New Law - Green Skins, Sale of Game & Trap Tags - Takes Effect 8-28-09

[Woody]

On Wednesday, Gov. Doyle's signed 2009 Wis. Act 38 into law.  This act takes effect: Friday August 28, 2009. The changes made in this Act will benefit hunters and trappers in several ways, all of which the department has supported and has been trying to get changed for a number of years to bring the statutes in line with changing times and past practices that have been recognized or allowed for many years.
The changes included in this Act will accomplish several things. 
 
1. Allows possession of green skins of lawfully harvested fur-bearing animals at any time of the year. 
Current law requires that the animals be skinned, fleshed, stretched and dried by the 6th day after the season closes.   With the irregular fur markets, it is common for trappers and hunters to want to hold onto their furs until the prices improve.  Not all have the time, desire, or skill to skin, flesh, stretch and dry their own fur.  This change will allow the possession of lawfully harvested and possessed furs, or the carcasses of such fur-bearing animals in the round (whole) or as skinned green furs at any time of the year.  The common method of keeping such fur or carcasses is by freezing them until time of sale.  ["Green skin" means a skin that has not been removed from the carcass of a dead animal and a skin which has been removed but has not been fleshed, stretched and dried or tanned - NR10.001(10s)]

2. Allows the sale of carcass of certain game animals at any time of the year.
This applies to those pelts or carcasses which could previously only be sold during the open season.  It is still only legal to sell such animals if they were lawfully taken.  It is also now legal to sell liquid scents made from the carcasses of any wild animal (except from bear gall bladders).

Under past law, fur-bearing animals harvested on the last day of the season either had to be sold that day, or they had to be skinned, fleshed, stretched and dried within 5 days and then held until the next open season before they could legally be sold.   Lures or other products made out of these animals, or their parts (scent glands, etc.) were also not technically legal to sell during the closed season.  The department recognized many years ago that the sale of trapping and hunting scents and lures made from carcasses of wild animals that were legal to sell was a business that occurred year round and not just during the open season.

3. Requires that trap tags include the name & address of the OPERATOR of the trap, OR the operators DNR Customer ID Number.
Past law required each trap used under the authority of a trapping license to have a metal tag attached that contained the name and address of the owner of the trap.  The new law still requires a metal tag be attached to such traps, but now requires that the name and address be that of the operator of the trap.  This will assists landowners and officers in determining who the person who has placed the trap is.  If 2 individuals trap together and take turns checking the trap line, the trap tag or tags must have both their names & addresses, or DNR Customer ID #'s attached. 

In addition, this bill will allow the operator of a trap the option of placing their name and address OR their DNR customer identification number on the trap tag.  This aids in protecting the identity of lawful trappers, while still allowing the department a method of determining who is operating the traps.