Bear Trapping Regulations

If you trap for black bear, you are required to follow the same general trapping rules regarding the labeling of traps, the tending of traps, and the need to obtain landowner permission. If you trap a bear, you are required to follow the same transportation and registration rules as those for bear taken by hunting.

You are also required to follow other rules specific to bear trapping, as follows:

• You are not allowed to have more than one trap set for bear at any time.
• All bear traps must be tended at least once a day.
• You are not allowed to catch a bear in a trap and allow another person to kill or register the bear.
• You cannot continue to trap for bear after you have already killed or registered one in a trap.
• Bears caught in traps must be killed or released and not moved away from the catch site.
• A bear caught in a trap may not be used in conjunction with a hunt or to train a dog for bear hunting.
• The same rules apply to hunting and trapping for bear with the use of bait.
• You may not trap within 500 yards of a solid waste disposal site. These areas can be identified by a visible line of demarcation. Exception: an agent of the commissioner is exempt for the purpose of live trapping of nuisance bear.
• A person who has lawfully killed and registered a bear may (without a hide dealer's license) sell: The head, hide, teeth, gallbladder, fat not attached to the meat, and claws (not attached to the paws) of that bear.
  Bear fat (not attached to the meat), and bear gallbladders may only be sold (including for money, barter, or trade) to a licensed hide dealer, and they must be tagged or accompanied with documentation containing the name and address of the person who legally killed the animal.
• You Need a Hide Dealer's License to: Commercially buy, sell, barter, or trade any raw, untanned animal hides or parts of wild animals not prohibited above. Any parts bought or sold may not be attached to wild animal that are prohibited from being sold.