JEREMIAH WOOD
MAGNETIC FIELDS CAN ANIMALS SENSE YOUR SETS? Science tells us that many animals can detect magnetic fields, which are emitted by the steel that makes up our traps. Have you ever had that strange feeling that an animal knew a little more than it should have while avoiding your set? How did it know the trap was there? Why did that beaver swim around the 330 bodygrip? Why did the coyote dig up that foothold trap, even though you were ultra careful about scent control and proper bedding? There’s one key factor that almost no trappers have given any thought to, and it might just provide an answer to that nagging question of set avoidance: magnetic fields. Georgia trapper Kirk DeKalb has caught more than 16,000 beavers in his career and helped design and develop a number of trapping inventions and devices, including numerous types of cage traps. Over 23 years of professional trapping, after piles of catches, careful observation and numerous experiments, Kirk began to develop a theory that animals are sensing the magnetic field of certain types of traps, and it’s impacting their willingness to work a set. It all comes down to these things called cryptochromes. Cryptochromes are a class of flavoproteins found in plants and animals that, among other things, allow certain animals to sense magnetic fields. They are what enables birds to 56
