bag limits/ possession limits
 

Hope someone can explain this to me.

Ducks/geese possession limit is usually twice the daily bag limit. I get that. I also believe you must include birds in your freezer at home.

So after you have a possession limit and have given away your excess birds from subsequent hunts, what happens when the recipients of your largess has reached the possession limit? Do you quit for the season?

What is the recipient is not a hunter? Are they still bound to the possession limit?

Just asking for a friend :)

Great question....

We going hunting???

Wow, good question.
I'd hazard a guess and say that as long as it's legal to give away wild game then you are no longer in possession.
That's what happens with goose guides and avid goose hunters that hunt for several days in a row.
There no way to consume that much goose meat.

Your last question is an interesting one. Not one that I've thought of before. You would think they must be bound by the same limits as a licensed hunter. As far as I understand the possession limit does include what is in the freezer at home. Which brings another question to mind - what if you process the meat? I'm thinking like goose jerky or some kind of sausage. Surely that isn't included is it? As for the first question - two choices. The first is you are done for the season or the second is start eating!

Goose jerky
 

My son in law makes it and it is very good, to me it tastes like beef jerky. I have never yet met a bird hunter who could consume a pound or two in an afternoon. Problem solved.

You can "gift" birds as they say. The people you give them too are not required to hold a hunting license but are not allowed to exceed the posession limit. If you are a family man and lets say for examples sake have a wife and three kids you may give each of them a full posession limit. So if in the freezer you had your wifes and three kids "gifted" birds but none left for yourself you can again go obtain your posession limit if you wish provided you obtain it based on the number of days it takes for your daily limits to reach your posession limit. You may also collect your daily limit and "gift" it to someone else freeing you up of any limits and able to continue hunting. You just have to remember you are not allowed to exceed your daily limit in any one day period, if you live like I do on the SK/AB border and say went out in the morning and got your 20 allowable SK snows and wanted to hunt AB in the afternoon for them you can provided you don't exceed the AB daily limit of 50. You already took 20 in SK so you can take 30 in AB to complete that days limit. Your daily limit is whichever of the two provinces limits is largest but you cannot take a limit in each on the same day, the limit for the day must be a combination of the total of the larger limit.
In theory you could shoot a limit each and every day if you "gifted" all your birds. Just be sure the "giftee" is not over the posession limit and they too may have a posesdion limit for each and every person living in that household regardless of age.
Hope this helps....btw I used to hunt regularily with a CO and learned this from him.

Once processed it is no longer part of your posession limit as it is considered just food. Again from a CO I used to hunt with. And yes posession limit means all birds in your posession regardless if at home, in the truck, at camp etc.

Just make life easy for yourself - hunt snow geese - there is no possession limit

I figured once processed it wouldn't count. Thx

The way I read it, it counts until it is consumed.

Processing, giving it away, or hiding it does not remove it from ones bag limit, or at least that's my understanding of it.

As my CO friend said once processed there is no way of determining actual numbers. The butcher just turned your 24 Canadas into sausage and added 20 pounds of pork. Last night the family ate a package. How many birds are left? See the determining issue? As my CO buddy told me. We can't determine pork to goose ratio or if it is even game of any kind without dna testing. He says if I look in your freezer and see ten packs of sausage unless its labelled goose sausage I would have no way of even knowing and there is no legal requirement to label
it once processed.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks

And just in case anyone is getting ideas of being greedy with their elk meat ?

DO NOT HARVEST ANYELK THIS YEAR ,,,


UNTIL YOU HAVE EATEN ALL YOUR ELK MEAT FROM LAST YEAR !:snapoutofit:

Exactly...I think there is room for reasonability, but that also leaves room for abuse.

LC

What I meant by processed was made into sausage etc. I know some people call the actual cutting and wrapping "processing their deer" but that is not the definition I was going by.

As far as bag limit, you can't keep shooting in the blind once you've reached the max by saying I'm giving these to my uncle.. they have to be in his possession in his house or so I would think. It's fun to shoot birds and likely easy to get carried away but there is a limit as to how much you can and will use. That would be determined by individual needs I suppose but bag limits have to be respected. If you really need more geese go shoot Snows.

