Furbearer Regulations

A trapping license is required to trap any furbearer including bobcat, fox, otter, mink, beaver and muskrat. Trapping licenses/fees are listed on Licenses, Tags & Stamp Fees. See Areas Closed To Hunting & Trapping for a complete list of areas closed to trapping.

Note: A person who holds a valid trapping license issued by the Department is not required to obtain a hunting license to hunt coyotes, badgers, skunks, raccoons, weasels, ring-tailed cats or fur-bearing mammals during the open season to hunt those mammals. Any person of any age who sells raw furs of any kind, whether taken by trap or by firearm, is required to purchase a trapping license.

“Trapping,” “Trapped” and “To Trap” Defined

The words “to trap” and their derivatives, “trapping” and “trapped,” mean to set or operate any device, mechanism or contraption that is designed, built or made to close upon or hold fast any animal and every act of assistance to any person in so doing.

(Refer to NRS 501.090)

Trapping License Required; Unlawful to Remove or Disturb Trap of Licensee

A trapping license is needed for any person attempting to take a furbearing mammal by use of trap, snare, or similar device, or intends to sell raw furs for profit.

It is unlawful for anyone to disturb a trapping device set legally in the filed unless the device used creates an immediate risk to any person or to release any person or animal accompanying a person from the device. (NRS 503.454)

Manner of Hunting Furbearing Mammals

It is unlawful for any person at any time to hunt any furbearing mammal in any manner other than by trap, gun or bow and arrow. You can take furbearers by gun/bow with only a hunting license, but you will need a trapping license to sell pelts.

(Refer to NRS 503.450)

Steel Leghold Traps: Definitions

1. “Bait” means the flesh, fur, hide, viscera or feathers of any animal.
2. “Exposed bait” means bait, any portion of which is visible from any angle.
3. “Trap” means any device designed, built or made to close upon, contain, confine, or hold fast any wild mammal or wild bird.

(Refer to NAC 503.153)

Steel Leghold Traps: Spacers

All steel leg hold traps of size number 2 or larger or with an outside jaw spread of 5½ inches or larger used in the taking of any wildlife must have lugs, spacers or similar devices permanently attached so as to maintain a minimum trap opening of three-sixteenths (3/16") of an inch along the entire surface of the outside jaw that is used to catch wildlife.

(Refer to NAC 503.155)

Steel Leghold Traps: Use of Bait

1. It is unlawful for a person to:
   1. Place, set or maintain a snare, body gripping trap or steel leghold trap within 30 feet of exposed bait;
   2. Capture a mammal or raptor with a snare, body gripping trap or steel leghold trap that is placed, set or maintained within 30 feet of exposed bait; or
   3. Use, for any method of trapping, any part of a big game mammal, game bird, game fish, game amphibian or protected species of wildlife for bait.
2. A person using bait is responsible if it becomes exposed for any reason.
3. As used in this section, raptor means any species of the order Falconiformes or Strigiformes that are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of July 3, 1918, as amended, 16 U.S.C §§ 703 et seq.

(Refer to NAC 503.157)

Hunting with a Dog

It is unlawful to hunt, chase or pursue any fur-bearing mammal with a dog except during the open season and under the authority of a valid trapping or hunting license.

Department May Obtain Data From Trappers

If a trapper obtains a trapping license and the Department requests a questionnaire or form to be filled out and returned, whether the trapper trapped or not, the trapper shall complete and return the questionnaire or form by May 31.

Failure to return the questionnaire or form within that period or submit false information the Commission can suspend the trappers trapping license for a period of 1 year. The trapping license suspension can be reversed if you complete the questionnaire and pay a $50 fee.

(Refer to NAC 503.160)

Bobcats: Miscellaneous Requirements; Prohibited Acts; Fee for Seal

1. Bobcat trapping is closed to nonresidents.
2. Any bobcat killed must be personally presented by the person who harvested the bobcat to the Department for inspection and shall have the bobcat seal affixed to the pelt within 10 days after the close of the season.
3. The lower jaw must be saved and given to a representative of the department when pelts are brought in.
4. The person must complete a bobcat harvest report form in accordance with the Departments instruction.
5. A bobcat pelt cannot be sold, bartered, traded, purchased, transfer ownership, tanned, shipped out of state or be transported from the state without a seal affixed on the pelt.
6. During the bobcat season, the entire unskinned carcass or a pelt that has not been stretched, dried or cured can be taken from this State, without the seal being affixed to the pelt, for the purpose of returning to the person’s residence within the State by the most expedient route.
7. A person shall not possess a bobcat pelt 10 days or more after the close of the season without a Department seal affixed to the pelt.
8. Each seal costs $5.
9. Only Nevada harvested bobcats may be presented for sealing.

(Refer to NAC 502.347)

Trapping Within 200 Feet of Public Road or Highway

1. For the purposes of this section, “public road or highway” means:
   1. A highway designated as a United States highway.
   2. A highway designated as a state highway pursuant to the provisions of NRS 408.285.
   3. A main or general county road as defined by NRS 403.170.
2. It is unlawful for any person, company or corporation to place or set any trap, snare or similar device used for the purpose of trapping mammals within 200 feet of any public road or highway within this State.
3. This section does not:
   1. Prevent the placing or setting of any trap, snare or similar device inside, along or near a fence which may be situated less than 200 feet from any public road or highway upon privately owned lands.
   2. Apply to placing or setting a trap, snare or similar device by an employee or agent of the Department.

(Refer to NRS 503.580)

Note: Certain areas are closed to trapping. Please see Areas Closed To Hunting & Trapping for more information.

Trapping in a Congested Area (in part)

1. Trapping is prohibited, other than with a box, suitcase, or cage trap, within ½ mile of a residence in a congested area of Washoe and Clark counties.
2. Congested area is an area of a county in which discharge of firearms is prohibited; or the area within the boundaries of an incorporated city in the county.
3. This regulation does not pertain to a person trapping on private property or a person trapping in a waterway that is not within an incorporated city. A “waterway” is any river, stream, canal or channel that contains water, including the banks and bed of any such river, stream, canal or channel.

(Refer to NAC 503.165)

Bears or Mountain Lions

If a bear or mountain lion is trapped or accidentally killed, within 48 hours of trapping or killing it, the person shall report the trapping or killing to a representative of the Department. (Refer to NAC 502.373 and Refer to NAC 502.370)

Trap Registration

Each trap, snare, or similar device used to take wild mammals must either be stamped with the trapper’s name and address or registered with the Department. Each registered trap snare or similar device must bear a number which is assigned by the Department and is clearly stamped on the trap, snare, or similar device or on a metal tag that is attached to the trap, snare, or similar device. There is a $5 fee for each trap, snare, or similar device registered with the Department. If a trap, snare, or similar device is not registered with the Department, it must have the name and address of the person who owns the trap, snare, or similar device clearly stamped on the trap, snare, or similar device, or on a metal tag that is attached to the trap, snare, or similar device. These registration provisions do not apply to a trap, snare, or similar device used exclusively on private property which is posted or fenced in accordance with NRS 207.200.

(Refer to NRS 503.452 and NAC 503.150)