New Law Tries to Decide When Homemade Duck Sausage Is Food or Game?

When does homemade duck sausage or venison steaks become food instead of game?

California’s Fish and Game Commission must be decide under legislation signed October 2 by Gov. Jerry Brown

Sponsored by the California Waterfowl Association, the bill – SB 392 by Sen. Tom Berryhill, a Twain Harte Republican – requires the commission to adopt regulations or recommend changes in federal law to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service establishing when game birds like wild turkey, pheasant and quail that are skinned-out for eating stop counting toward a hunter’s maximum possession limit.

“Providing this much-needed clarity will benefit those of us who hunt and enjoy eating and sharing game birds with our family and friends,” said Berryhill in a statement.

Berryhill says the new law will ensure that hunters who have lawfully taken and turned their game birds into jerky, for example, aren’t violating possession limit laws.

California’s hunting laws contain daily and annual restrictions on the number of various species of birds and mammals that can be killed.

The state has bag limits, which control the total number of “takes” – usually in a day.

Possession limits regulate the total number of a particular species that can be held by one person at any given time. Possession limits tend to be double or triple the bag limit, according to one of the committee analyses of Berryhill’s measure.

The bill is an effort to end confusion by some hunters over whether cleaned, dressed and frozen birds ready for cooking count toward the possession limit or are “food,” Berryhill says.

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