SGA trap training passes 400 courses as keepers await start date

The Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association (SGA) has delivered more than 400 approved trap-training courses, as keepers wait to learn when Scotland’s new trap rules will take effect. The association says it has been in contact with the Scottish Government over the commencement date for the trap provisions and will alert members as soon as a date is confirmed.

What will change when the rules commence?

Under the framework created by the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, trap users will need approved training once the relevant provisions are brought into force. The SGA says that from that point it will be illegal to set a spring trap, or a cage trap for wild birds such as corvids, without having completed an approved course.

The changes sit alongside the Act’s wider reforms, which include the muirburn licensing scheme that becomes mandatory on 15 September. The SGA Training Centre has now passed the 400-course mark for the approved trap training, making it one of the main routes by which Scotland’s keepers, farmers and land managers are preparing for the change.

Night vision training takes off

Alongside the trap courses, the centre has delivered 167 courses in its Lantra-approved qualification, Use of Thermal and Night Vision for Wildlife Management, which the association pioneered. Thermal spotters and night vision equipment have become standard tools for fox control and deer management, and the qualification is aimed at putting their use on a recognised professional footing.

What happens next?

The next trap-training course runs at Perth on Monday 28 September, with bookings taken by the SGA Training Centre by email. The association says members will be alerted the moment the Scottish Government confirms when the trap provisions commence, and it expects demand for places to rise sharply once a date is set.