A legislative bill that would have allowed the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to establish setbacks for traps on high-use trails failed to pass during the 2025 legislative session. The bill, SF0139, passed the senate in early February with a vote of 16-11 but was not introduced on the house floor.

Calling the lack of a floor introduction “very discouraging,” Rep. McKay Erickson (R-Lincoln) told SVI Media, “I was really optimistic that it was going to see the light of day.”

Rep. Erickson, who co-sponsored SF0139 with Sen. Dan Dockstader (R-Lincoln/Teton), added: “This bill needs to be addressed. It’s something that trappers are not going to be opposed to when they really read the bill, and they see it’s a good public image for them because it deals with just around the areas of high use. I don’t know a single trapper — and I know quite a few — that don’t want an image of a dog getting caught in a trap near a heavy-use trail.

“They don’t want that. I think they would be reasonable to trust our professionals in Game and Fish to write some rules about where you can and cannot set traps.”

The “incident” to which Rep. Erickson was referring happened Feb. 8, 2024, up Swift Creek Canyon Road. Star Valley woman Becky Barber was walking with her English Bull Terriers, Jester and Kaia, when both went just over the bank. Kaia returned. Jester did not. Calling to her dog, Barber walked over the bank and found her beloved pet snared in an illegal Conibear #330 trap.

As the trap is meant to euthanize an animal immediately, Jester did not survive.

Soon, a grassroots group called Jester’s Legacy sprang up to seek “reasonable asks” for changes in trapper education and “setback” regulations. The group has emphasized they are not anti-trapping and not affiliated with any anti-trapping organizations.

Thus, for the 2025 legislative session, SF0140 and SF0139 were introduced in senate committees. The former, dealing with trapper education, did not pass committee, but SF0139 passed the senate after a third reading and some amendments.

Sen. Dockstader said he was “disappointed” the bill did not reach the house floor, including disappointment for those personally involved — especially Barber. And he sees a need for such legislative action with increased use of public lands from both residents and tourists.

“We have the next generation out there using the outdoors more than ever before, and if we don’t do something to educate them, we’re probably going to have another incident.”

In the meantime, he hopes Game and Fish will step up efforts in community education.

For Barber, the fact SF0139 did not even make it to the house floor for a vote was “extremely wrong” and should have had a chance for a vote. “We always knew it would be a possibility [of not getting passed] but with all the years for it to go through, this one was the better hope because you didn’t need the two-thirds vote,” Barber related.

Barber was referring to the fact the 2025 session was not a budget session, where bills must pass with a two-thirds vote. The 2026 session will be a budget session, whereas the 2027 will not. Rep. Erickson expressed the hope that SF0139 can be again presented during the 2027 session.

Speaking with SVI Media, Barber spoke of some misinformation that was put out prior to the legislative session, including the message that the bill allowed for setbacks on all roads and trails — which Barber adamantly denies.

She said that’s “not possible and not feasible. At any meeting, I have always clarified, numbered roads and numbered trails.”

Some, she added, even misunderstand that the bill itself would establish the setbacks. Barber clarified that the bill simply enables the Game and Fish Department to establish setbacks.

“I was devastated,” she continued, at the lack of the bill going to the house floor, “but I put my big girl pants back on and said, ‘Let’s move forward.’”

Barker explained that the folks with Jester’s Legacy are hoping to get the TRW (Travel, Recreation and Wildlife committee) to back SF0139 in the near future. “These committees take certain bills that they will take that they will hopefully introduce and get passed into law.”

The sooner the better, she surmised. “The first week of January, there were actually two dogs trapped by leg traps on the other side of the state. They’re a smaller trap. The one, [the owner] could not release the trap. These incidents are happening. There’s a lot we don’t hear out there.”

A year after Jester’s death, Barber still takes her dogs, now including Kaia and Monster, out for long walks — but never up Swift Creek. “The trauma was too real. It’s just too raw.”

As to hope, Barber said she hopes the efforts of Jester’s Legacy and the efforts of Rep. Erickson and Sen. Dockstader help others be aware that there are traps year-round — not just during the winter. And she hopes their efforts helps a trapper be more aware where they place their traps.

Barber also has another thing to say. They’re not going away. “We’re here to stay and see this through. This was my promise to Jester, and I try my best to be a person of my word.”

Full disclosure: Sen. Dockstader is the brother of the reporter for this article.