Texas legalizes shooting invasive sheep from a helicopter for sport
Reply
Fur trapping in Missouri
Dennis Bresnahan / June 9, 2025
https://neoshodaily.com/fur-trapping-in-missouri/
I listen to a radio show every Saturday called “The Bluff City Outdoor Show.” Every week they cover topics like fishing, boating, archery, hunting, trapping, and basically everything outdoors.
They usually have guests on the show that cover topics in their field of expertise. One week recently, they had a guest on who was a professional trapper.
This show was interesting to me because I really knew nothing about trapping. I had never really thought about it.
But I do realize that I never will be a trapper but what he had to say intrigued me and piqued my interest. So after the show, I looked up what I could find about trapping.
People have been trapping animals since the first Europeans landed in America. Trapping was necessary for food and clothing and as the country grew, trappers ventured farther and farther west.
Trappers and hunters kept exploring the country looking for more and newer places to trap and hunt, and this helped the country grow.
The new land that was discovered was soon settled in a westward expansion.
Many hunters and trappers earned their living by selling the meat and by selling their furs from trapping. Eventually, trappers wandered into what is now Missouri and in 1764 the City of St. Louis was founded.
People hunted and trapped west of the city in the wilderness but, eventually, trapping became a big business. This was mainly because of the beaver fur.
Beavers in Europe became basically extinct around the same time that the colonies were founded in America. In Europe, the North American beaver pelts flooded the European market and were in high demand.
Beaver pelts were used to make beaver felt hats that played a large part in a European person’s social identity. The fur trade lasted from 1670 to 1870.
The fur trade was a big industry that helped St. Louis grow. Fur trappers would bring their furs to St. Louis and get big money for them.
The fur trappers, the merchants who outfitted them with supplies, and the wholesalers who would sell and ship furs down the river through New Orleans and up the East Coast and eventually to Europe, were the richest men in St. Louis.
Most people in this French village lived in log or wooden houses but these wealthy men lived in expensive stone houses.
After the 1804 Lewis & Clark Expedition arrived back in St, Louis in 1806 from their trip to the Pacific Ocean, they bragged about all of the beaver that could be found up the Missouri River farther west.
This started a new boom in beaver trapping. Many of the men from the Lewis & Clark Expedition immediately returned back up the Missouri River to trap beavers. Some of these men were killed by hostile Indians.
Before all of these trappers ever came to Missouri, the population of beavers and other game animals was kept in check by predators like mountain lions and wolves, and by the hunting and trapping of local Indian tribes.
As settlers moved west throughout the state, the predators were eliminated and the Native Americans were either chased out or bought out. But the game animals’ populations were kept down by the trappers.
In the last few decades, the number of professional trappers has gone down tremendously. Trappers can no longer make a living anymore by only trapping because the price of fur has gone down so far.
This is mostly because of a group called “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” or PETA. These people have discouraged consumers from buying furs or clothing made from furs through advertising, commercials, and protests.
These are the same people who want to end deer hunting and let the deer population explode. Of course, they also want to get rid of eating all animals.
When animals have no predators or hunters or trappers, their population can explode. But nature has a way of solving this — and it is cruel.
Nature solves this problem in two ways, disease and starvation. Starvation is a long, horrible, and miserable way to die.
The PETA people, whether they know it or not, are the cruelest people on Earth because of this. There is nothing ethical about letting animals starve to death.
There are still a lot of people in Missouri who are trappers even though they can’t exclusively made a living at it. They trap animals for their personal use of the fur, or to sell the fur for what they can get, or for the meat.
The professional trapper on the radio show said that he has eaten every type of meat that he has trapped and said that beaver meat was the best he ever ate, even better than beef.
He also said that the beaver fur is warmer than any other natural fur or any man-made artificial or synthetic fur. He then told a little California tale.
Here is briefly what he said: Next to the ocean in California, the hunters would beat the baby seals to death with clubs for their furs. The PETA people were horrified by this and passed a law to stop it.
The ocean then got overcrowded by seals who then ate all the fish before they could breed more fish. This destroyed the fishing industry.
