What started out as a fun, family outing quickly turned into a harrowing experience for the Baughman family. A few weeks ago, they were near their home up Petty Creek, near Alberton, searching for the perfect Christmas tree, along with some friends.

Suddenly, they heard cries from their little Chihuahua, Dutley, several feet away.

“I thought something had gotten ahold of her,” said Loree Baughman, “like a coyote.”

Fearing the worst, the family ran into a nearby grove of trees, and found Dutley, caught in a trap.

“The trap didn’t have teeth and we got her out pretty fast,” Baughman said. “Luckily, she didn’t break her leg. We’ve been out in this area before, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a trap.”

She said that there weren’t any signs or anything marking the area to warn people of the trap. 

“And this is a fairly used trail; people come up here all the time,” she said.

According to Montana law, trappers do not have to mark or put up warnings where they set traps. And trapping for nongame animals, such as raccoons, red fox and badgers, as well as predators like coyotes, skunks and weasels can be done year around.

Trapping in Montana has been a topic of debate for years, with many pieces of legislation debated at the state Capitol, including a 2013 initiative proposed to ban trapping on public lands in Montana, which was not passed.

Earlier this year, a bill saying Montanans’ constitutional right to harvest fish and game includes the right to trap wild animals became law without Gov. Steve Bullock’s signature.

House Bill 212 by Rep. Kirk Wagoner, R-Montana City, passed the Legislature on March 12, after clearing the Senate on a 29-21 vote. Supporters said the bill clarified what state voters meant when they amended a right to hunt and fish into the Montana Constitution in 2004. Opponents argued voters never saw the word “trapping” in the amendment, and they vowed to challenge the move with a lawsuit.

According to a Fish Wildlife and Parks information sheet, approximately 4,000 Montanans buy trapping licenses each year, and the number has increased in the past two decades. According to the report, “in terms of user-days, a standard way of calculating economic benefit for fishing or hunting, fur trapping is worth more than $1 million to Montana’s economy each year.”

According to another report from Footloose Montana, an organization that promotes trap-free public lands, Montana trappers kill an average of 50,000 reported wild animals every trapping season, including fisher, mink, marten, otter, bobcat, swift fox and wolverine. 

However, trappers are not required to report numbers for the most commonly trapped species, such as beaver, coyote, red fox, skunk, badger and raccoon. There are several rules and regulations regarding trapping in the Montana Hunting and Trapping regulation handbook. For example, traps can be set on all state game preserves. Along some high recreational-use trails and roads, traps must be set 500 feet from the trails and roads. Traps set on private land need to have the landowner’s permission. 

Because of experiences like what happened to the Baughmans, rhere continues to be a lot of public outcry regarding traps set in high-use areas wherepets and even people can occasionally be caught in the snares. The most recent report of an incident posted on the Trap Free Montana Public Lands website was Dec. 7, at Sweeney Creek Loop in Florence, where a dog was caught in a leghold for three days. The report said that the dog had broken off several teeth trying to free herself. 

According to Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 104 dogs have been accidentally trapped in Montana between 2012-2015, including incidents in Mineral County.

One report on the Trap Free website, made on Jan. 29, 2013, was of a man in Rivulet (up Fish Creek) who stepped into a leg hold trap for wolves in the Chicken Creek drainage near Williams Peak. Another FWP report from 2013-2014 was of a dog trapped at Ward Creek. There have also been reports of trapping in the mountains southwest of Alberton (including the Petty Creek area), and along the Hiawatha trail, west of town.

Controversy over the ethics of trapping, and concerns with public safety continues to grow, but in Montana, trapping is as old as the state itself. It has a strong coalition and according to the the state’s Trapping Information sheet, “trappers harvest furbearers, predators, and several nongame wildlife species to assist in population management, to protect livestock and prevent damage to agricultural lands. Trappers also receive economic value from pelts, and it allows them to pursue a legal outdoor recreational activity.” The sheet also states that “regulated fur trapping is the only way to effectively harvest most furbearers. Many of these species are active only at night and could not be ethically hunted.”

The battle over trapping will continue, but whether you are pro or con, the best advice for walking in the woods is watch your step.