We have some crazy laws in Oklahoma that could easily get you in trouble. I've never been checked for anything in all my years trapping. I think as long as you are not doing anything stupid and/or get called in for something - you will not have a problem. One thing that would get a lot of guys in trouble are out legal trap laws. One example is double spring traps have to be offset - so a closed jaw #11 or #1 coilspring is not legal. No snares. Bodygrips were illegal but that changed a couple years ago but have to be under water now. I have traps that are legal in Arkansas but not in Oklahoma and some legal in Oklahoma but not Arkansas.

I did cause a guy to get a ticket. Kind of a long story so bear with me. My brother-in-law had bought about 300 acres and he went with me to do some preseason turkey scouting (around March) and I was also thinking about trapping.. We had stopped and doing some walking around. He is not a trapper but had rode with me a couple times. When we got back to the pickup he said I think someone has been trapping as he found a spot that looked like where a trap had been. We walked back out and sure enough there was a dirt hole set. When you pull your trap there is usually a low spot where the trap was and this was still level. I kicked in the dirt and sure enough I kicked up a set trap. It had an Arkansas tag attached which only had a CID number (legal in AR but not OK). It was attached to a dead log that any critter larger than a skunk would get away from. That was a little confusing as Arkansas was fifty miles away and trapper driving that far would have known how to anchor a trap. My bother-in-law didn't want to pursue it as he had only owned the land a couple months and we figured they had just missed the trap when they pulled. I thought oh well I got a free trap out of the deal. A mosty shiny (untreated) closed jaw Duke 1 3/4 (not legal in Oklahoma). I spent a little time doing the normal adjustments that you have to do to a stock Duke that they hadn't done. I go back in April turkey hunting and happen to walk past that area and low and behold another trap was set back. This was not close to a property line and at least 200 yards from a road so not an easy place to get to. This time they had wired to a rock and not a good wire job at that. Probably would have held a possum but a coon would have got away. Again, by brother-in-law didn't want to deal with it but said I could. I was still really confused about it all, but talked to the local game warden to have him look into it. I guess he called Arkansas Game and fish to track down the customer ID number. Come to find out a trapper in Arkansas had loaned some traps to a non-trapper friend in Oklahoma that was a neighbor to the property. He was trying to catch coyotes that had been catching his chickens. The warden let the guy off with the minimum fine but I had to return the traps. Grrrr!

Nothing against COs in general, one of my best friends for a few years was a CO. Had one in my home town area that was a real (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) though. He loved to give tickets whenever he could, threatened to give me one a couple of times, but mostly as a way to try intimidate me from trapping on land he wanted to trap himself.

Seems dnr is out to find a reason to ticket people rather than just making sure rules are being followed. I feel many times they have opportunities to teach people rather than tickets them when in the gray a area. I think most states need to simplify the rules so there is no reason a person has to really think or guess. Make the rules easy for anyone to understand. Keep the outdoors fun and not push people away.

Several years back, a game warden I knew pulled up in the driveway a few days after season ended. He said "were you trapping up so and so road?" I said "yes until season ended." He pulled a gray fox with a snare on it out of his truck and said "I think you forgot one of your snares and it wasn't tagged. " I said "I didn't have any snares set in that area all season and my snares don't look like that." I showed him my snares were different cable and locks and had tags. He said sorry and ended up giving me the fox.

Who hasn’t?