Then with all of the fish gone, the seals all starved to death. Which is more humane or ethical, one blow to the head with a club or a slow, miserable death by starvation?
There are still many trappers who make a living by trapping nuisance animals. These are the professional exterminators who don’t make their money by selling furs but are paid by those who hire them.
They are hired by farmers or homeowners who pay them to remove unwanted animals from their property. Some are paid by the job and others are paid per animal removed.
Farmers will hire a professional trapper to remove beavers who build a dam in a stream that floods their fields, or to remove otters who eat the fish in their pond or in their commercial fish-raising lagoons.
Homeowners will hire them to remove raccoons, squirrels, or bats from their attic or an opossum living under their porch. Also, they are hired to remove groundhogs, gophers, or moles from people’s yards.
Professional trappers have been hired to trap feral hogs by both farmers and conservation departments.
The Missouri Department of Conservation has regulations for hunting with hunting seasons, limits, and for types of weapons used.
Likewise, they also have trapping regulations with trapping seasons, limits, and types of traps used.
Trapping seasons and rules are set for trapping badger, grey fox, red fox, beaver, nutria, bobcat, coyote, mink, muskrat, opossum, raccoon, river otter, striped skunk, and rabbits.
This helps keep the numbers of these animals in check.
Most Missouri Conservation Areas allow trapping with a special use permit. Special rules may apply at different locations.
The trapping seasons can change yearly so check the latest Missouri Hunting and Trapping Regulations booklet.
Free copies of the updated booklet are available at MDC regional offices, MDC nature centers, and other places where permits are sold.
The booklet is also available online at mdc.mo.gov using the search tool at the top of the page.
So, go out and buy a real fur coat or hat. Help raise the demand and price for fur to help the fur trappers make a living.
FWP Reports that North Dakota couple plead guilty to hunting violations
State senator hails end of shotgun-only hunting zone in southern Minnesota
For the World’s Wildlife, it’s Apocalypse Now
Arizona firefighters save trapped coyote pup from backyard trampoline
The coyote became trapped in the concrete enclosure under the trampoline, Mesa Fire Department said.
00:1000:17
- Next up in 5Will Barry Trotz’s Draft Day Pick Save Nashville’s Future Down the Middle: Stories from the Combine
- Will the Kings hit again on a pick take in the first round of the NHL Draft?
Author: John Tanet
Published: 9:15 AM PDT June 5, 2025
Updated: 9:15 AM PDT June 5, 2025
MESA, Ariz. — You’ve heard of firefighters getting cats out of trees, but in Arizona it looks like they get coyotes out of trampolines!
On Wednesday, a Mesa fire crew was called out to rescue a young coyote pup that had gotten trapped in the concrete enclosure under an in-ground trampoline.
Fortunately, the team was able to work the trampoline up and out of the ground and got the pup into the care of Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.
“Thanks to some teamwork and gentle maneuvering, the little guy was safely freed and is now in the care of wildlife professionals,” the Mesa Fire Department said.
A video of the rescue showed the pup running circles around the inside of the enclosure as firefighters got the trampoline out of the way. Fortunately, it seems like the young coyote is in good health and wasn’t hurt.
“Big thanks to our community for keeping a watchful eye and reporting wildlife in distress,” the department said.
Shoutout to the crew of L206 for coming to the rescue!
>> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.
Watch 12News for free
You can now watch 12News content anytime, anywhere thanks to the 12+ app!
The free 12+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like “Today in AZ” and “12 News” and our daily lifestyle program, “Arizona Midday”—on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.
12+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona.
Users can also watch on-demand videos of top stories, local politics, I-Team investigations, Arizona-specific features and vintage videos from the 12News archives.
Roku: Add the channel from the Roku store or by searching for “12 News KPNX.”
