Right !! Thanks !!

After Dirt posted this I decided to ask the powers that be for a legal opinion on this. What is posted below is an "official" opinion from ADF&G. I asked the local trooper for his understanding and he asked the area biologist. They then asked for official clarification from Fairbanks.

Here is the response.


"We got with the “expert” at ADF&G and she states that “human use” is not defined and could include many things, including use as bait for trapping by humans. That being said, in all areas of the state requiring salvage of either the hide or meat of a beaver for “human use”, either one or the other could be salvaged and used for bait, or get this, the whole thing could be salvaged from the field legally and then the hide, the meat, or the whole beaver could be deployed as bait. Areas like GMU 9 and 17 that require salvage for “human consumption” are different and more resemble requirements for meat of ungulates and bears before a certain date."

So aliens cannot use them at all?Just humans?

White, that is very interesting, indeed. I wonder if all wild life enforcement officers got the memo?

I brought up that very issue with the enforcement guy here. He said there should not be any issues as long as folks in the specified GMU's don't try it.

In much of South central and southeast a beaver must be sealed within 30 days after the season closes.

Sealing means having an authorized ADF&G representative place a seal on an animal hide. Trappers must present the unfrozen hide in person. Frozen hides will not be sealed. The sealing officer will ask questions about when, where and how the animal was taken, and ( with Beaver) take a measurement of the hide.

The seal must remain on the hide until the tanning process has commenced or until the hide has been transported from Alaska.

Dirt is correct. And why they need that information is un-known, even to most of those doing the sealing. Speaking only for this GMU, 1C, we have so many beaver that they are a nuisance. And the department regularly issues permits for take throughout the year, and in areas otherwise closed to trapping.

I understand the sealing requirement for beaver back in the day when there were limits and everyone trapped beaver, but in todays world I feel it is a waste of time and state money. Why the heck they need that info on beaver when populations are so high is a mystery to me.

In my little world of a 100 miles of river creeks and swamps beaver populations have never been high, and currently are at 30 year lows.

I think you maybe missed the point. Hard to use a whole beaver for bait with the hide on in some of the State when they have to be skinned to be sealed. Then that seal has to remain on the hide unless tanned or out of State.

P.S. In some units there there still are limits.

Maybe the experts, did not give this much expert thought?

I had whole unskinned beaver sealed at adfg one time in the past. The 'unfrozen hide' was presented in the round.

That said I would be very hard pressed to use a whole unskinned beaver as bait.......very hard pressed.

As regulation grows it seems inevitable they become a tangled mess....

And why do you need a license to kill mice?

Dirt I have heard rumblings of beaver wars in the valley in order to remove dams for coho spawning, Are they being targeted that way?

Cook Inlet aquaculture used to (maybe still do) remove dams to help Sockeye spawn. Comfish hate our beaver. I have some unexplained beaver die offs the last few years. Don't know if a disease or an unknown program. Personally, my guess is a disease. Pretty widespread. Cook Inlet Aquaculture ( maybe ADF&G or Both) have been targeting the pike and no notice is given to the locals or the AC. You find out when you don't catch any pike and start asking around.

The September season proposed and passed back in 2003 or so was proposed to reduce beaver populations to help the salmon. Like your sheep nonsense for coyotes. Mostly the main river beaver get hammered just like the new shooting regulation probably does. The river beaver really do not hurt salmon runs, their babies could migrate and become a problem in theory.

Well, my question is, can I chunk up a beaver for bait, then use the same animal's hide for bait?
Or suppose I eat said beaver, but want to use strips of the hide at several sets. What then?

There was a retired ADG&G fisheries guy who lived outside of Nome in a housing community spot. Right next to the Nome R. lots of beaver there and other house owners wanted them controlled sometimes. I could swear this fisheries guy hated trappers and the word was that Coho, (silvers) were the one species helped by beaver! His wife was the area bio for Nome for quite some years.
There are beaver in every stream on the Sew. Pen. that is big enough to have water to dam. Side creeks are also dammed. Never seemed to be much talk of beaver hurting salmon runs.

That's a good point Dirt and I will pass that on. However, apparently, once you have the beaver back home, you have met the 'salvage' requirements. If you never present the hide for sealing, how would there be an issue ?

According to what I posted above, the answer is YES . You have salvaged the entire critter. You are free to eat the carcass or not, AND use the hide as bait.

But note the GMU exceptions for 9 & 17

If you did not seal a beaver ( not a hide) in a required sealing area, you would have just broken the law. There would be no issue, if you don't get caught.

IMO if you want to treat beaver like vermin, make them unclassified game.

Well "they" certainly need to get all the conflicting language straightened out at the very least

you guys want to see some convoluted beaver regs look at unit 17 I can trap 30 beaver in a day but can't shoot any in the fall but Dec 1 I can start shooting and take as many as possible in a day lots of fun when it is all froze up then April 15 we can take up to 2 a day with a firearm but we have to eat those 2 but on the same day I can trap 50 and use them all for bait. How about we just say a firearm is a method of take for trapping beaver and be done with it. I can trap a heck of a lot more beaver in one night then I can shoot thats for sure

WOW!

I agree a firearm should be a legal means of take in every unit if you have a trapping license and are doing it during trapping season. Would greatly simplify the regs.