Ray
Well-known member
Since I brought it up in the More Salt thread it should be on its own so those that have something to share can chime in.
In AK wild game/fish is "in possession" until it is rendered for human consumption by a means that will make it edible 15 days later. Typically frozen or dried. The AK State waterfowl regulations take into consideration the use of remote camps as temporary homes. In the Bush the villagers travel out to these camps and shoot their 10 or more caribou, catch their couple hundred salmon, shoot ducks in the spring or the fall, or gather eggs. The AK State regs say that your duck possession is terminated once you are back to your camp. However, this shack on the tundra is not a home where you actually live so under the Federal law your possession is not terminated until you are back to your village where your home is.
So right here there is a difference between the Fed and State laws.
In Cook Inlet where half the AK state population lives there are duck shacks over on the west side near some huge refuges. Us non subsistance city hunters use them similar to how the villagers use theirs in the Bush. However, if you try to apply the State possession rule at your duck shack you will be sited since it is known that these are not residential facilities. Discriminary enforcement.
Over on the Refuge on one of the midwest state forums there was a posting by a guy that was coming back from a Canada hunt. He had three day duck and goose limits in coolers in his truck. There were a couple of guys in the truck and everything was tagged according to the rules. As the customs guy was checking all the birds the guy decides it was a good time to eat a sammich. The customs guy asks him what kind of meat was on his sammich and the guy replies "Duck". He gets a ticket for being one duck over the limit even though the duck was rendered for human consumption and was being consumed at the time.
Why the ticket? I think because he was not back home even though the duck was being consumed. In AK he would not have been fined unless it was an over zealous Fed, which was probably also the case in the midwest posting.
In Fairbanks some years ago there was a Fed that was checking taxidermy guys and fining them for over possession in their work freezers. Clearly in the Federal law if you take your tagged birds to a taxidermy or other bird proscessing facility they are not in your possession, but does possession count on the taxi? The taxi didn't "take" the birds while hunting. They are processing the birds, but there is the issue of all that left over meat?
Up here there are guys that venture over to Cordova to finish up their season. They have been told by a State enforcement folks that even if they take a three day limit to the air freight office and it is shipped back to their home if they keep hunting they will be busted. They have to ship it to a third party outside thier household to comply with Federal law. State law says that once it is frozen so that it will last more than 15 days it is no longer in possession, but the State Wildlife Trooper says he will still bust you.
Anyone else with first hand knowledge of possession issues?
In AK wild game/fish is "in possession" until it is rendered for human consumption by a means that will make it edible 15 days later. Typically frozen or dried. The AK State waterfowl regulations take into consideration the use of remote camps as temporary homes. In the Bush the villagers travel out to these camps and shoot their 10 or more caribou, catch their couple hundred salmon, shoot ducks in the spring or the fall, or gather eggs. The AK State regs say that your duck possession is terminated once you are back to your camp. However, this shack on the tundra is not a home where you actually live so under the Federal law your possession is not terminated until you are back to your village where your home is.
So right here there is a difference between the Fed and State laws.
In Cook Inlet where half the AK state population lives there are duck shacks over on the west side near some huge refuges. Us non subsistance city hunters use them similar to how the villagers use theirs in the Bush. However, if you try to apply the State possession rule at your duck shack you will be sited since it is known that these are not residential facilities. Discriminary enforcement.
Over on the Refuge on one of the midwest state forums there was a posting by a guy that was coming back from a Canada hunt. He had three day duck and goose limits in coolers in his truck. There were a couple of guys in the truck and everything was tagged according to the rules. As the customs guy was checking all the birds the guy decides it was a good time to eat a sammich. The customs guy asks him what kind of meat was on his sammich and the guy replies "Duck". He gets a ticket for being one duck over the limit even though the duck was rendered for human consumption and was being consumed at the time.
Why the ticket? I think because he was not back home even though the duck was being consumed. In AK he would not have been fined unless it was an over zealous Fed, which was probably also the case in the midwest posting.
In Fairbanks some years ago there was a Fed that was checking taxidermy guys and fining them for over possession in their work freezers. Clearly in the Federal law if you take your tagged birds to a taxidermy or other bird proscessing facility they are not in your possession, but does possession count on the taxi? The taxi didn't "take" the birds while hunting. They are processing the birds, but there is the issue of all that left over meat?
Up here there are guys that venture over to Cordova to finish up their season. They have been told by a State enforcement folks that even if they take a three day limit to the air freight office and it is shipped back to their home if they keep hunting they will be busted. They have to ship it to a third party outside thier household to comply with Federal law. State law says that once it is frozen so that it will last more than 15 days it is no longer in possession, but the State Wildlife Trooper says he will still bust you.
Anyone else with first hand knowledge of possession issues?
