So is it legal to sell a full rack of antlers or not? The verbiage only refers to a antler as in singular? :

5 AAC 92.200. Purchase and sale of game

(a) In accordance with AS 16.05.920(a) and 16.05.930(e), the purchase, sale, or barter of game or any part of game is permitted except as provided in this section.

(3) a big game animal skull, except the skull of a black bear, wolf, or wolverine, or a horn or antler that is still attached to any part of the skull;

How bout this one? Can a 220 for example be placed vertically with some of the jaws exposed or must all portions of the jaws (restraining portion) be under water?

underwater - the trap or snare must be placed below the waterline and the restraining portion of the trap or snare must be in the water.

No, you cant sell a whole rack. It must be cut off the skull on both sides (not just split the skull plate)

Also you can not sell a moose skull.

Jeff I'm pretty positive that law has been changed. Need a ;permit form fish and game for the buyer and seller and racks can now be sold. Not sure if that includes with the entire skull or just the skull plate they don't make it easy to follow the law sometimes!

I'm hoping snareswolves chimes in he thinks this legalese stuff is fun!

That could be but I am looking at the regs and in the "May Not" section ...."Buying, selling, or bartering horns or antlers, UNLESS they have been naturally shed, or been completely removed from any part of the skull"

Goes on to say...."You MAY NOT Barter, advertise, or otherwise offer for barter a big game trophy made from any part of a big game animal"

Honestly, I can't see FnG opening up legal sales of trophies. But I have been wrong before.

Short answer to the topic. 5 AAC 92.200 is what you can do with big game horns, antlers and skulls or parts of game, that have not been "prepared trophies" (taxidermy). The BOG passed about 3 tears ago, that prepared trophies, could be sold. You must first have a permit form ADG&G, and comply with the conditions to the permit. you can sell your Europeans mounts, Shoulder/Lifesize's, rugs and antler/horn mounts.

5.AAC 92.031
(h) A person may sell a lawfully harvested and prepared big game trophy if that person first obtains a permit from the department.

5 AAC 92.990 prepared trophy definition
(82) "trophy" means a mount of a big game animal, including the skin of the head (cape) or the entire skin, in a lifelike representation of the animal, including a lifelike representation made from any part of a big game animal; "trophy" also includes a "European mount" in which the horns or antlers and the skull or a portion of the skull are mounted for display;

The BOG did clean the language up on this one.
5 AAC 92.095
(c) for the purposes of this section, "underwater" means the trap or snare must be placed below the waterline and the restraining portion of the trap or snare must be in the water.

So is this trap “under water”?

Depends on what the definition of "is" is.....!

Pete

Hard to say, but it looks like the lower right corner is not in the water. It always come down to the trooper writing the citation. So if you want a possible citation make a set like the one in the photo. At least put the effort in and have 1/2 the trap in water. Kinda like shooting 50" bull or counting the rings on a sheep horn that is less than full curl. If your a gambler, shake those dice nice, they could come up craps! Or why even take the chance.

What unit is this set in?

Yes not a very clear picture but the best I had on hand. The set is an otter crossover on a beaver dam all seasons open so not relevant to an "underwater only" early or late season or anything.

And yes the lower right hand corner is in the water so below the water line.

The definition says nothing about 1/2 the trap in the water or you're rolling the dice??

My question is why can't the law be worded concisely so we don't have to guess/gamble on a citation?

BOG was trying to give the benefit to the trappers. Troopers like black and white regulations. So the old language was like that. If you set a trap completely under the water, like required by the old regulation. Between checks the water drops and a trooper sees your set partially out of the water, some troopers would write that citation.
So then the board voted on the new language, to account for such things not controlled by the trapper. As we all know some trapper will try to game the system, by making a set like you showed. The point is, 1. there is no definite wording that can be used for all situations that can happen in the field. 2. Responsible trappers will try to the best of their ability to follow the regulation and the intent of the regulation. 3. Troopers are not robots. The newer trooper are not as seasoned and use less desecration or really don't understand the intent of the regulation.
The intent of the regulation was that trappers should make their set under the water, But if water levels change, the trapper would not be cited. Also the new regulation would allow for someone using a killer trap, that may have a portion top bars espoused (like most of us want to do for beaver).
In the end, the more a trapper sets their trap in the water, the less likely your going to get a citation.
Do you have language that would be better than what is currently on the books?

The other beaver Pete, the other beaver!

Thanks! Better language would just be in the water, below the waterline, (assurming waterline means where the water meets the shoreline) and forget about "underwater" all together. The intent being that it is a water set and not a dry land set. The simpler the better especially for a simple guy like me!

We fixed that here a few years ago for trappers in the south.The reg said underwater,now it says tap must be set In the water.
So a trap set on shore with the bottom jaws in the water is now legal for the southerners.
In the north we can set them anywhere.In or out of the water.

So Boco, what do the men/women/or non-binary humans in red coats do when they see a trap out of the water, when the trapper said, "I set that trap in the water" the water level dropped since I set it eh.

This reminds me of the difficulties I had down here in the Juneau area years ago, trying to open up trapping opportunities ,(at the time, directed toward new/youngster trappers).
We have extensive walk-in or ski trail systems here. Pretty much every vally, beach, most ridge lines, old mines, and remote historical sites.
A lot of those trails had 1/4 mile set-backs, (and 1/2 mile from any road), and every cycle, (2 years, back then), more trails were added.
This area is STEEP, mountainous country, with dense forest, deep, wet snow, and brushy under-story. In a nutshell, to be legal, you hiked/snow shoed in a 1/2 mile, then detoured 1/4 mile in, made a set, then back to trail, hike/shoe a ways, repeat. Even a very short line of a couple miles wound up extracting many miles of toil, with worthless sets on the side of some mountain, and typically resulted in trappers quitting.
It took time and creative thinking, but with the steady hand of Ted Spraker guiding me, I crafted a proposal that allowed small traps, (5-1/2" jaw spread, I think), to be placed 50 yards from said trails, and had to be elevated 5 feet from the ground and snow.
Well, obviously the snow could play havoc with that, even though the INTENT was clear. The proposal was ultimaty passed, opening up a tremendous amount of area for trappers, and actually resulted in little to no increase in conflict with other user-groups.
I ultimately was able to get the 50 yard set-back to include larger traps that are "fully submered under the ice or water."

Good job AV Juneau trappers are lucky to have you pushing for them. Once that closure mentality takes root Katy bar the door! Sounds like a nightmare from what you describe:

Pretty much every vally, beach, most ridge lines, old mines, and remote historical sites.
A lot of those trails had 1/4 mile set-backs, (and 1/2 mile from any road), and every cycle, (2 years, back then), more trails were added.

The scary part is the BOG's that thought closing pretty much everything was a good idea!

" In water when set." Or better yet; no restriction.