It doesn't effect your bag limit, but giving away birds does effect what you have in your possession. If you possess $20, and then you give away $10, how much do you now possess?:thinking-006:

I thought it did, but you are right according to Environment Canada.

I stand corrected.

This is what Environment Canada says on the matter.

It seems to me that this contradicts all the conservation is about, but I'm not the one who decides what the law should read. Maybe that's a good thing. :)

Oddly enough on the same site it says that birds you have from past years hunting do count against this years limits.

To me that seems totally pointless. I could just give them away and solve that real quick, so what's the point? And the people I give them to don't even have to have a hunting license so for them, maybe there would be no bag limits.

It all seems crazy to me.

If anyone wants to read the whole thing, here it is;

http://www.ec.gc.ca/rcom-mbhr/defaul...n&n=f566470e-1

Most of what you have posted makes sense, but I'm not so sure about members of your immediate family.
If I'm the only hunter in the family, and the possesion limit is 20 birds, Your saying I could legally have in my freezer 80 birds. 20 for my wife, 20 for 12 yr old son, 20 for my 4 yr old daughter and 20 for myself. I don't think that would fly with authorities. Same with Game Fish possesion limits.

Yes it is absolutely the way it is. There is no prerequisite for who can posess fish and game and only the person doing the hunting or fishing needs to be licensed to fish or hunt. You are not licensed to posess, you are licensed to fish and hunt. It's that simple. I have read the act and had many hours of conversations with CO's I hunted, fished, shot skeet with and worked with to ensure this is the law. Yes everyone in your household can be gifted up to a posession limit.

And to Keg, I am not out there breaking any laws or putting game species at risk of overharvest and my buddy does not need to lose his job for explaining the act in depth. He's actually doing his job the way it should be done when someobe has questions. Knowledge is a good thing. Ever hear a judge say "ignorance of the law is no excuse?" There is nothing more true than that statement. If you know what you are legally allowed you can't be blindsided by those who are ignorant of the law or those who would charge you knowing full well you are within your rights when you don't.

Not nice , with 1 simple question of deduction ( $20 - $10 = ? ? )

you have lost maybe as much as 50% of readership,,,:sHa_sarcasticlol:

So...as for guys coming over on 3 day guided hunts and shooting limits morning and night how do they stay within the letter of the law? Always wondered this one

They can't shoot more than the daily limit. If they do they are breaking the law.

Pretty sure you would need more than one license holder in the household for the game in the household to claim a full possession for all occupants.

I have a wife and two kids....I cannot shoot enough for all four limits and store all 4 limits in my home claiming I gifted my wife and 2 kids a full individual limit EACH.

LC

I got to admit that I did not know that this^^^^^^ was a legal requirement.

It seems reasonable that one should not harvest more than needed and not hunt with the freezer still full.

I can not find any legislation that says anything about total possession of big game meat.

It's not a legal requirement, but an ethical choice.

I still have a Deer and elk from last year but I'm going to get one more deer and that should hold me until next year.

Yeh, but...how do you explain the 20 birds in your freezer that were gifted to you and NO ONE has a license in the household? And what if mom and kids were gifted 20 birds each in the same household?
Sounds like you can shoot the limits of your household. Or get someone to gift you 80 birds.


Damn, I think we have sollved the snow goose and hunger problems at the same time.

EDIT... Plus, think how happy hunters and thier dogs will be.

To your first comment....No you do not!!

Yes you can!! Absolutely 100%!! A license is not required by anyone other than the person who took the game or fish. Your license is for hunting and fishing not possessing.

That is because there is none! You may only kill what you have tags for but say your hunting buddies each filled their tags but did not want the animal. They are within their rights to gift it to you and you are within yours to accept and possess it.

So I can shoot a limit a day...and gift it to my wife and kids till we all have a full limit?

Seems like a huge loophole that needs to be fixed IMHO.

LC

Ever wonder how you can attend a wild game game and fish banquet when it's generally illegal to sell fish or game? Is it because the meat is donated or gifted? No, it's because they are selling you the plate not the game. I have run many fish fries over the years at our skeet club as little fundraisers with an evening of shooting and many of the members were CO's. Fish was donated by various members and as long as we sold the plate not the fish all was legal. Right from the horses mouths that used to attend.