WI law says that:



It is illegal to:
Operate trap sets that permit the trapped animal to reach water except when
the muskrat, mink, beaver or otter trapping season is open in the zone you are
trapping in or unless using a commercially manufactured enclosed trigger trap;

So, We can set creek/river/pond edges before mink/muskrat season as long as we use commercial DP's?

For those not familiar with WI season dates, where I am raccoon opens Oct. 19th and muskrat opens Nov. 2.

Disclaimer: I FULLY realize coon aren't prime on October 19th.

Call the warden or dnr. Many rules we have are not written so they're easily understood. Make the call to avoid a ticket.

If doing so. I would set pull trigger DPs only and not the push pull types. I know that was being discussed or utlized when DPs first came out and there were not push-pull DPs on the market yet. Warden call would be advisable.

Bryce

I would guess you would have to stake them so the trapped animal can not reach water.

And I interpret it that the animal CAN reach water IF using a DP style trap.

Once again, WI reg's are clear as mud.

Guess I'll call the warden.

My understanding, having talked to the local warden is yes DP's are legal as drowning sets, and other type of traps are legal as long as the animal can not reach the water. So set high trails and stake solid, if using coil spring, long spring or body grip traps

That's how I read it also. I've got atv/utv trails on my lines that are in soft lowlands, and some of the tire ruts have water in them. Lots of coon activity around them. I suppose I could use coils up or down the trail, but the sign is right at the water (puddle) edge.

I'm sure they travel the whole trail set away from the mud you'll have a better time skinning a clean dry coon anyhow. Lol

I wouldn't trap water coon until November 2nd… they’ll be blue until the end of October.

Yep, well aware of that. Limited time to access this property, and they want the coons gone. Gonna be a blitzkrieg.

Carpet Bomb and move on