Amazon Fire TV: Search for “12 News KPNX” to find the free 12+ app to add to your account, or have the 12+ app delivered directly to your Amazon Fire TV through Amazon.com or the Amazon app. Close Ad
Michigan Coyote Hunting – Lawmakers Slam ‘Unscientific’ Ban With New Bills
Trying to get rid of noisy, food-stealing gulls is missing the point – it’s humans who are the pests
Hawks, spikes and sonic repellants are among the measures used to deter these birds. Perhaps we should try sharing our planetSun 8 Jun 2025 03.00 EDTShare409
At this year’s Cannes film festival, some unexpected hires joined the security detail at luxury hotel the Majestic. They were clad not in kevlar but in deep chestnut plumage, with wingspans up to four feet, talons for toes and meat-ripping ebony beaks. The new recruits were Harris hawks and their mission was clear: guard stars from the aerial menace of gulls daring to photobomb or snatch vol-au-vents.
This might sound like an extreme solution to a benign problem – after all, haven’t most of us lost sandwiches to swooping beaks and come out relatively unscathed? But as these notorious food pirates come ashore in growing numbers, cities around the world are increasingly grappling with how to manage them. Hiring hawks from local falconer Christophe Puzin was the Majestic’s answer to curbing gull-related incidents (such as Sophie Marceau’s 2011 wine-on-dress situation). But in metropolises such as New York, Rome, Amsterdam and London gulls are widely considered a menace, too, as they take up permanent residence on urban stoops.
00:00
03:12
Read More
Gulls seem to be louder than ever, which makes it easy to forget their status as seabirds in crisis. All of the more than 50 global species of gull are falling victim to fragmenting habitats under conflicting marine policy measures, devastating avian flu, and even brain damage and organ failure resulting from plastic ingestion. In the UK, this torrent of trouble has rendered many species of gull in decline.
Predator-free rooftops have enticed them from the waves since the 1940s and, broadly speaking, gulls have adapted well to their changing environment – even becoming effective urban seed dispersers. Lamp-posts have replaced cliff ledges, buildings are islands, landfill is rocky shore. One study found that gulls can recognise human routines, with their presence around schools tripling during mealtimes. Their adaptation – however bothersome it might be for us – has driven their survival. Perhaps acknowledging this could help us to live alongside them.
As we have no licence to either capture or kill these birds, introducing hawks as agents of natural gull control is one method of regulating human/gull interaction. Some councils have produced gull awareness campaigns, encouraging locals to report nesting and not to feed them. Others default to installing physical barriers, such as spokes and spikes, to discourage gulls’ resting sites. Such measures are expensive for local authorities and their effectiveness is inconclusive. Some councils, such as Carlisle, opt for a more covert approach, threatening gulls more gently in the form of hawk-like kites. In Exeter, Deliveroo trialled “repellent” audio tracks, broadcasting recorded falcon cries and gull distress calls to deter them. Researchers at the University of Exeter have also investigated the benefit of holding eye contact with a gull, in making them think twice about stealing food.
But such an array of anti-gull options perpetuates the patronising narrative of these animals as pests. The fact that gulls are thriving in cities points to our own ecological failures as a society. Global household waste is growing rapidly, most of which is thrown into landfill, where it is left to rot, releasing large amounts of methane – a greenhouse gas 80 times more harmful than carbon dioxide for 20 years after its release. We aren’t so much giving gulls an ocean eviction notice as we are begging for them to come inland, feeding their instinct to dive, rip and smash around us – one bin day at a time.
So what are urban gulls, if not a menace? Perhaps, in Cannes, they’re a message of timing. The film festival takes place in May, during gull breeding season (April to July). It is a period when gulls are loud and chaotic, their defensiveness spiking when hatching and fledging; and when food is visible, we’re baiting them with easy pickings. With broods to protect, reflexes are heightened.
It is easy to conflate gulls’ seasonal survival with year-round behaviour. On wilder shores, these periods of increased activity would unfold unnoticed. But we have altered ecological niches to make cities too tempting, deforming the instincts of species trying to adapt with acts of imagination and resilience.
As a long-living social species that has mastered feats of adaptation, gulls have much to teach us. And as they adapt to urban habitats, we must also learn to live alongside them. This offers us a chance to change the story, to shape the future of shared urban spaces. Spaces where festival organisers align with nature’s calendar, and the rhythms of life are respected. Spaces where waste is not just managed, but reimagined. Spaces where human impact is studied with intent, not ignorance. Spaces that would allow our relationship with the wild to mature so profoundly, conflict would become obsolete.
Exposing the Big Game 