I'm curious about how the wildlife laws affect our ability to kill predators such as foxes. I went to the DNR site and there was information on damage control for particular species, such as raccoons and coyotes but nothing on fox. I did find a pamphlet on damage control regulations, part of which I have copy and pasted here:
Any person undertaking wild animal damage or nuisance control must have one of these permits. Exception:
raccoon and coyote may be taken on private property by a property owner or designee at any time if they are
doing or about to do damage on private property (a license or written permit is not needed). Also, opossum,
porcupine, weasel, red squirrel, skunk, ground squirrel, and woodchuck may be taken year-round with a valid
small game hunting license. The regulations controlling these permits are found in the Wildlife Conserva-
tion Order (available online at
www.michigan.gov/dnr or in the information circular). The major difference
between permits issued to landowners and those issued to businesses, agencies, and organizations is that the
latter group is pre-authorized to undertake control measures on specific species in certain areas and at certain
times upon complaint of the person suffering damage without individual inspections and individual permits
being issued by DNR personnel. In addition, control measures for some wildlife species may be authorized
by a conservation officer or wildlife biologist when legitimate damage is occurring without the necessity of
issuing a separate Wildlife Damage Investigation and Control Permit form to the nuisance animal control busi-
ness, agency, or organization.
My question is, when is it legal to kill wildlife, what exactly can be killed, which methods are permissible to use and when is a permit required?
