Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Ed Carter, Executive Director

*Bobcat pelts must be tagged with Tennessee U.S. CITES tags in order to be exported from the U. S. Contact your TWRA regional office for instructions.

**Exceptions to the statewide fox season are:

• Benton - unlawful to take or kill red foxes
• Dyer, Lauderdale, Smith, and Wilson - open year round to hunting and trapping red and gray foxes
• Greene and Washington - unlawful to take or kill red and gray foxes

***All river otters harvested must be tagged by harvester with Tennessee U.S. CITES tags. Contact your TWRA regional office for instructions.

All waters of the state are open to bullfrog hunting except waters within state and federal wildlife refuges. The season is open year-round, except on TWRA managed lakes the season is June 1-30. The bag limit is 20 per person, per night. The use of firearms is prohibited for bullfrog hunting on Wildlife Management Areas and TWRA lakes. Only domestically raised bullfrogs or parts thereof may be sold. A hunting license is required to take bullfrogs. No WMA permit is required.

All trapping devices must be clearly marked with the owner's name. All traps must be inspected every 36 hours or less and animals removed. When trapping on another's property, the trapper must carry on his or her person written permission from the landowner, and make a written report to the owner of any domestic animal caught and pay damages for those animals.

*Bobcat pelts must be tagged with Tennessee U.S. CITES tags in order to be exported from the U. S. Contact your TWRA regional office for instructions.

**Exceptions to the statewide fox season are:

• Benton - unlawful to take or kill red foxes
• Dyer, Lauderdale, Smith, and Wilson - open year round to hunting and trapping red and gray foxes
• Greene and Washington - unlawful to take or kill red and gray foxes

***All river otters harvested must be tagged by harvester with Tennessee U.S. CITES tags. Contact your TWRA regional office for instructions.

Legal Traps & Specific Regulations

Leg-Hold Traps
Leg-hold traps with an outside measure of jaw spread that is 9 inches or less, as measured at the widest point, are legal for all furbearer species during the legal trapping season.

Instant-Kill Traps
Square instant-kill traps that have an exterior jaw measurement 16 inches or less, as measured at the widest point, and circular instant kill traps that have an exterior measurement 12 inches or less, as measured at the widest point, are legal for all furbearer species during the legal trapping season. Instant kill traps are considered steel jawed traps and their use is restricted to that allowed for steel jawed traps.

Live traps
Those traps that act as a cage after capture.

Steel Cable Snares
These have a minimum cable diameter of 5/64 inch and maximum cable diameter of 3/32 inch. Spring activated snares, except Collarum snares, are prohibited.

Cushion-Hold Traps
Woodstream Soft-Catch, Butera Cushion Catch traps, Cushion Catch #33, J. C. Conner Coyote "Jake" Trap, Duke Rubber Jaw trap and any legal sized offset jawed traps equipped with "Humane Hold" universal pads by K. G. Enterprises, or Sudden Valley Supply meet the definition of a cushion-hold trap. These traps are the only steel traps legal for trapping in the open and on top of the ground, provided that the trapper has specific written permission from the landowner to use the trap.

Species Specific Traps
Egg traps, Coon Cuffs, Lil' Grizz Getrz, Pos-z-loc, Cooncatcher, and Duffer's Raccoon traps are legal for furbearers during the legal trapping season.

Training of bird dogs, rabbit dogs, squirrel dogs, and fox hounds is permitted year-round on private lands. A hunting license is required while training dogs except when a person is competing in recognized field trials. When training on a WMA, a small game permit is required. Refer to specific WMA listings for WMA dog training seasons.

Raccoon Dog Training (No Taking)

Western and Eastern Units - Year-round except where regulated by Private Acts. The following counties are regulated by private acts: Morgan is open for training from July 1 until opening day of the hunting season; DeKalb is open for year-round training except in the portion lying south and west of State Hwy. 96 and U.S. Hwy. 70, where the training season will open 30 days prior to the hunting season. Refer to specific WMA listings for WMA raccoon dog training seasons.