When I think of fur trappers, I imagine a frontiersman in a coonskin cap paddling his canoe full of beaver pelts down the Hudson River. But when reporter Tom Knudson thinks of trapping, it’s a guy trudging into a forest in Nevada, or some other Western state, to set a steel-jaw trap for a bobcat.

Knudson just published an investigation for Reveal, the publishing arm of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, into these modern-day fur trappers and their methods. The headline sums it up: “America’s trapping boom relies on cruel and grisly tools.”

For the fur trappers, bobcats are the biggest prize. A high-quality bobcat fur coat can retail for up to $150,000. The species isn’t really at risk—the