board needs to recognize that a lot of these trappers are not members of ITA, so would need to be educated by other trappers who understand the issues. Perhaps some could just be talked to by thier peers, and the problem could be resolved.

In conclusion I would suggest the Board table this for two years and allow it's membership to attempt to deal with these issues. ITA members are spread throughout the state and have regular contact with people who are engaging in this behavior. A few ITA members can effect change given the time and motivation to do so. The motivation is a looming restriction of prestaking in ROW's, the only thing the membership needs is the time to do so.

Thanks
Bruce Rhoads

[k9]

Would love to hear some more from you guys. Also, anyone wanting to present thier case against prestaking in ROW's please chime in and state your case.

If someone wants to post against prestaking I assure you I will not allow anyone to jump you on this thread. This thread is for YOU to speak out to ITA BOD's who are lurking and reading in. I do not want this thread cluttered with debate, so post away even if you think it is controversial.

Some of those Directors will never get to hear from you and your views if you don't post them here.

[Deleted]

For you who are for the prestaking law....Why are we wanting to take your own rights away? I pre stake and don't see why it is a problem. Set your snares in July or Sept. like I do if you really want that coon trail on that ROW. Me and my competition both pre stake the same area and I dont have a problem with the guy at all what so ever. If he gets there first, hey theres always next year. We're chipping away at our own rights.