Trapper Jake Documentary

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Aug 16, 2019
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I pay for Amazon Prime, yet I seldom watch Amazon Prime TV, but there seem to be some good things on it and I should explore it more often.
I watched the Trapper Jake docu. At first I changed channels when it showed him getting ready to club a coyote or fox to death with it's foot stuck in a paw trap, then I came back and made myself watch it. That's a hard way for those poor animals to have to die, to get a foot caught in a trap and not being to get away from it. Now I'm wondering if I should have watched it or not, because you can't "unsee" something. I also saw him shoot a trapped coyote and racoon, then toss the racoon into his truck and I saw that it was still breathing, so he took it out and put it on the ground, then clubbed it's windpipe, which I guess broke it. It seemed like that racoon suffered more than it should have. He also caught a big carp with a fish pole, then clubbed it to death and said "die you MF". Wow, I've known people like that but haven't talked to them in decades. I'm not like that. I would have felt sorry for sticking the carp's lip with a fish hook. He was an avid outdoorsman and trapped and or fished every day. He skinned the animals himself in his own shop and sold the furs, and threw away the carcasses. He thought nothing of it.

My dad (1920-1979) and most of my uncles were avid hunters and didn't think twice about killing animals. Lately I feel bad when I see a racoon road kill. Dad would shoot any porcupine he happened to find in the woods. The man lived to be 99 and I guess he trapped all his life since he was a kid.
I guess it was kind of interesting but there's no way I'd want to do something like that.
 
My older brother is a coyote/fox trapper and one time I asked him how he killed them. He said he steps on their chest and they suffocate. Then he said to me "kind of like killing your puppy dog" to see my reaction. Didn't phase me. I then asked why he did it that way and he said it doesn't damage the fur.

My brother said sometimes a coyote will chew it's foot off to get out of the trap.
 
We shoot them in the eye with a 17 hmr, or a 22. near instant death. It works great. If they are chased out by our dogs, then a chest shot is the best, as we are not saving the fur.
 
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