Fur Harvester Rules

• Trappers are legally required to check restraining-type traps and non-lethal cable restraints at least once each day in Zones 2 and 3 and at least once within each 48-hour period in Zone 1. It is highly recommended that trappers in Zone 1 check restraining-type traps and snares daily.
• Trappers may use game animals and game birds or their parts, lawfully taken and possessed as bait, only during the open season for those animals or birds. See "Bait" below.
• Centerfire or rimfire rifles may be used Dec. 1-Nov. 9 in the Shotgun Zone during the open season for all species except no rifles may be used for deer, turkeys and migratory game birds. See Nighttime Raccoon and Predator Hunting restrictions.

It is illegal to:

• Use any kind of a trap other than a foothold, body-gripping or conibear-type trap unless specifically otherwise provided.
• Use a foothold trap with a jaw spread exceeding a number 2 foothold trap when taking mink or muskrat.
• Use snares or live traps. Exceptions: See Beaver and Otter Trapping Regulations, Winter Fox and Coyote Non-Lethal Cable Restraints and Live Traps (below).
• Use a trap with teeth or serrations.
• Use or have in possession or transport in an area frequented by wild animals a catching device of any kind without permanent etching or a metal tag bearing the user's name and address or Michigan driver license number. Exception: See Beaver and Otter Trapping Regulations.
• Set a steel trap within 50 feet of any water in Zone 1 before Oct. 25, before Nov. 1 in Zone 2 or before Nov. 10 in Zone 3, unless a duffer-type, egg-type or similarly designed foothold trap for raccoon is used, or a body-gripping or conibear trap that is placed four feet or more above the ground. See hunting and trapping zone descriptions and map.
• Molest or disturb or set a trap in the internal compartment of any structure such as a lodge, hut, push-up, house, hole, nest, burrow or den of a badger, beaver, mink, muskrat or raccoon, whether occupied or not, or molest or destroy a beaver dam, except under a DNR Wildlife Damage Investigation and Control Permit.
• Set a trap on a beaver dam or lodge unless the trap is submerged below the water.
• Transport or possess live game taken from the wild, except under a rehabilitation permit or as specified in a DNR Wildlife Damage and Nuisance Control Permit.
• Stake, put out or set a catching device at any time before the day the open season begins.
• Use a multiple catch or colony trap except for taking muskrats, provided the trap is completely submerged. Colony traps must be constructed of steel and be no larger than eight inches high, eight inches wide and 36 inches deep. (Nuisance control operators MAY use colony traps for muskrats and other species.)
• Bring a live raccoon or skunk into Michigan.
• Shoot a muskrat, beaver, otter, mink, fisher or marten, except under DNR permit. Coyote, fox, raccoon, bobcat and badger may be killed in traps by furtakers using .22 caliber or smaller rimfire firearms, except for junior fur harvesters with trap-only licenses.
• Use a .22 caliber or smaller rimfire firearm to dispatch coyote, fox, raccoon, bobcat and badger from Nov. 15 - Nov. 30 in the Shotgun Zone unless the firearm is loaded at the point of kill only.
• Trap any species within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Live Traps

As a substitute for foothold traps, trappers may use live traps capable of taking only one animal at a time within 450 feet of an occupied dwelling and associated buildings during the legal time for trapping the target animal. Live traps must be checked daily. Any animal captured in a live trap must be immediately killed or released; it is illegal to take these game animals or protected animals live from the wild. It also is illegal to hold these animals in captivity.

Bait

Trappers may use game animals and game birds or their parts, lawfully taken and possessed as bait, only during the open season for those animals or birds. Other game, protected animals, birds or deer parts from taxidermy operations may not be used as bait. Your bait should be placed where it is not visible by hawks, owls and eagles.