Furbearer/Coyote Regulations

Resident youth:

• Youth Annual Super Hunting License

Resident (unless exempt):

• Resident Annual Hunting License

Nonresident youth:

• Nonresident Youth Annual Super Hunting or 
• Nonresident Youth 5-day Super Hunting License

Nonresident (unless exempt):

• Nonresident Annual Hunting License or
• Nonresident 5-day hunting license

Firearms or Archery

• Daylight only: Any legal firearm or archery equipment.
• Nighttime only: Hunters may possess a .22 caliber rimfire rifle or .22 caliber rimfire pistol and a light carried on the person while in pursuit of furbearers with hounds during the legal, open furbearer season, while possessing a valid hunting license, unless exempt. Hunting, use of any artificial light, thermal or night vision equipment from a public roadway is prohibited.
• Laser sights: Nothing in this section shall prevent a person from possessing a .22 caliber rimfire rifle or pistol with a laser sighting device while hunting or taking furbearers with hounds during legal, open furbearer season, while possessing a valid hunting license.

Traps

• Legal traps: Box traps and colony traps; smooth-jawed single-spring OR smooth-jawed double-spring offset no less than 1/8 inch OR smooth-jawed coil-spring offset no less than 1/8-inch foot-hold steel traps with an outer diameter jaw spread of no more than eight (8) inches for land sets and no more than eight and 1/2 (8.5) inches for water sets; enclosed trigger traps (dog-proof traps); body-gripping traps for fully submerged sets with no more than twelve (12) inches in diameter on private land only. Any trap not listed here is illegal.
• Setting traps: No trap may be set in paths, roads, or runways commonly used for recreational purposes by persons, dogs, or other domestic animals.
• Visiting traps: Traps must be tended once each 24-hour period.
• Identification of traps: All traps shall bear the name, or customer identification number, of the owner of the traps, except for any traps set on property owned or leased by the owner of the traps. All traps on Department managed lands, regardless of species being sought, must have the owner’s name, or customer identification number, attached.
• Posting of traps: When smooth-jawed double-spring offset no less than 1/8 inch or smooth-jawed coil-spring offset no less than 1/8-inch traps are used, the posting of signs shall be required at all entrances from public roads and highways. The requirement to post signs shall not apply if the person is trapping on private property, unless requested by landowner. Signs must have minimum dimensions of five inches by eight inches and the wording “Traps” must be included and be conspicuous on the signs and printed in letters at least two inches tall. Persons trapping on their own property are not subject to this requirement.
• Permission to trap: No person may trap on the inhabited land of another without first obtaining from the owner or occupant thereof a permission to do so.

Seasons on public lands may vary from statewide seasons. Consult public hunting lands special regulations.

For hunter orange requirements, see Big Game Regulations.

No bobcat or river otter pelt may be held in possession after 10 working days after the close of furbearer season by the taker or buyer, sold, purchased or bartered within Oklahoma, nor taken out of Oklahoma, without having first affixed a permanent tag to the pelt. This tag shall serve as an export tag. The tag must be affixed by an authorized employee of the Department or designated private tagging agent. It is the responsibility of the possessor of the bobcat or river otter pelt, not the Department, to ensure that the pelt is legally tagged. No untagged bobcat or river otter harvested in another state may be possessed in Oklahoma. Tags are available from any game warden, wildlife biologist, state fish hatchery, Department field office and specifically designated private tagging station.

Designated private tagging stations may charge a fee of 75 cents per tag. Bobcat or river otter export tags will not be affixed after March 14.

Skinned carcasses or parts of legally acquired furbearing animals and coyotes (excluding the hide/pelt/fur) may be purchased, bartered, traded, sold or offered for sale.

Persons buying fur in Oklahoma must possess a current Fur Dealers License. Rules and regulations for purchasing fur in Oklahoma can be given upon request from the Furbearer Biologist. Persons taking pelts during the season shall have 10 working days after the close of the season to sell or dispose of the pelts or notify the Department in writing of intent to hold pelts after the 10-day deadline. All pelts held after the 10-day deadline must be inventoried on a form provided by an authorized Department employee. All bobcats and river otters must have a permanent tag affixed for the current year, prior to being held for later sale.

It shall be illegal to possess live animals, carcasses or raw furs of ringtail, spotted skunk or swift fox unless it can be proven that each carcass or hide was taken legally outside of Oklahoma. Proof of legality or origin for carcasses or green hides shall be a tag or other marking or device attached to or imprinted on each and every hide in such a way that it cannot be removed intact. The tag or marking must be the official method used by the issuing agency. If an identification is not required by the issuing agency, a hunting license appropriate to the species taken is required as proof.

Landowners or agricultural lessees who kill bobcats, raccoons, gray/red foxes or river otters found destroying livestock or poultry may not remove any part of the fur or unskinned carcass from the premises where taken if killed outside of the furbearer season.

All bobcats and otters are usually tagged with a plastic tag looped under the skin from the eye to the mouth. If you choose to freeze your bobcat or otter whole prior to tagging, it is best to open a 1/2-inch wide slot under the skin from the eye to the gum line with a knife or sharp screwdriver and install some sort of spacer that can be removed later to allow tagging once the bobcat or otter is frozen. Taking these few simple steps will allow the spacer to be removed and the tag attached in the proper location without having to thaw the bobcat or otter. Otherwise, partially thaw the carcass before taking it to be tagged.

Nothing in this regulation prevents the killing of furbearers actually found destroying livestock or poultry. In addition, nothing in this regulation prevents the running or chasing of coyote, bobcat, fox or raccoon with dogs for sport only, except on those public lands where such activity is prohibited. Bobcats and foxes taken with this exemption cannot be removed from the property. Only furbearers taken within season may be sold or removed from property.