Michigan Regulations

Michigan Furbearer Regulations

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Kill Tags
A person who intends to harvest bobcat, otter, fisher or marten must request and shall be issued free kill tags for these species. These tags are available Sept. 15 through the last day of the hunting and trapping season for that furbearer. Kill tags will be available from license agents or by contacting any DNR Operations Service Center . A person who kills a bobcat, otter, fisher or marten shall immediately validate the tag and attach the tag to the hide from the upper jaw to the eye socket or through the lower jaw. Persons under eight years of age may not obtain a kill tag for bobcat, otter, fisher or marten.
Because of the change in stock for the new license year beginning March 1, 2009, otter tags for 2008-2009 will be available from license dealers only from Sept. 15, 2008 to Mar. 1, 2009. After March 1, individuals who have not obtained '08-'09 otter kill tags should contact a DNR Operations Service Center to request tags.

Fur Harvester Rules

Trappers are legally required to check restraining type traps and snares designed to hold animals alive 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 these animals or birds.

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 Snaring, 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 October 25, before November 1 in Zone 2 or before November 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 4 feet or more above the ground. See zone descriptions & map.
Molest or disturb the 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 Wildlife Damage Investigation and Control Permit.
Stake, put out or set a catching device at any time before the day on which 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.

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 to nontarget species such as owls, hawks and eagles.