Furbearers

• Upland Game Furbearer Seasons and Rules
• Licenses and Tags
• Online Furtaker Harvest Report

Idaho's beavers, bobcats, river otters and other furbearers provide us with recreational opportunities, viewing enjoyment, and an economic return from fur pelts. Furbearers provide not only recreational, harvest, and aesthetic values, but also social, cultural, scientific, and genetic ones. The Department manages furbearers and their harvest in order to benefit wildlife populations and to ensure a long-term return from the animals to humans.

The Department regulates the harvest of nine furbearer species:

• badger / beaver / bobcat
• red fox / marten / mink
• muskrat / river otter / raccoon

The following furbearers may also be hunted:

• badger / bobcat
• raccoon / red fox

The coyote, striped skunk, spotted skunk, long-tailed weasel, and ermine, also considered furbearers, are classified as predatory wildlife and are open to hunting or trapping.

There is no open season for lynx, wolverine, or fisher.

---

• Trappers are encouraged to use this Warning Sign [PDF, 500 KB] to inform recreational users that traps are in the area. Trappers may print off copies of the signs and post them near their trap lines. Using the warning signs is voluntary. The sign is a courtesy of Idaho Fish and Game in cooperation with the Idaho Trapper's Association.
• Trapping License Sales and Active Trappers
• Statewide Harvest
• Harvest by County
• Bobcat Harvest
• Bobcat Harvest by Region and Method
• Otter Harvest

Trapping: Best Management Practices (BMP's)
Based on scientific research and professional experience regarding currently available traps and trapping technology, trapping BMPs identify both techniques and traps that address the welfare of trapped animals and allow for the efficient, selective, safe, and practical capture of furbearers. Please see the links below:

• Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies - Furbearer Management
• Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies - Furbearer Management Resources

How to Avoid Incidental Take of Lynx While Trapping or Hunting Bobcats and Other Furbearers
The take and possession of lynx are prohibited, therefore every effort should be taken to minimize the potential for a lynx to be incidentally trapped, and to increase the likelihood that an incidentally trapped lynx can be released uninjured. This publication was produced to help achieve the goal of reducing injury and mortality to the Threatened Canada lynx population in the contiguous U.S. that may occur as a result of hunting and trapping bobcats and other furbearers. It was produced as a joint effort between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.