Your right, this rule was born out of 80's if I remember correctly. Pet owners was the cause.
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That rule still doesn't make since why would it cover all South of the Rivers??
One of my seven was visited that I can tell. Whatever it was escaped though. I reset them all to proper height and size, plus added more funnelling sticks.
I have a few personal reasons to be against snaring. I've had to remove illegally set snares from my Beagles. However I can understand cultural and heritage reasons for doing it especially for First Nations , Newfoundlanders and many other Canadians that grew up in a very rural setting. I've snared lots of hare myself.
The problem I see is that its to cheap and easy to do and this easily sets the practice up for abuse. Snares are cheap enough to left behind or carelessly lost and not worry about them.
I'm still open to the Idea if it could be controlled, for example .. at the beginning of the season you went to the ministry purchased your serialized snares for a fee, say ten dollars each. Then at the end of the season you would take them all back. This way none are lost or left behind and you would be responsible for any mishaps
Truthfully, I would prefer to hunt my hare with my .22, but lack of time for hunting and a need for some extra meat is my reality. I actually had not considered snaring on crown land; I am just on my own property ~23 acres. I could see how someone could abuse the situation on public land, but I have never actually encountered an errant trap or snare while stomping through the bush up here, so I don't know how prevalent it actually is.
So in a world of increasing cash grabs you would like to see another?
If the neighborhood girls cat is in the middle of the woods it should be fair game. If you let your pets wander the wild at will to wreck whatever havoc they may there's a greater issue at hand.
Sort of related to discussion. I found an interesting article from 2003 regarding hare snares and marten by-catch. .22ga brass or 6 strand picture wire (low carbon) were the best choices to kill >75% of snared showshoe hare and release >=90% of marten snared (important for Newfoundland due to endangered marten populations).
http://members.shaw.ca/grizzlyjake/Marten2004.pdf
The times in the snares are much longer than I would have thought, but the researchers observed no ill effects from the snare on the marten. Similarly, the times for hares in snares were much longer than I had figured in another study from 1994 addressing a similar issue. EDIT** They were using 20 gauge steel wire, so that could affect results.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3783090
I can try to link to a pdf if anyone wants. Somehow I was able to download two copies of it, but now it wants a subscription.