Hmmm...this disturbs me...I was looking to buy a food dehydrator and came across a website that had an 'interesting' sales pitch,

quote:

Get Paid to Hunt!

It's true -- you can turn hunting into a profitable money-maker when you dry jerky and sell it to friends and neighbors.

The website goes on to provide a customer testimonial as proof:

quote:

Jerky pays for his hunting licenses

"A year ago. I bought an Excalibur after tagging two deer and an elk. I made plenty of jerky for myself and sold the rest to friends and co-workers. I made enough money to pay for my Excalibur and buy all my hunting licenses for the next year."
-- Scott Read, UT

Website Link Here: Check it out

Having lived in Canada most of my life, please tell me this is not legal practice in UTAH or any other state? You'd think that this would contribute to poaching.

Not in Missouri....you can sell fur but not the carcass inside the fur. I dont think commercial fishing is legal in Missouri either. So I think no wild meat sales in MO.

Not legal in South Dakota either. The book says it's unlawful to buy, sell, or barter game meat, or something along those lines. Bottom line is if you sell a natural resource, you are subject to punishment.

Not in California

not in minnesota

not in washington.

NOT in OHIO!!!! Big fine and jail time!!!

I always have had the understanding that selling any wild game meat is a violation of Federal law. Part of the Lacey Act, maybe?

I know you can purchase what we call game meat but I believe we are talking farm raised animals. I've seen elk, deer, bison and various game bird meats for sale but they aren't from hunters.

Ken....

If it's not legal then, why in the world would they put it up on their website??

And why would anyone freely admit to breaking the law in a testimonial?? Now I've seen it all...

Poacher hotline anyone? I can see it now...Great candidate for "America's Dumbest Poachers!

No-go in NH as well. Expressly forbidden!

Not in PA, either.

Not in AZ, big time "no-no".

You can give it away, just don't sell it or you will be in big trouble in Kansas.

Same in CO, no selling of game meat. And IIRC you're limited to either 2 or 5lbs donations to anyone else.

The only game meat that you should eat,is that which is cut and prepared by YOU.Don't trust ANY butcher with your meat.

Not legal in Wis.

As others have said, there are many state and federal laws prohibiting the sale of game meat.

Selling jerky is a different issue. It's probably not *technically* illegal to sell jerky because you are selling the spices and labor used to make it, not necessarily the meat.

Next month I'll be going to NM to hunt cow elk. Let's say a friend wants 1/4 th of the meat I bring back. It costs me $250 to have the elk processed. Would it be illegal for my friend to pay me $65 to cover the cost of processing his share of the meat?

I do some freelance agricultural deer damage control "work." This is a sensitive issue so I have to be very careful about following the law to the letter. There have been instances where people have offered to buy deer carcasses from me. (Most of the time I can hardly GIVE them away.) I absolutly refuse any such offers of payment. One time a guy stuffed a $20 bill in my pocket and said "here's some gas money for bringing it over." Is that illegal under the law?

Those can be some grey areas, and would probably be a state to state case. But overall it seems pretty well outlined that its illegal to profit from the sale of legally taken game under your tag. I know there are some loopholes about giving larger amounts to someone who has an empty tag. I'm not sure about NM, but like I stated above CO kind of outlines the amount you can give away to one person at a time, and its really just one meals worth seems like. Of course, if you're short on cash, I don't see a problem with you "borrowing" the 65$

They outlawed meat-hunting for a reason. Greed and deprivation of game herds. We don't need it restored.

I think you'll find that most, if not all, states and provinces prohibit the sale of the meat. Some may allow things like antlers, hides, gall bladders, etc. to be sold, but not the meat (NY prohibits the sale of the flesh only). Meat is meat whether it's on the hoof or jerky, so I can't imagine that would make a difference.

As for selling it - there is no law that prohibits selling dehydrators to make wild game jerky. It's the sale of the jerky that would likely get someone in trouble.

Not likely to contribute to poaching either, as you need customers to make profit. Once more than one person knows about something it's no longer a secret and someone would end up reporting it. Besides, if you get a good recipe you'd want to keep the jerky for yourself!

quote:

Originally posted by Bigasanelk:
As others have said, there are many state and federal laws prohibiting the sale of game meat.

Selling jerky is a different issue. It's probably not *technically* illegal to sell jerky because you are selling the spices and labor used to make it, not necessarily the meat.

