Minnesota Trappers Association Legislative Action Alerts
2026 Legislative Action Alerts:
SF1245, the bill that would prohibit ATV’s on public land, didn’t make it out of committee today. We need to send emails thanking senator Grant Hauschild. He was the only Democrat to testify against the bill, but one Democrat was all we needed. When you email him be sure you tell him you are a trapper. He’s been very good for us!
As most of you are aware by now, the US House of Representatives passed HR 6784 and now it needs to be passed by the US Senate.
HR 6784 – Minnesota Wolf Management
Minnesota State and US Legislative and Representative Contacts
The web page links can help you find your representatives for your area.
Contacting your MN State Senate and House members:
(List of Elected Officials for the State of Minnesota with Contact information.)
Legislative Archive
Update on the trapping bills in the Legislature: (05-17-24)
Great news!
All the bad language in the environmental bill was removed. We are in the clear for this year with no new restrictions! Plus, we will now be able to keep beaver caught out of season on nuisance permits and we got the apprenticeship trapping license option for young trappers. They will be able trap with an adult without taking the full education course. Thank you to everybody that contacted legislators. Our hired lobbyist Tim Spreck deserves a LOT of credit. He worked extremely hard for us. Thanks to Gary Leistico too. It was a team effort
Update on the trapping bills in the Legislature: (05-10-24)
Need urgent emails! HF3911. This is our last chance to kill this bill!
We now know who the conferees are for HF3911. We need to flood these legislators with emails or phone calls to their offices. We also need to email our own legislators asking them to not vote for HF3911 unless they take out the bad language. Urge them also to ask the committee members to remove the bad language. There’s also some key senators we need to contact, whose votes may make a difference when the final vote on the bill is taken next week.
HF3911 is the bill that would require permission to set or stake a trap on private property, and likely includes even public waters if property lines extend out into the water. The overall language is very vague, it also has a bunch of other stuff in it that’s confusing. You can check it out if you want.
The conferees are:
Senators Hawj, McEwan, Morrison, Boldon, and Nelson
House members Hansen, Purcell, Finkey, Jordan, and Heintzeman.
We also need to contact Senators Frenz, Hauschild, Kupec, Seeberger, and Carlson.
1) when emailing, identify the bill (HF3911) section (32) and the lines (63.23 to 64.7). Those are the lines we need removed from the bill.
2) State that you oppose requiring trapping to be treated differently than the other outdoor activities (hunting and fishing) as far as permission goes. The law would be unfair.
3) The current law is fair and it works. There’s nothing that needs fixing. Trappers are extremely responsible in asking permission on private land.
4) The bill’s language is confusing and will result in trappers not knowing what the law requires. How are trappers supposed to know if the property is “occupied seasonally” or that the land “borders private property on two sides” or if the land is used primarily for timber production”.
5) The DNR and trappers are trying to introduce young people to the outdoors and this bill with its confusing language will discourage young trappers.
6) Also state that you SUPPORT section 33 lines 64.28 to 65.4, apprentice trapping. It would help introduce young people to the outdoors.
So again, contact all the legislators above, plus your own state Senator and House member. Use the talking points above, but feel free to use your own words or thoughts. It’s better we don’t send form letters. Ask your own legislators to not vote on HF3911 unless the bad language is taken out.
Update on the trapping bills in the Legislature: (04-28-24)
Unfortunately, HF945 was added to the House Enviromental omnibus bill. The House Enviromental bill is HF3911. HF945 was the bill requiring permission to set traps on private property, including staking traps on public waters if the bottom has private property boundaries that extend out into the public water. The Senate Environmental bill (SF3631) has no bad trapping language in it. Although there’s still some things that need to happen, it’s likely HF3911 will pass the House of Representatives with the bad language in it. Because the Senate Environmental bill doesnt have the same language in it, there will be a conference committee chosen to decide what all will be included in the final bill for the Governor to sign. We need to hope at least a couple of the legislators chosen to be on the committee will be pro-trapping. There will be both Senate and House members.
As soon as we hear who the conferees are, we will need to blitz them with emails encouraging them to keep the bad language out of the final bill. We may only have a day or two to contact them before they make their decision on whats in the bill, so please watch for an alert in the coming days. This will be our only and last chance to kill the bad language before it gets signed into law, so please help!
LEGISLATIVE ALERT SF1316/HF1299
We’ve heard this bill will be getting moved forward soon. Authors are Fischer, Edelson, and Rehm in the House and Hoffman and Dibble in the Senate.
To update you, the bill in a nutshell would require all bodygrip traps larger than a #110 would have to be fully submerged unless very restrictive conditions are met (no 1/2 submerged 330’s or 220 boxes on the ground). Pull triggers only on dog-proof traps, so the vast majority of dog-proof traps currently in use would now be illegal. Regarding snares. A maximum cable length of 7′, with no entanglement larger than 1/2″ within a 7 foot circle. So, no setting snares in brush or anchoring to trees. Relaxing type locks, large washer style only. No kill type locks. Anyone that catches a dog or collared animal in a snare or trap must immediately report it to a DNR employee. If the dog is dead you will lose your license for 5 years even if it’s on your own property.
Contact your state House of Representative member for HF1299 and your state Senator for SF1316. Tell them to oppose the bill. This is a state bill, so no need to contact U.S. Senators Klobuchar or Smith. Also, along with your own legislators, contact the members of the House Environmental Committee and especially Charman Rick Hansen. Just click here and then click membership, they will pop up. If you’re not sure who your representatives are Google “who represents me Mn”. Click on the top link and you should find it there.