overtrap

present singular third person overtraps · participle present overtrapping · participle past overtrapped · past overtrapped

1. To put too many traps in (an area) or among (an animal population), and thus to trap too many (animals, for their population to recover).

   [...] from the Europeans, they began to overtrap the forests in search of pelts to trade. To overtrap is to kill too many animals, causing the animal population to decrease.

   2005, Janet Palazzo-Craig, The Ojibwe of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota, →ISBN, page 33

   2 more examples

   Overtrapping can occur under some situations, but it has been the experience of trappers and marsh-owners generally that it is almost impossible to overtrap a normal muskrat population. It is far better to overtrap an area than to undertrap it. Keep populations of predators, as foxes, raccoons, and minks within reasonable limits. The annual drain on the muskrat by predators may become very serious.

   1950, Circular

   [C]oyotes[,] particularly, will pull out if they happen to spot one of their own kind tangled in the traps. A smart one will vamoose even if it spots a trap sprung or a rabbit in it. That's one reason why you can overtrap a territory, too.

   1952, American Woodsman