W. Va. Code R. § 58-53-3 - General Trapping Rules

3.1. Trapping is prohibited in State parks and wildlife refuges, in safety zones in State forests, and in safety zones in State Wildlife Management Areas.

3.1.a. Federal regulations prohibit trapping in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and on federally-owned land within the boundaries of the New River Gorge National River.

3.2. A trapping permit is required for State Forests and Wildlife Management Areas. This permit may be obtained from the district game biologist in the district in which the State Forest or Wildlife Management Area is situated.

3.3. A trapper shall check and tend all traps each calendar day.

3.4. Foot snares are legal when the snare loop is at and horizontal to ground level and does not exceed six and one-half (6 1/2) inches in diameter.

3.5. It is illegal to use or set deadfalls for taking wildlife.

3.6. It is illegal to set or maintain any trap or trapping device on human foot trails or livestock paths.

3.7. It is illegal to set or use foothold traps with an open inside jaw spread of more than six and one half (6 1/2) inches unless the trap is used under water.

3.8. It is illegal to use body-gripping or killer-type traps with an inside jaw spread of more than five (5) inches, as measured between striking surfaces of jaws when set, for terrestrial trapping. Trappers may use body-gripping or killer-type traps in water sets.

3.9. It is illegal to set or maintain spring pole snares.

3.10. It is illegal to use steel jaw traps with any teeth on or attached to them.

3.11. It is illegal to set or maintain any trap, trap set, or snare upon any tree, post, or other natural or man-made object at any point more than three (3) lineal feet from the surface of the earth (whether the surface is water, soil, or rock) measured at a right angle from the surface to the trap or trap set, except as provided in Subsection 3.12 of this rule.

3.12. The provisions of Subsection 3.11 of this rule do not apply to traps or trap sets that are set or maintained on natural earthen mounds, such as ant hills or muskrat houses, that were constructed without human assistance.

3.13. It is illegal to set traps or snares within 50 feet of animal or bird carcasses, or parts thereof, unless the carcasses, or parts of the carcasses, are completely covered and concealed from sight.

3.14. It is illegal to take beaver, otter, fisher, mink, or muskrat by any means other than by trap.

3.15. It is illegal for a person to have in his or her possession an untagged bobcat, or fisher hide, or parts thereof, longer than thirty (30) days following the close of the respective trapping season.

3.16. If any person unintentionally traps and kills more than the limit fixed by the Division of Natural Resources rule, The Hunting and Trapping Regulations (Exempt Rule) (58 C.S.R.45), as a season possession limit, he or she shall, (within twenty-four (24) hours after the trapping or killing,) deliver the excess animals to a Natural Resource Police Officer.

3.17. Each trapper shall present bobcat or fisher pelts to an official game checking station or a representative of the Division within thirty (30) days after the close of the trapping season for that animal. The trapper shall affix a tag provided by the division to each bobcat or fisher pelt and keep the tag attached to the skin until the skin has been sold, tanned, or mounted.

3.18. It is legal to use snares for the purpose of taking furbearing animals and coyotes. A snare is defined as a trap and all rules pertaining to traps and trap sets apply to snares. All snares shall be made of multiple strand twisted steel cable.

3.19. Terrestrial snares shall be equipped with a relaxing type lock system with a breaking point of not greater than 350 pounds or a stop with a minimum loop diameter greater than or equal to 2 - inches. Set snares shall not have a loop diameter average greater than 15 inches. A trapper shall not use drags with terrestrial snares. He or she shall anchor them at the trap site.

3.20. All traps set during the month of March for the taking of beaver, shall be in water.

Notes

W. Va. Code R. § 58-53-3