But after pulling the trap loose, she got angry.
The trap didn't have a tag identifying the owner, but she followed the tracks of an all-terrain vehicle to a neighbor's house and confronted him.
“Yes, it's mine,” said Tim Gass.
The conversation that followed was alternately calm and angry, but it ultimately ended with all parties - dog owner, trapper and state game warden - acknowledging they had learned something in how to live on a modern landscape where a Western tradition remains legal.
“Trapping's a hot-button issue in Montana, and the regulations can be confusing,” said Mike Fegely, a warden for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which regulates trapping. “Emotions tend to run high, so it's good when people can step back and get a handle on it.”
American Indians and white settlers have trapped countless beavers, bobcats and other animals for centuries in Montana's backcountry.
Today, few people make a living from trapping, but it is still a popular and legal recreational pastime that provides pelts, meat and time in nature for thousands of people.
Despite the decline in trapping, controversy has arisen in recent years as more people live, recreate and walk their dogs in areas that were once considered remote.
Montana FWP does not track the number of non-targeted animals that are caught in traps and snares, but a growing number of them are domestic dogs, according to Footloose Montana, a Missoula-based nonprofit group that opposes trapping on public land.
Monroe and Gass live in a rural area near West Fork Petty Creek Road, where the mountains are good for both dog-walking and trapping.
Monroe often walks her dogs off-leash on an unplowed U.S. Forest Service road bordered by private land owned by Plum Creek Timber Co.
She said neighbors frequently use the road for jogging, cross-country skiing and other recreation.
Gass said he has set small conibear traps for rabbits for years in the same area without problems.
About two weeks ago, one of Monroe's dogs, Griz, a St. Bernard mix, stepped on one of the traps a short distance from the road. The trap didn't cause serious damage.
Monroe said she was furious when she pounded on Gass' door a short time later.
“My adrenaline was up,” she said, “but he was apologetic and incredibly nice.”
Gass said Monroe screamed at him, asking how he would feel if she beat his 8-year-old son and animals and ignoring his offer to pay for her dog's veterinary bills.
“I did everything I could, but she just was very nasty,” he said.
Monroe reported the incident to the FWP's Fegely, who had never encountered a rabbit trapper, so he had to double-check the state's regulations.
Fegely praised Gass' professionalism, but he ended up issuing him a written warning because the traps did not have the required identification tag.
Otherwise, the traps were legally set because rabbits are a non-game species that can be hunted and trapped at any time, small conibear traps do not need to be enclosed, and the traps can be within 30 feet of the center line of private roads.
Gass, who said he didn't realize non-game traps needed an identification tag, removed his traps and said he may not resume trapping to avoid a repeat situation with neighbors.
But he remains upset at Monroe's anti-trapping attitude.
“I'm an animal lover, too, so I don't understand people who hate trappers,” he said.
Monroe, who opposes trapping, said she regretted her initial anger, but that she thinks the incident ended constructively for everyone.
“We all learned something,” she said. “They have the right to trap and I have the right to walk my dogs off-leash. But I had a false sense of safety keeping them close to the road. Now I know better.”
Reporter John Cramer can be reached at 523-5259 or at johncramer@missoulian.com.
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