15A NCAC 10B .0306      ATTENDANCE AND TAGGING OF TRAPS

(a)  Traps shall be visited daily and animals caught shall be removed, except for completely submerged Conibear®-type, Conibear®, or bodygrip traps which shall be visited once per 72 hours and animals caught shall be removed.

(b)  Steel-jaw, leghold, Conibear®, Conibear®-type traps, Collarum™-type traps, snares, box traps, and cage traps must have a weather-resistant permanent tag attached legibly giving the trapper's name and address or the trapper's trapper identification number provided by the Wildlife Resources Commission and the Wildlife Resources Commission's telephone number to report wildlife violations. Box traps for rabbits shall have a weather-resistant permanent tag attached legibly giving the hunter's name and address or the hunter's Wildlife Resources Commission customer number and the Wildlife Resources Commission's telephone number to report wildlife violations.

(c)  Remote trap checking systems may be used in lieu of visiting the trap, provided the system has the following features:

(1)           a control unit that monitors the trap in real-time and reports trap status and unit status to a centralized application database a minimum of once every two hours;

(2)           a software application that notifies the user of unit status, trap activity, and system health issues within 10 minutes of these events via email, text-based messaging systems, or an in-application notification; and

(3)           an on-demand test procedure that is used at deployment of a unit to confirm that the unit is placed in a location where its wireless communication can be received and processed.

(d)  If the remote trap checking system control unit reports a trap closure, the trap shall be physically visited within 24 hours of the time the trap was reported closed.

(e)  If a remote trap checking system control unit fails to report its status after a 12-hour period, or reports a system health issue, the trap shall be physically visited within 24 hours of the last time a status report was sent.

(f)  Remote trap checking system users shall maintain records of trap status and notification alarms for a minimum of seven days after receipt. Records shall be made available for inspection upon request by a representative of the Commission.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 113-134; 113-291.1; 113-291.2; 113-291.12;

Eff. August 1, 2023.