Transporting cut, wrapped and frozen meat.

[wolverine]

I didn't want to hijack the other thread but I have a question maybe some of you can answer. What is the law on transporting meat that is already processed? I have a friend that has a cabin in Region 5 and he would like to cut his own game and take it home with him frozen. They stay up there for prolonged periods of time and need to freeze it. So what's the drill with transporting frozen meat? I did it last year when I brought my deer down from Region 3 as a carcass and also brought my buddies with me. After it was cut and processed I returned the finished product to him. All I had was a copy of his license, cancelled tag and an authorization from him to do so. He's worried about getting stopped in a game check and getting dinged because there is no proof of sex or spiecies. So what's the answer?

[Riverratz]

Page 20 and 22 of the 09/10 Hunting Regs "Possession & Transportation" and
"After Your Hunt"........clearly states requirements.

[toyotacowboy]

you only need proof of sex until it has gone to the processer....you got it right with everthing else

[jml11]

If you read page 22 of the regs it states:


Anyone having wildlife butchered and
packaged is required to obtain from the
butcher a receipt which indicates:


the Hunter Number,

the species licence number, and
the species, and sex of the animal taken.

[835]

We bring most of our game home from the north cut wrap froze. I honestly dont know where the differance lies except that the butcher has seen our cut tags has the number and verifyed the sex. But if you do it at a cabin obviously this will not happen. there must be a reason somewhere to make this legal because i know my dad has been through game checks and been fine. i think anyway, its what i do.

[hunter1947]

We bring most of our game home from the north cut wrap froze. I honestly dont know where the differance lies except that the butcher has seen our cut tags has the number and verifyed the sex. But if you do it at a cabin obviously this will not happen. there must be a reason somewhere to make this legal because i know my dad has been through game checks and been fine. i think anyway, its what i do.


I have talked to the Co from around here about this issue ,they said it is kind of a grey area ,all depends on what the CO thinks at that time ,he might let you go and then he might fine you.

We have cut our game up many times and froze it as well ,if it is a bull we keep the sex as for the antlers ,as for a cow we keep a portion of sex anchored to one of the hind quarters as well when we travel home with the frozen cut wrapped animal.

[mcrae]

When we hunt up North we take the moose in to a butcher and it is cut and wrapped by them and they give us the paper work. No hassle for us. If not we take it home in quarters with evidence of sex and patches of hide still attached ...

however...

A buddy and his dad shot a moose early on in the hunt. They had a freezer unit with them so they cut and wrapped a moose in camp. They transported it home cut and frozen and got nailed in a game check with some fines.

The CO told them that the reason they got the infractions was basically because they had done it in the bush and not at home or by a processor which signs off on sex,species,etc...

There thinking is they have no way of knowing what is what when its all wrapped and cut straight from the field. It could be a moose and cow etc,etc...

They had the cock and balls from the bull froze with the meat as well as the antlers but as the regs state it wasn't enough. I think the only reason they got to keep the moose was because the CO's at the check believed they made a mistake and didn't understand the rules clearly.

Personally if you have the means freeze it as quarters and do all the neccessary things and leave the cutting and wrapping until you get home.

[jml11]

A buddy and his dad shot a moose early on in the hunt. They had a freezer unit with them so they cut and wrapped a moose in camp. They transported it home cut and frozen and got nailed in a game check with some fines.

The CO told them that the reason they got the infractions was basically because they had done it in the bush and not at home or by a processor which signs off on sex,species,etc...

There thinking is they have no way of knowing what is what when its all wrapped and cut straight from the field. It could be a moose and cow etc,etc...

They had the cock and balls from the bull froze with the meat as well as the antlers but as the regs state it wasn't enough. I think the only reason they got to keep the moose was because the CO's at the check believed they made a mistake and didn't understand the rules clearly.

Personally if you have the means freeze it as quarters and do all the neccessary things and leave the cutting and wrapping until you get home.

