KS Hunting Regulations E 21_081921 PRODUCTION.qxp_Hunting Regs 8/19/21 5:29 PM Page 44
FURBEARERS AND COYOTES GENERAL REGULATIONS FURBEARER DEFINED
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
Species legally taken as furbearing animals in Kansas are badger, bobcat, beaver, gray fox, red fox, swift fox, mink, muskrat, opossum, otter, raccoon, striped skunk, and weasel.
Furbearers may be taken at night, but use of artificial light, including optics that project or amplify light, is prohibited (unless hunting coyotes, see “Special Equipment” for restrictions). However, hand-held, batterypowered flashlights, hat lamps, or hand-held lanterns may be used with .17 and .22 rimfire rifles and handguns to take trapped furbearers, trapped coyotes, or furbearers treed by dogs.
FURHARVESTER EDUCATION CERTIFICATION Persons born on or after July 1, 1966, must successfully complete a furharvester education course approved by KDWP to purchase a furharvester license or to hunt, run, or trap furbearers or trap coyotes on lands other than their own. Course information: (620) 672-5911 or ksoutdoors.com.
FURHARVESTER LICENSE A furharvester license is required to hunt, trap, or pursue (run) furbearing animals, or to sell their pelts. A furharvester license is required to trap coyotes, and a hunting license is required to hunt them. The same license required to take coyotes is required to sell their pelts. Unlicensed, non-participating observers may accompany a licensed furharvester but may not carry or use equipment, control dogs, or otherwise assist with furharvesting activities. Residents 15 and younger may purchase a junior furharvester license at a reduced price. Youth 13 and younger accompanied by a licensed furharvester are exempt.
FURHARVESTER LICENSE EXEMPTIONS The following persons are not required to have a furharvester license: • owners of land or tenants of land leased or rented for agricultural purposes, and immediate family members living with them, while furharvesting on this land; • residents 13 and younger accompanied by a licensed furharvester; • legally-defined Native American Kansas residents (must apply for free license); • nonresidents using field trial permits issued by KDWP. This applies to furharvesting only; a furharvester license is required of these exempt individuals when selling furbearers or their pelts.
LEGAL EQUIPMENT Furbearer and Coyote Hunting – firearms (except fully automatic) and archery equipment. Furbearer and Coyote Trapping – smooth-jawed foothold traps (except that all types of foot-hold traps may be used in water sets), body-gripping traps, box traps, cage traps, snares, colony traps, and deadfalls.
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ANIMAL DAMAGE CONTROL Except for spotted skunk, furbearer pelts and carcasses may be kept after damage control activities if control effort is done during trapping season and the person doing it is under the season bag limit and has a furharvester license (if required), or the person doing damage control outside established seasons has a wildlife control permit issued by KDWP.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
HABITAT PROTECTED
Calls, lures, baits, and decoys may be used to take furbearers and coyotes. Artificial light, scopes and equipment that amplify visible light, and thermal imaging scopes and thermal imaging equipment may be used to hunt coyotes from Jan. 1 thru March 31 (use of this equipment is not permitted on department lands and waters, including WIHA, and may not be used in conjunction with the use of a vehicle); Night Vision Equipment Permit required.
It is unlawful to destroy any muskrat house, beaver dam, mink run, or any hole, den, or runway of any furbearer, or to cut down or destroy any tree that is the home or refuge of any furbearer. However, owners and legal occupants of land may cut down trees or kill furbearers found in or near buildings, or animals doing damage if non-lethal efforts have failed.
TRAP SIZE RESTRICTIONS
A fur dealer's license is required to buy raw pelts of furbearers or coyotes, and furharvesters may sell raw pelts only to licensed fur dealers. A furharvester’s license is required to sell furbearers, even if taken on one’s own land. Skinned carcasses and meat of furbearers may be sold or given away, and raw furs, pelts, or skins of furbearers may be given away if a written notice including the seller’s or donor’s name, address, and furharvester license number accompanies the carcass, pelt, or meat. A bobcat, otter, or swift fox tag shall meet this requirement. Live, wild-caught furbearers and coyotes may not be sold or purchased in Kansas. Restrictions above apply to Internet sales.
The following may only be used in water sets: body-gripping traps with inside jawspreads 8 inches or greater; and foothold traps with outside jaw-spreads greater than 7 inches. Measurements should be taken across the jaws of both trap types at a 90-degree angle. “Water set” means any trapping device in which the gripping portion is placed at least half-submerged in flowing or impounded waters and remains in contact with the water.
SNARES Snares are prohibited in dryland sets within 50 feet of the outside edge of a public road or within five feet of a fence bordering a public road. Landowners and tenants or their family members or agents may use snares in rights-of-way adjacent to their lands.
TRAP TAGGING & TENDING All traps, including snares and deadfalls, must be tagged with the user's name and address or department-issued KDWP number. They must be tended and inspected at least once every day.
FIELD TRIALS Coyotes, gray foxes, opossums, raccoons, and red foxes (wild or pen-raised) may be used for field trials by permit from KDWP.
PELT TAGGING Bobcats, otters and swift foxes must be presented to KDWP staff for tagging within seven days of seasons’ end. It is recommended tags be kept with mounted specimens.
DISPOSAL
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs) Let science help guide your next trap purchase. Trapping BMPs identify traps that address the welfare of trapped animals, while allowing for the efficient, selective, safe, and practical capture of furbearers. BMPs were developed through field research on actual traplines, and exist for all furbearer species in KS. They were developed by the Furbearer Resources Technical Work Group of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and can be viewed at: furbearermanagement.com.
KDWP wants to learn more about the occurrence of river otters outside the three easternmost tiers of Kansas counties. Think you’ve spotted one? Email rare.species@ks.gov or call (620) 342-0658.
