Trapping Licenses for Residents and Nonresidents Available April 15

HELENA – Beginning April 15, nonresident and resident trapping licenses will be available to purchase at a Fish, Wildlife & Parks office, a License Ambassador location or online at ols.fwp.mt.gov.

Trapping licenses are sold separately from other licenses, such as base hunting licenses and conservation licenses. If you’ve already purchased a base hunting license, it does not include a trapping license. 

Bobcats are the only furbearer that may be hunted in Montana. Those who purchase a resident trapping license do not need to purchase a bobcat hunting license. However, those who plan only on hunting bobcats need to purchase a bobcat hunting license.

In addition to a trapping license, a free supplemental trapping permit is required for trappers targeting nongame wildlife (raccoon, badger, red fox) and predatory animals (coyotes, skunks, weasels) within the geographic area identified on page 14 of the Wolf, Furbearer, Trapping Regulations.

To purchase a Montana resident trapping license, residents must complete a Montana trapper education course or have purchased a trapping license in at least three prior years (in Montana or another state). Residents must be at least 12 years old to purchase a trapping license. Youth 6 to 11 years old, must purchase a youth trapping license and are exempt from the requirement to take trapper education and are limited to trapping muskrats and mink.

The course consists of an online component, an in-person field day and a written test. This general trapper education course also satisfies the Montana wolf trapper education requirement.

Nonresidents pursuing furbearers need to do all of the following:

• Provide a notarized affidavit on a form approved by the department listing the person's legal residence, including the state;

• Provide documentation that the person's resident state issues nonresident trapping licenses that allow Montana residents to trap the same species for which the person seeks to trap in Montana; or

• Attest on the affidavit that the person's resident state does not offer reciprocity for trapping the furbearing species the person seeks to trap in Montana because the species does not exist in the resident state.

Nonresidents pursuing only predatory animals and nongame wildlife only need a nonresident trapping license.

To learn more about trapping, or to register for a trapper education course, go to fwp.mt.gov/hunt/trapping.