Arizona Trapping Regulations: Licenses, Legal Traps, and Penalties

To trap legally in Arizona, you need a trapping license from the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), you can only take predatory and fur-bearing mammals during the November through February season, and you must use approved devices, check every trap daily, respect setback distances from trails and roads, and file a harvest report by April 1. Arizona trapping regulations cover licensing, trapper education, device specifications, location limits, reporting, and penalties, and the rules apply whether you trap for fur, for predator control, or on your own land.

Who Needs a License and How to Get One

Anyone 10 or older who sets a trap for predatory or fur-bearing animals needs a trapping license. Children under 10 do not buy a license but must apply for and carry a registration number from AZGFD.¹ Fees are $30 for residents, $275 for non-residents, and $10 for youth under 18.²

Before the license is issued, you have to complete a trapper education course run or approved by AZGFD and pass a written exam. The curriculum covers trapping law, ethical practice, releasing non-target animals, wildlife management, and handling your catch. Two groups are exempt: anyone born before January 1, 1967, and anyone who completed the voluntary trapper education program between late 1987 and March 1993.³

Every trap you set must carry a metal tag with either your name and address or your AZGFD-issued registration number. No other numbering system is accepted. Carry your license in the field; wildlife officers can ask to see it at any time.¹

Season and Species You Can Take

The general trapping season runs November through February. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission sets the exact dates each year based on population data, and the window is designed to avoid most species’ spring and summer reproductive periods.⁴

A trapping license authorizes predatory and fur-bearing mammals: coyote, bobcat, gray and kit foxes, ringtail, badger, beaver, raccoon, skunks, weasels, and muskrat. Beaver may be subject to additional seasonal restrictions or permit requirements in some regions to protect wetland habitat, and AZGFD can impose temporary closures during drought or other environmental emergencies.

Legal Trap Types and How They Must Be Set

Arizona allows foothold traps, body-gripping (instant-kill) traps, and cage traps, with mechanical specifications for each.

Foothold Traps

For land sets, foothold traps must be commercially manufactured and either padded or rubber-jawed, or unpadded with jaws permanently offset by at least 3/16 of an inch. Unpadded offset traps must also include a pan tension adjustment, which keeps lighter non-target animals from triggering them.¹

Body-Gripping Traps

Body-gripping traps are size-restricted by location. Land sets are capped at 5 inches of open jaw spread; water sets at 10 inches. The larger sizes used for beaver can only go in water.¹

Snares

Snares are generally prohibited unless they meet narrow conditions in the regulations. If you intend to use one, read the current AZGFD rules closely, because the authorization is tied to specific trap specifications.¹

Bait Rules

You can bait, with limits. A confinement trap cannot be baited with a live animal, with edible parts of game animals or game fish, or with any part of a game bird or non-game bird. A foothold trap cannot be set within 30 feet of any bait visible from above, a rule aimed at keeping raptors and other birds of prey away from exposed attractants.

Daily Inspection

Every trap must be inspected daily. This is one of the most heavily enforced requirements and one of the easiest for an officer to prove. If you cannot check your traps every day, pull them.¹

Where You Cannot Set Traps

Trapping is prohibited in national parks, state parks, and designated wildlife refuges. Violating these restrictions can lead to equipment confiscation and removal from the area.

On other public lands, Arizona uses setback distances rather than a general ban. No trap can sit within 50 feet of any trail maintained for public use by a government agency, or within 75 feet of any other road. These setbacks are measured in feet, not the quarter-mile distances some other states use, so the margin is tighter than many trappers expect. Check with the land management agency for the area you plan to trap (Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and so on) for any additional closures.

Trapping in cities and suburbs is generally prohibited unless a municipal ordinance or special permit authorizes it. Phoenix and Tucson typically allow it only for licensed wildlife control operators handling nuisance animals. Private landowners may trap on their own property, but they still have to follow the setback rules and device restrictions, and no trap may encroach on neighboring land.

Non-Target and Protected Species

If you catch something you cannot lawfully take, including domestic animals, livestock, or any wildlife not covered by your license, you have to release it without causing further injury. The daily inspection rule exists in part to make that possible.

Catching a federally protected species such as a Mexican gray wolf or jaguar is a different situation. Report it to AZGFD immediately. Failing to report can expose you to penalties under state law and the federal Endangered Species Act, which carries fines up to $50,000 and up to one year of imprisonment for knowing violations.⁵

Annual Harvest Report

Every licensed trapper has to file an annual harvest report with AZGFD by April 1. The report lists species and quantities taken during the November through February season, the wildlife management units where you took them, and the names and addresses of anyone you shipped or sold pelts to. Missing the deadline can bring fines or suspension of your trapping privileges.¹

File even if you caught nothing. Arizona uses zero-harvest reports to calibrate population models, and skipping the filing after a slow season is one of the most common ways trappers lose eligibility.

Selling and Shipping Pelts

Bobcats are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Any bobcat pelt you intend to export has to carry a CITES tag inserted through the skin and permanently locked in place before export, issued through the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Commercial trade also requires a separate import/export license from the Office of Law Enforcement.⁶

When you ship pelts across state lines, federal rules require each container to be marked on the outside with the shipper’s and consignee’s name and address and an accurate list of contents by species and count. You can also mark the outside with “wildlife” or the common species name and attach an invoice or packing list with the required details.⁷

Income from selling pelts is taxable, whether paid in cash at auction or through a payment app. A third-party settlement platform like PayPal or Venmo must issue you a Form 1099-K once total payments exceed $20,000 across more than 200 transactions, and direct card payments generate a 1099-K regardless of amount. All fur-sale income is reportable on your tax return even if no form is issued.⁸

Penalties

Most trapping violations in Arizona are Class 2 misdemeanors, carrying up to four months in jail and a fine up to $750. That covers common offenses like using a prohibited device, trapping without a license, or failing to inspect traps daily.⁹¹⁰ Knowingly taking big game during a closed season or possessing unlawfully taken big game is a Class 1 misdemeanor: up to six months in jail and fines up to $2,500.

Separate from criminal charges, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission can impose civil penalties for unlawfully taking wildlife. For predatory, fur-bearing, or nongame animals, the minimum civil penalty is $250 per animal. For endangered species, the minimum is $8,000 per animal. The minimums can be doubled for a second violation and tripled for a third, and the civil action can run alongside a criminal case.¹¹

Arizona also participates in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, so a serious violation here can suspend your hunting and trapping privileges in every other member state. The compact covers most of the western United States and a growing list of states beyond it, which means a single Arizona violation can follow you well past the state line.

1
Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Arizona Admin Code R12-4-307 – Trapping Regulations, Licensing; Methods; Tagging of Bobcat Pelts
2
Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Arizona Admin Code R12-4-102 – License, Permit, Stamp, and Tag Fees
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 17-333.02 – Trapping License; Education; Exemption
4
Arizona Game & Fish Department. Trapping License
5
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Section 11 – Penalties and Enforcement
6
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 3-200-26: Commercial Export of Skins of 6 Native Species
7
eCFR. Part 14 – Importation, Exportation, and Transportation of Wildlife
8
Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your Form 1099-K
9
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 17-309 – Violations; Classification
10
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-707 – Misdemeanors; Sentencing
11
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 17-314 – Illegally Taking, Wounding, Killing or Possessing Wildlife; Civil Penalty; Enforcement