THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
A Fort Smith woman who was caught by a wolf snare while snowmobiling on New Year's Day says she believes the trap was intentionally placed across the well-travelled trail.

This snare caught Fort Smith resident Sheri Beamish Vogt around her stomach during a snowmobile ride on New Year's Day. She says it appeared the snare had been intentionally set across the trail. - photo courtesy of Sheri Beamish Vogt Fort Smith resident Sheri Beamish Vogt has bruising where a snare caught her around the stomach during a New Years Day snowmobile ride. - Photo courtesy of Sheri Beamish Vogt

Sheri Beamish Vogt was on a New Year's Day snowmobile ride with her family when she and her husband passed under some tree branches along a trail.

Vogt said her husband slowed down to lift willow branches out of their way. A wire that had been strung between two trees across the trail fell behind him and caught Vogt around the stomach.

"I was trapped between the wire and the backrest and the Ski-Doo was still going, he had no idea," she said.

"So it trapped me and eventually threw me off the Ski-Doo backwards."

There were no markers to indicate the trap was there, Vogt said.

"There was no yellow ribbon in the trees, nothing," she said. "There is no way anybody could have seen that."

She said she's still horrified at what could have happened if the snare had caught her around her neck.

"Had we been going fast or it caught me around the neck it could have been very scary, very, very serious," she said.

Vogt and her family, including her five-year-old daughter, had been at their cabin outside of Fort Smith over the Christmas holidays before heading out on the snowmobile ride.

"We had spent four days out there," she said. "New Year's Day was obviously beautiful so we thought we'd go for a Ski-Doo ride."

Vogt and her husband were on a snowmobile together while their daughter drove her own snowmobile behind them. A friend with a four-year-old daughter travelled on another snowmobile.

The group turned onto a trail that leads back onto Thebacha Road, a trail Vogt said her family has used frequently over the years.

"From our road we crossed a second road and there is a prairie there. It's an area where we quaded, Ski-Doo'ed many a time," she said.

"We've been down there before."

About two minutes later, Vogt and her husband hit the trap.

The trail is well-used by others in the community and is near an area where many families have cabins, she added.

"There are probably 20 cabins out there," she said. "It's not somebody's personal trapline that I came across."

The group took the trap down and returned to Fort Smith where Vogt gave it to Environment and Natural Resources staff.

She also filed a complaint with RCMP.

RCMP couldn't confirm if they were looking into whether the trap had been intentionally set across the trail but said they were investigating the incident.

Vogt said it's the first time she's ever encountered an unmarked trap in the area.

"We have a cabin out there," she said. "We've been camping out there for probably 13 years."

Vogt said she hopes her experience will highlight the importance of marking traps.

"Just be very careful when you're Ski-Doo'ing around that area," she said.

"Hopefully they start marking their snares or whatever they are."

In an e-mail to News/North, Judy McLinton, manager of public affairs and communications with ENR, stated department staff would speak with the Salt River First Nation about the incident.

"The recent incident with the wolf snare occurred on Salt River First Nations (SRFN) private lands. ENR will be talking to the SRFN to suggest its members post signs cautioning people about snares being set in the area."

An interview request with the SRFN was not returned by press time.

In the meantime, Vogt said she's grateful it wasn't her daughter who encountered the trap first.

"It was very scary," she said. "I can't even imagine."

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