Fish and Game opens registration Nov. 12 for $25 Trapping 101 class in Fairbanks

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will open registration at 9 am Thursday, Nov. 12, for a Trapping 101 class in Fairbanks on Saturday, Dec. 5.

The class, run through the department's Alaskans Afield program, is 10 am to 2 pm at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center and costs $25. It covers equipment, harvest techniques and furbearer regulations and is recommended for students 16 and older, according to the department.

By the time it meets, the Fairbanks area's marten and lynx seasons will be about five weeks old. Both open Nov. 1, according to the state's trapping regulations. Marten season closes Feb. 28 and lynx season March 15.

Fish and Game estimates Alaska has 2,500 to 3,500 trappers, based on sealing records, license sales and its annual Trapper Questionnaire. Most are recreational trappers and many keep the fur, the department says, while a few trap a lot of animals. Marten, whose fur is known as sable, is the most important species statewide. Trappers rank wolf, lynx, wolverine and beaver next.

In rural Alaska, trapping provides food, fur, clothing and income, and village trappers use traplines handed down for generations, according to the department's subsistence trapping page.

Alaska residents need a $25 trapping license, the same price as the class. Residents younger than 18 don't need one, and neither do residents 60 or older or disabled veterans who hold the state's permanent identification cards.

The Fairbanks Alaskans Afield program also has two classes open for registration now: a $400 wilderness first aid course Nov. 7 and 8 and a $10 birch bark basket class Nov. 12. All three are listed on the department's Alaskans Afield Fairbanks page.