I trap beaver for a local farmer here in McHenry County, IL. About two weeks ago, my daughter and I had put a few sets around some slides near a beaver dam. I went back the next morning to check them and nothing yet. The day after that, I had gone back to check my traps and seen that someone had dug out a huge section of the dam and the water had dropped near 4 foot and left my traps exposed.
I went up to the barn yard where I knew the land owner and his farm hands were. I had asked them if they had dug out one of the dams where I had my traps set at. None of them knew nothing about it. He also has duck hunters hunting a small flooded corn field in that same area and they too are out of business. I went back to that area with the land owner and carefully scouted out the scene. After taking a closer look, I realized that who ever had done this damage had not come in by truck and there were foot prints leading to the railroad tracks just yards away from the dam. I told the land owner that since we dont know who did this, I'll place a call to the DNR officer in the area who I know personally through the hunting & trapping safety classes I teach.
Tim came out right away and seen the same things I seen. We both stood at the scene of the crime scratching our heads and left wondering why someone would do this. We got a hold of the duck hunters to see if they pissed off any of their hunting buddies. Both of them stated that nobody except the farmer knew they were hunting that area as the same goes for me and my traps. Tim & I had set up trail cameras at several locations and so far all that we had seen in the photos were deer, coons, and coyotes but no humans.