Next month I'll be going to NM to hunt cow elk. Let's say a friend wants 1/4 th of the meat I bring back. It costs me $250 to have the elk processed. Would it be illegal for my friend to pay me $65 to cover the cost of processing his share of the meat?

I do some freelance agricultural deer damage control "work." This is a sensitive issue so I have to be very careful about following the law to the letter. There have been instances where people have offered to buy deer carcasses from me. (Most of the time I can hardly GIVE them away.) I absolutly refuse any such offers of payment. One time a guy stuffed a $20 bill in my pocket and said "here's some gas money for bringing it over." Is that illegal under the law?

I'm going in late December myself you might get your friend to poney up 1/4 of that $345 tag. I do however see the point.

No way in Oklahoma. You can't even sell trophies, hides or any part of an animal (excluding fur bearer hides). Rightfully so, but I know some old folks that just can't care for their trophies and their only option is to donate them to a university or museum.

I'll play the devil's advocate.

Let's assume that a deer or other big game animal is legally taken. All laws regarding season, bag limits, tagging and registration were followed to the letter. Why shouldn't the successful hunter be able to sell the meat in this day and age? From a game management standpoint what difference does it make what happens to the meat after the animal is killed?

The State and Federal prohibitions against the sale of meat were enacted over a century ago to stem uncontrolled market hunting. Nobody is going to make a living at it these days considering the expense of obtaining the tags. And, as I said in an earlier post, it's hard enough to give carcasses away.

The issue I'm talking about is selling leagally taken meat. Removing the prohabition on the sale of wild meat wouldn't enable poachers as they don't bother with details like seasons, bag limits, tags and such anyway.

I understand that in the UK hunters (oops, I mean "stalkers") legally sell their deer carcasses to certified game dealers. I rather doubt it that there is a lot of poaching going on there.

Trappers have always been able to sell the pelts that they take. Why is the law different for game animals that die in a trap versus those that are shot?

Bigasanelk,

Here's my take on your questions - Poacher #1 shoots a doe, tags it and gets 70# of meat off it. Makes 15# of jerky and sells it. Now he goes out and shoots another doe, but does not tag it. He makes another 15# of jerky. Game warden checks his stuff and finds the man with 15# of jerky and a legal tag. Can keep on doing it as long as he gets away with it. Short of DNA analysis, there is simply no way to identify legally taken meat from illegally taken meat once the carcass is turned into small pieces of meat.

Never heard of the UK situation, but by selling the entire carcass there is no question that this meat belongs to this tag/license.

Furbearer pelts are completely different because there's only one pelt per animal and often no annual limit like there is for deer, elk, etc. The high dollar pelts often need to be tagged, so it's hard to get around the tagging requirement before selling them.

Once the sale of the meat became legalized there would be a market. Supply and demand would control prices. If the price was less than beef then there would be significant demand. Game management goes right out the window as every tag gets used (as in guy uses his tag, his wife's tag, his son's tag, his grandmother's tag....). Populations would be wiped out or at least way out of whack and managemenet would be impossible.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigasanelk:
I'll play the devil's advocate.


I understand that in the UK hunters (oops, I mean "stalkers") legally sell their deer carcasses to certified game dealers. I rather doubt it that there is a lot of poaching going on there.

Bigasanelk

You are quite right - here in the UK we possess a rare combination of excessive deer species and numbers, no tags or bag limits AND the legal right to sell the carcass to a Game Dealer. Indeed the laws have recently changed to allow 'small' quantities to be sold privately.

Hunting for me is not a way of making my living - but is sure nice to have a recreation that is pretty much self funding!

Eric said>> Once the sale of the meat became legalized there would be a market. Supply and demand would control prices. If the price was less than beef then there would be significant demand. Game management goes right out the window as every tag gets used (as in guy uses his tag, his wife's tag, his son's tag, his grandmother's tag....). Populations would be wiped out or at least way out of whack and managemenet would be impossible.



There is poaching, based on the current price of 75-110p/lb - however, the low hunter numbers ensure that there is still an annual increase in deer numbers that exceeds 12%.

rgds Ian

quote:

Originally posted by CanadianLefty:
If it's not legal then, why in the world would they put it up on their website??

Because they're a family business that lies.

Like their ParaFlexx non-stick sheets...what they don't tell you is the food must be absolutely dry, to the point of cracking, for the sheets to be a little non-stick. If you like your food with a little more moisture, plan on using a spatula to scrape it off.

I'm dehydrating Bartlett pear fruit leathers as I type this and don't look forward to removing them from the ParaFlexx sheets in about 8 hours.