# detective, anybody?



## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

i just got home from checking my trap line and found two of my traps had been sprung but nothing was in either one.

the first one i'm not too worried about. i set a 110 in a small channel of open water for muskrat with some baby carrots on the trigger. the bait hadn't been touched and there were quite a bit of weeds and other debris that had gathered on the trap. my guess is that something floated down and cought on the trigger, thus setting it off.

the second trap gets confusing. i set a 1.75 blind on a trail with some brush and trees funneling to the trap. i sprinkled some fox urine around the set. i didn't have a stake under the trap, instead i had a chain strung out and wrapped around a tree just a foot away. of course everything was covered and made to look as natural as possible. when i got to the set, everything was exactly as i left it except for my trap was sprung and sat a foot to the left and the chain was unhooked from the tree and set next to the trap. there was a small twig inbetween the jaws. obviously someone came along and set the trap off and wanted to let me know that it wasn't simply a slip out. the weird thing is that i found a small tuft of skin and hair about three feet from the set. it was whiteish-grey and very course, the hair about 1 1/2 inches long. the skin was fairly thin. it very closely resembled elk hair, but there are no elk in the area and i saw no tracks, of any sort. when i was walking in i did notice some very large canine tracks that were approximately 3 inches wide. my thoughts are that i caught something and someone else came by and took it, or someone was out with their dog and their dog walked into the trap. but nothing at the set was disturbed, and there was that broken off stick in my trap. the hair is what's really throwing me right now.

sorry that got long, but any thoughts?


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## kvernum3 (Aug 8, 2005)

This is just a guess,

you said there were large k9 tracks in the area which would mean there was most likely a dog there, My guess would be someone came through with there dog...it got caught in the trap... he released the dog and then reset the trap.. unhooking it from the tree and putting the stick in it to kind of say " dont put this here again " just a guess :huh:..

maybe the fur was from the dog, but no disturbance around the trap is odd.


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

that's kind of what i'm thinking happened, but i'd think that there would be some form of disturbance around the set. but there wasn't anything out of place, none of my guiding sticks or anything. not even boot prints. i just can't figure that bit out.


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## cattrapper77 (Feb 14, 2009)

i think maybe i would put a hiddend trail cam there and do the same set up to see what in the hells goin on there!


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

i already pulled my land traps from that area. it's pretty heavily used by the public and i'd rather not take a chance of catching someones dog. bad p.r. and i've got other places to trap at.


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