A person generally may not take, kill, capture, or possess a fur-bearing animal except during the commission-set open season, but there are limited protection and nuisance-animal exceptions.
1. Except as otherwise provided, a person shall not take, capture, kill, or have in possession a fur-bearing animal or any of its parts at any time except during the open season as set by the commission. 2. A person may shoot, trap, or ensnare a fur-bearing animal when the killing, trapping, or ensnaring is for the protection of a person or public or private property with the prior permission of a duly appointed representative of the commission. If prior permission is impractical or impossible to obtain and the fur-bearing animal represents a threat to a person, domestic animal, or private property, the fur-bearing animal may be taken without prior permission. 3. Prior permission is not required for an owner or tenant of agricultural property or an associated residence located outside the corporate limits of a city to take, capture using a cage trap or dog-proof trap, shoot, or temporarily possess, for the purpose of destroying or disposing of, a raccoon, opossum, or skunk on the property if the owner or tenant in good faith deems the animal to be a nuisance. This subsection does not apply to animals listed pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act or listed as endangered by the commission pursuant to section 481B.3. 4. All fur-bearing animals and all parts thereof taken as provided in subsection 2 or 3 shall be disposed of on the site or shall be relinquished to a representative of the commission. [C97, §2553; SS15, §2553; C24, §1766; C27, 31, §1766, 1766-a1; C39, §1794.049; C46, §109.87, 109.93; C50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §109.87] 88 Acts, ch 1216, §31 C93, §481A.87 94 Acts, ch 1148, §2; 2023 Acts, ch 38, §1 Referred to in §481A.89, 805.8B(3)(l) For applicable scheduled fines, see §805.8B, subsection 3, paragraph “l”