Illinois trappers in for changes as season nears https://ift.tt/2MiDU8h

Springfield — Amid all the action at the state capital, Illinois trappers can expect at least one immediate change in the upcoming trapping season: a new law regarding the tagging of their traps.

It is the result of one of two bills the Illinois Trappers Association pushed during the spring legislative session that have been signed into law.

One measure signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner on Aug. 10 will have no immediate impact for the 2018-19 season. That is the law that returns management of the bag limits for otter to DNR, where the ITA feels it rightfully belongs.

When the Legislature first instituted a modern river otter trapping season in 2012, the bill set a bag limit of five otters  per trapper per year. This new law eliminates the legislative mandate.

However, changes regarding seasons and bag limits by DNR will still have to go through a legislative review process known as the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to determine whether rule changes meet all legislative mandates.

While river otter limits will not change in 2018, the issue is one the ITA is interested in revisiting, ITA President Neil Graves said.

“DNR statistics show that very few trappers report catching a limit,” said Graves. “Removing the limits will likely have little effect on the population as a whole, but could allow trappers to remove larger numbers of nuisance animals in localized areas such as catfish ponds.”

Trap tags

House Bill 5693 was signed by the governor on Aug. 19  and took effect immediately.

As a result, trappers are now allowed to use their unique customer ID number to identify their traps, a requirement by the Illinois Wildlife Code for any trap in the field. Prior to the adoption of this legislation, any trap set in the field had to be identified with the name and address of the trapper.

The ITA stresses that they have no issue with DNR being able to identify the owner of a trap, Graves said.

However, the previous statute has been overrun by new technology. DNR today assigns a unique customer ID number to any purchaser of a license or permit and that number stays with the sportsman for life. Both the ITA and DNR’s Conservation Police agree that this unique identifier is adequate for the needs of the DNR.

Trappers wanted the change for several reasons – one of them to reduce trapping costs. Prior to passage of this bill, when a trapper changed their legal residence, all trap tags had to be replaced. Trappers often have large numbers of different sizes and designs of traps in order to target various furbearers.

While a few dozen traps mays be tagged for $10 or so, many trappers have hundreds of traps. It can also take considerable time to change out the tags on two or three hundred traps – not an uncommon number for a trapper who pursues all the legal furbearers in Illinois.

The other major issue is simply privacy. Most trappers do not believe that anyone other than DNR needs to know how to identify and locate the owner of traps set legally in the field. As mentioned above, trappers are fine with the need for the DNR to identify the owner of a trap. Trappers are, however, uneasy that anyone who stumbles across a legally set trap has access to the trapper’s name and address.

Trappers in Illinois will not need to change tags if they would prefer to keep the old tag using name and address. Either method is considered legal.

Changes from current and past legislation

Several other changes have been instituted that are still relatively new to trappers. The first of these was the new season length that started with the opening of the Illinois trapping season in 2017.

• Trapping season for all furbearers now opens on Nov. 10 statewide and closes on Feb. 15 – except for beavers and otters, which have season s that last until March 31.
• Legal furbearers in Illinois include: coyote, red fox, gray fox, muskrat, mink, raccoon, opossum, weasel, skunk, badger, beaver, river otter, and bobcat (with the proper permit). There are no bag limits for these furbearers with the exception of one bobcat per permit, and/or two badgers per person in the north zone and one badger per person in the south zone.
• Speaking of the trapping zones, these have been eliminated, with the exception of badger trapping, where the old zones still determine the bag limit.

These changes were brought about by DNR and ITA working together to simplify trapping regulations. CPOs were happy with the simplification regarding trapping zones and season lengths and the ITA was pleased with the trapping season extension, which would particularly allow for greater opportunities to trap coyotes.

• Another bill that was pushed last year by the ITA was to change the possession rules so that trappers might be able to hold their green fur year-round. The previous law stated that the trappers must sell (or send to a taxidermist or tannery) any green fur (carcass, skinned, or dried) within 20 days of the end of the season for any particular furbearer (e.g. otter must be sold by April 20, 20 days after the season ends on March 31).

This bill provides that any trapper or hunter who holds a valid trapping or hunting license may hold and sell their fur year-round without restriction. License holders need to be aware that all licenses expire March 31. Licenses must be renewed to hold fur after this date.

According to the ITA, fur markets have changed radically and trappers need the flexibility to pursue the best possible price for their fur. Volatile fur markets mean a trapper might want to choose to store their fur until market prices improve. This new public act allows them to do just that.  Conservation Police officers are on board and do not foresee any enforcement issues.

In addition, the new law combines the Resident Retail Fur Buyer’s Permit (previously $25 and valid until April 20 of each year) and the Resident Wholesale Fur Buyer’s Permit (previously $125 and valid year-round) into the Resident Fur Buyer’s Permit.

The new permit will allow the holder to buy and sell fur year-round.  The permit holder will be responsible for maintaining records regarding the receipt, collection, purchase, and sale of green hides of fur-bearing mammals.

The cost of this permit is $50.

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