Pennsylvania Code › Title 58 - RECREATION › Part III - GAME COMMISSION › Chapter 141 - HUNTING AND TRAPPING › Subchapter D - FURBEARERS › Section 141.62 - Beaver and otter trapping

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a)
General.
There shall be one durable identification tag
				  attached to each trap or snare by means of an extension wire of sufficient
				  length so that the name tag is completely above the water or ice level and
				  totally visible for inspection purposes. The name tag shall visibly set forth
				  the owner's first and last name and legal home address, or a number issued by
				  the Commission.
(b)
Unlawful acts.
It is unlawful to:
(1) Place, or make use of, materials or
				  products except raw native wood or stone to direct the travel of beaver or
				  otter. Man-made materials may be used only to support traps or
				  snares.
(2) Place, check, reset or
				  tend a trap or snare on an established beaver dam or beaver house, or within 15
				  feet of either a dam or a house. Measurement shall be from directly above the
				  trap or snare, across the water, ice or land to the nearest point of the
				  structure.
(3) Set body-gripping
				  traps larger than 10 inches in height by 12 inches in width.
(4) Set, tend or operate any number of traps
				  or snares for beaver trapping in excess of the limits established by this
				  paragraph.
(i) Beaver trappers are generally
				  limited to a combined Statewide total of 20 traps or snares, no more than 10 of
				  which may be traps. No more than 2 of the 10 traps may be body-gripping traps,
				  except:
(A) In Wildlife Management Units where
				  beaver bag limits are 40 per season, all 10 traps may be body-gripping
				  traps.
(B) In Wildlife Management
				  Units where beaver bag limits are 60 per season, all 20 traps or snares may be
				  body-gripping traps.
(ii)
				  Beaver trappers are limited to using no more than five traps or snares, no more
				  than two of which may be body-gripping traps, in any Wildlife Management Unit
				  with an open otter trapping season. This limitation is inclusive of any otter
				  traps or snares set under paragraph (7). This limitation is applicable during
				  periods when the open beaver trapping season overlaps by calendar date with the
				  open otter trapping season.
(5) Check, set, reset or otherwise maintain a
				  beaver or otter trap or snare, or remove a beaver or otter from a trap or
				  snare, unless the person is identified by the attached name tag as the owner.
				  This paragraph does not prohibit the lending of assistance when the person
				  whose name appears on the trap tag is present.
(6) Equip snares with a spring-activating
				  mechanism or any device designed to aid the closing of the snare
				  loop.
(7) Set, tend or operate any
				  number of traps or snares for otter trapping in excess of the limits
				  established by this paragraph. Otter trappers are limited to a combined
				  Statewide total of five traps or snares, no more than two of which may be
				  body-gripping traps. This limitation is inclusive of any beaver traps or snares
				  set under paragraph (4)(ii).