Small Animal Trap Hurts Grown Western Marathon County Man

Updated: 7:58 AM Oct 29, 2008

Dave Bieneck, of western Marathon County, stumbles across a trap intended to kill a small animal, and instead gets injured himself. He had no idea the trap was on his property.

Posted: 4:38 PM Oct 28, 2008
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Email Address: lhayes@wsaw.com

Small Animal Trap Hurts Grown Western Marathon County Man

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A trap intended to kill small animals, ended up hurting a grown man this weekend.

Dave Bieneck of western Marathon County was walking through his land, near Blueberry Rd. in the Town of Frankfort, when he stepped into the trap, crushing his foot.

The DNR is investigating whether the roadside land, considered 30 feet out from the middle of the road, was actually his. He's always assumed it was.

Most right-of-ways are owned by the state or a local municipality, but in some cases the land is privately owned.

"The gray area lies in your land descriptions. As fara s if you own into the middle of the road or if your municipality owns the right-of-way," he said.

Trappers must have permission from the owner before setting any traps.

Bieneck was never asked permission.

"I was able to get this off my foot. Say a child or whatever that may have walked in there, they wouldn't get this off their foot," he said.

He says he wants people to be aware of trapping regulations, and realize there may be traps on the property they've always considered their own.

"They should look out for these things. You could be walking your dog and if your dog runs into the woods where there's one of these traps.....you know what will happen," he said.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Scott Location: Colby on Dec 8, 2008 at 09:46 PM

Raymond, Yes our state does have laws that ALLOW a trapper to place traps in the road right of way so that anyone can walk into them. The only stipulation is that the trap be at least 100 feet from a dwelling. If you would like to verify please go to our State of Wisconsin DNR website and look up the trapping regulations. You will find that no warden or law officer can stop this practice. And if you also look up what a conibear trap is you will fine that it can and will crush a hand or foot it will also kill any small animal that puts it's head/body into the trap in a very short period of time. You might want to also ask for the records from our DNR's trapping violation files under the Freedom of Information Act and you will fine many violations and domestic animal deaths due this roadside trapping. It is also a federal offense for a landowner to molest or remove these traps if that trap is set in the roadside. Yes, these trappers are the scum of trappers but they can legally do this.

Posted by: Marty D Location: New Richmond on Dec 5, 2008 at 11:55 AM

yep

Posted by: Raymond Location: Lisle, New York on Nov 24, 2008 at 01:03 PM

Crushed foot on a grown man? Identify the trap; let's see the doctor's report or the police report or the medical bill. I'm pretty sure that your state has regulations prohibiting traps large enough to crush a foot. The person who set the trap without permission is an outlaw just like any other outlaw. Don't blame the activity, enforce the law.

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