...well, that's not the exact wording but you'll get my drift.

Monday am I had a on-line sale to run into Soo Foo before I headed to work. I came in on the urbanizing southeast corner of the city and when I was about half way between the north-south highway I had taken down and the first major intersection going west on a main city street, I saw a big, nice colored buck mink road-killed next to the curb (a number of wetlands around that area that they have to build the streets around). Anyway, it didn't look too busted up so I wondered if the state guys would pick it up for me and issue me the same type of tag that we have to get to keep raw furs after the season is closed. There are only 5 furbearers in SD that have seasons, mink is one of them. The mink/weasel season closes Jan. 31 which seems early to me but the reg probably dates back a long time when mink trapping in this state was more of a big deal-- maybe cohunt knows the details.

ANyway, I call the local state office and get a hold of a conservation officer after a while. I told the guy I knew the mink season was over but it would be great if I could get it retrieved and I would do a taxi project for my personal use. I didn't trap it out-of-season, a vehicle got it out-of-season and as a natural re source maybe it shouldn't go to waste. The CO said he really didn't know for sure but probably thought it wouldn't happen as the critter was out of season.

I then told him maybe one of them could skin it out, get it tanned, and sell it at their annual auction where they unload all the road kill, winter kill antlers, things taken unintentionally out of season (such as otter), wildlife items that have been through the court system and make the state some money, h*ll I even offered to buy it from the state whole if the price was reasonable. The CO sort of chuckled at that idea but said that probably wouldn't happen either. He said he check out my request and get back to me. Tha was Monday mid-morning. No calls on my answering machine through today. Yesterday it was in the 50s and today it neared 60. The mink is toast for any taxi or wall-hanging work if they really didn't pick it up by sometime late on Monday. A small thing but it shows the mindset of "we won't do any extra work, like driving 15 miles round trip across town to do something that isn't a regular duty." Now, to be fair, they did pick up a road kill turkey for me one spring and gave it to me-- without giving up my spring turkey tag to claim it. So, they're batting 500% right now...

Last year during the mating season I had several transports to Yankton, Sioux Falls and Pierre I counted 18 in a few weeks time dead on the road not worth picking up in the off season.

Wait a minute...y’all have to ask before picking something up off the road your tax dollars pay for?
Just pick it up and carry on.

I knew a guy a quite few years back pickup a bobcat off the road took it in to the fish game asked about getting it tagged they wanted to write him a warning ticket .

X2

Sure, but then I would be illegal by having a critter out-of-season. I would be just as "guilty" as trapping it out-of-season. It wouldn't even be close to be worth the fine and the possible loss of my trapping license for a year. Until its time for another Lexington and Concord, its their rules...

LEO’s frequent your house much? You didn’t trap it, you didn’t shoot it, so how in the world are they going to know that the mink on your wall came from the road after season? They chip or radio collar those things? Sometimes common sense just prevails down here.
There’s possession limits on game animals down here as well, so I guess if the LEO’s really wanted to push it and invade my home and count mounts and what’s in the freezer I’d probably be well over the limit and possession limits as well...Heck I know a man that has every duck in the world mounted and even one that’s now listed as endangered, he’d really be in trouble, lol.

Yeah, if he has a mount of a duck that's now on the endangered list, he'd be in trouble or at least it would be confiscated. Wanna Be you'd probably appreciate this song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaEJzoaYZk

Just because you get away with something....does not make it right!!!^^^

Maybe you missed the part about it being out of season. Or maybe you didn't. He way I see it, the season is the season, period. Picking one up off the road, or saying you would pick one off the road, during the closed season isn't too far of a stretch from just leaving your traps in a day or week longer because you think the season ends too soon.

Here in WI it's the same thing. Our furbearers can be picked up in season by a licensed trapper no questions asked as long as it's not a draw/tag species (bobcat, fisher or otter). Coyote can be picked up year round if you have a small game license since there is no closed hunting season on them. Furbearers can be collected and "purchased" from the state by non-license holders or out of season, and the fee if you want to call it that is generally 50% of the going rate for a similar pelt.

Poachers always have a story, people lie so if you pick something up out of season you should get permission first to cover your rear it just smart business. The guy with great intentions gets caught up in the middle and tells the same stories so follow the season rules. I drive by dead owls and hawks I just keep driving not my problem.

I pick up deer they give me tags for and I still snap a photo and send it to my area CO with all of the info, same with cats my CO gets a pic and location as we have a limit of 1 on my side of the river and no limit on the other side. Catch a few cats and the rumors start to fly so nip that in the bud they can GPS that email photo if they want no problem.

Pick it up,go online,fill out your permit to posess,print-carry on.(Common sense-that's how its done here).

What permit to possess?
Not even sure that exists here.

Some people never learned to do what needs doing and go on about their business.

Shooting a ran over and wounded deer on the side of the road out of season isn't legal either but I won't watch a deer suffer just because the state deems it illegal for me to shoot it. I put them out of their misery and go on about my business. If I get a ticket for doing a humane thing then so be it, I'll pay it. Same thing as far as watching a valuable critter rot away on the side of the road. That's just me and I can live with whatever names other people choose to call me for doing what I feel is the right thing.

Fortunately here in Mississippi you can usually call a game warden and say, "hey there a deer out here with a broken leg, you mind if I do what needs doing?" I've never been told no.

I had the same thing happen with a wild turkey. I wanted it to feed my Red-Tail Hawk. I came around a corner and the feathers were floating to the ground.
Call the police, CO and State Police. No permits given for turkeys. Took it back out and put in the ditch. B.S. in my book.

In Maine the process is pick it up and call for a permit and a permit is needed for everything even a set of antlers. That process needs to be followed for every animal in Maine as far as I know. In cold weather a moose that isn't really smashed doesn't last long.

Every State has it’s own rules and the difference can be huge, like a badger in WI is a protected species here in SD it’s in the varmint category no season or limits on them.

In my area of northern NY, mink and muskrat season runs from late Oct thru April 15th. See a road kill during open season pick it up, put it up and sell it. Outside of that time frame it would be worthless anyway. I guess NY state isn’t as bad as some might think ?

By the title, I thought it was written by an anti...they are usually the only ones with that mentality. Things rarely rot, they are scavenged and used up by other critters in nature. I like that law, keeps a large percentage of idiots from purposely hitting critters and then asking for a permit.

The thing with a road killed mink even if the skull was good and most likely they are toast it would not be worth the risk if it’s out of season to take it for the $5 it might bring.