In this instace I understand why they were fined but to me this is still a very grey area. What if you were to cut and wrap a bunch of the meat but leave a roast with the nuts and a patch of fur attached seperate? Would it be ok then?

This isn't really much different than deboning your kill and transporting it home in game bags is it?

[ratherbefishin]

I don't know but there's no law saying you are committing an offence by processing an animal in your camp-it comes down to what constitutes a ''normal dwelling place''-does a cabin, camp,trailer or camper constitute a ''nomal dwelling place''?I would argue a place with sleeping and cooking facilities is a ''normal dwelling place''-nothing in the law says how long you must reside in a dwelling place for it to be ''normal''-many people have two or more homes,the game law does not state ''principal residence '' as in tax law.In fact you could probably argue that processing and freezing the meat when some distance from home,especially in the early season is actually COMPLYING with the game regs under ''Hunting and Trapping Ethics on page 17:

''Respect wildlife and the sanctity of harvested animals lives.Prepare the meat properly.Proper handling is easy to learn and to not to do so is both ILLEGAL and wasteful''

I would contend that processing and freezing meat at my camp[normal dwelling place] in the early season ,when NOT doing so is likely to result in spoiled meat, constitutes ''proper handling'' I would of course have evidence of sex and species with me when transporting the processed game to my ''second'' dwelling place[principle residence]as evidence I was not trying to do an end run around the law-in any case-DNA could prove the evidence of sex and species,antlers, came from the same animal that was wrapped and frozen.No law says you must have your game processed by a commercial processor-in fact I have NEVER used a butcher-for one reason its getting harder to even find a butcher in urban areas who processes game anymore

Its an interesting legal question.All too often people don't fight a ticket they feel is unjust because they don't have the money to hire a lawyer-and thats too bad

[mcrae]

In this instace I understand why they were fined but to me this is still a very grey area. What if you were to cut and wrap a bunch of the meat but leave a roast with the nuts and a patch of fur attached seperate? Would it be ok then?

This isn't really much different than deboning your kill and transporting it home in game bags is it?


Man that would be an awesome roast to serve when people you don't like are over for dinner:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:...

[Ironball]

To also shed some light on this grey area, you must look up the defintion of a processer,butcher and cold storage in the wildlife act ,not the synopsis{its not in there.}.There it states that the butcher,and cold storage must be business where a monatary exchange has taken place with a receipt.Buthering a deer at a cabin and not leaving the sex on the animal while transporting is illegal.It can only be removed at your primary residence or a butcher.

[wolverine]

I tend to agree with Ratherbefishin. I think I would challenge it in court if I were fined after keeping the antlers, all the paperwork and leaving a piece with the sex organs and some hair attached. I don't think the spirit of the law was to make sure that everyone who hunts has to use a bona fide butcher to cut the meat. I would be willing to bet that if all reasonable considerations were complied with that there wouldn't be a legal issue. Who knows, maybe I'll get the chance to test it out this season.

[ratherbefishin]

THE Regs don't say ''primary'' dwelling place i,t says ''normal ''dwelling place and that suggests to me that a place with cooking and sleeping facilites constitutes a ''normal'' dwelling place-and entirely appropriate for processing game-especially when the weather is hot and NOT processing it could result in spoilage.I also say with DNA ,any animal part can be identified with the animal it came from-as Fish and Game have already used to prosecute cases.

It may say''where the animal will be consumed'' which I take to mean if I eat the liver or tenderloin in camp-I have fulfilled that part of the regulations-it doesn't say ''consumed'' ALL of the animal[this could lead to rediculous rules such as retaining evidence of sex on part of the animal until it is totally consumed,or prohibiting someone from changing residences and taking a freezer full of meat with them unless they had evidence of sex attached.
Nope-I'd argue that ''camp'' is a ''normal'' dwelling place and processing game there is no diferent than processing it at ANY dwelling place.

Another thing is, no one should be held hostage to some overly zealous CO interpretation of the law when another CO might see someone was not breaking the law at all.Again-the intent is not to make an issue of it,but simply to properly care for meat-exactly as the regs say I should