Law enforcement appreciation week

SANDERS COUNTY- The new FWP Region 1 Game Warden, Troy Hinks, set out last week on Wednesday on a trip up a back country road to examine a set of animal trap sites that were found along some streams. His mission was to make sure that the trap sites were not live, were within a legal area, and to see what people were trapping for along the mountain road.

“All of our furbearer seasons are closed right now,” said Warden Hinks, explaining that the seasons are in October, when the animals are taking on their thick winter pelts and there are less hunters out. He then said, “We’re using the resources in the most responsible manner and timeframes,” referring to using quotas, designated time frames, and a set amount of animals a trapper can take within a certain geographical location.

Warden Hinks then said why he finds it important to know the trapping sites. “Trappers are sometimes creatures of habit, and they’re going to come back to the same areas because animals use the landscape the same way,” Warden Hinks explained. The warden, who moved to the region less than a year ago, said that he likes to check where people trap during the off-season to make sure sites have been cleaned and to mark them as reference for later checkups. He explained that he is trying to learn the region and meet as many people as possible.  

As Warden Hinks came up to the first trap site, which was found along a stream bed after traveling through damp cedars, he approached it with caution and tested the site for any traps that may be out despite it being closed season. He used his retractable night stick and poked into what was a makeshift den. When he found it was clear, he examined it to see what the trapper would have been hunting for last season.

“In the first set was a cubby that would be used for bobcat trapping. Somebody would place a foothold trap into the ground there and they would have a bait that would be wired in there,” said Warden Hinks.  He then said that all was in order and the site was legal because it was cleaned, the steel trap was removed to ensure it was far enough away from the road.

He then walked upstream and found a similar trap site and inspected it and found nothing out of the ordinary and went back to his truck and moved on up the road.

As he drove up the mountain, Warden Hinks caught another cubby out of the corner of his eye and pulled over. As with the first one he found just a slice of evidence besides the cubby that led him to believe it was a foothold trap site. He found a bit of plastic sheeting, which he explained was used for covering the trap and then bait being placed on top.

As he returned from the trap, Warden Hinks said, “We’ve got a lot of good trappers, but there are also people who like to bend the rules.” He then explained that it is his duty to make sure that the trappers that set these sites follow the regulations.

When he found the last trap at the top of the road along a stream, he noticed a slightly more complex design and differences from the cubby trapping sites further down the road. He said, “I believe it would have probably been set with a carnivore trap, where probably a pine martin or a bobcat potentially would have gone into the enclosure and their head would go through and they would be caught around the neck.”

When all the trapping sites had been checked, Warden Hinks made his way back down the mountain, leaving the sites undisturbed. “I love it,” he said with enthusiasm, explaining that, though he has administrative work to do, he also gets to be outside in the wilderness and to work with the public to educate them about trapping regulations.