The season is rapidly approaching and I need help figuring out how to stay within the letter of the law concerning processing ducks.

Situation:

My father (80 years old) has the entire first 2 weeks of the season booked with an outfitter.
Dad has a house that he owns (vacation house) where he will be staying the entire two weeks.
He will have different groups of people coming to stay at the house with him and hunt throughout the two week period. Some guys will be there for a week and others for a couple days.

Can we clean birds without leaving a wing on at Dad's house, store them in a freezer and then have each hunter transport them to their homes when they are done hunting?

Plan:

Keep all daily birds separated by individual hunter like normal.

Process breast and thighs (including vacuum sealing). If you don't keep thighs, is it wanton waste?

Attach Wildlife Resources form to each hunter's birds with following information: Hunter Name, Hunting License Number, Home Address, Date, Species and Location of Where Birds were harvested.

Freeze and then gift birds to departing hunter's plus their own.

Each individual can not keep more than three days possession of their own birds.

Isn't this how the big outfitters take care of their client birds nowadays.

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Can we clean birds without leaving a wing on at Dad's house, store them in a freezer and then have each hunter transport them to their homes when they are done hunting?

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Have to leave the wing on…

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Except for migratory game birds processed at a cold storage or processing facility, one fully feathered wing or head must remain attached to dressed migratory game birds (except doves) while being transported between the place taken and the personal residence of the hunter, the personal residence of another person receiving the dressed birds or a migratory bird preservation facility.

Migratory game birds may be dressed for immediate cooking at a place other than a permanent residence (e.g., hunting camp). This does not include placing dressed birds in a cooler/refrigerator for later consumption while at a place other than a permanent residence.

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If you're bagging them, also need to have them separated, probably by writing name on bags to ensure you can distinguish between the hunters.

Nothing wrong with tossing the bird less the breast. I'll pluck certain ducks and just breast the others out. That's not a problem.

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Attach Wildlife Resources form to each hunter's birds with following information: Hunter Name, Hunting License Number, Home Address, Date, Species and Location of Where Birds were harvested.

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This should only apply if you're transporting someone else's birds or if they're in possession of birds that are not theirs. If your possession consists of just your ducks, no need to fill all out WRD. If you're going to have someone at the house that is technically in possession of the ducks while the hunters aren't around, I supposed it would be smart to have a WRD; however, I would say a bag that identifies who owns the birds is probably sufficient.

On multi day hunts I have my hunters put thier specific colored zip tie on a leg so they can be attributed to each hunter later and stay within limits. Game wardens like very much for birds to be seperated or able to be seperated. Seperate game straps also works. But they will have to be able to attributed to each hunter separately.

Will have to leave an identifiable wing on till they are home at final destination.

"Except for migratory game birds processed at a cold storage or processing facility, one fully feathered wing or head must remain attached to dressed migratory game birds (except doves) while being transported between the place taken and the personal residence of the hunter, the personal residence of another person receiving the dressed birds or a migratory bird preservation facility." Processing of Migratory Game Birds, TPWD

Private, Non-Commercial, Family-Owned Cold Storage or Processing Facility
"Except as noted below, a cold storage record book is not required for game animals or game birds placed in a private, family-owned, non-commercial cold storage or processing facility that is not used by paying hunters; however, all tagging and proof of sex requirements apply. At a private, non-commercial facility where a record book meeting the requirements of a commercial cold storage or processing facility is voluntarily maintained, proof of sex and tagging requirements are the same as for a Type 2 commercial facility." Cold Storage, Processing and Taxidermy, TPWD

Migratory bird preservation facility
A stationary facility designed and constructed to store or process game birds. TPWD

Subpart IMigratory Bird Preservation Facilities

20.81 Tagging requirement.
No migratory bird preservation facility shall receive or have in custody any migratory game birds unless such birds are tagged as required by 20.36.
[41 FR 31537, July 29, 1976]

20.82 Records required.
(a) No migratory bird preservation facility shall:
(1) Receive or have in custody any migratory game bird unless accurate records are maintained which can identify each bird received by, or in the custody of, the facility by the name of the person from whom the bird was obtained, and show
(i) the number of each species;
(ii) the location where taken;
(iii) the date such birds were received;
(iv) the name and address of the person from whom such birds were received;
(v) the date such birds were disposed of; and
(vi) the name and address of the person to whom such birds were delivered, or
(2) Destroy any records required to be maintained under this section for a period of 1 year following the last entry on the record.
(b) Record keeping as required by this section will not be necessary at hunting clubs which do not fully process migratory birds by removal of both the head and wings.
[41 FR 38510, Sept. 10, 1976]

20.83 Inspection of premises.
No migratory bird preservation facility shall prevent any person authorized to enforce this part from entering such facilities at all reasonable hours and inspecting the records and the premises where such operations are being carried.
[41 FR 31537, July 19, 1976]

It would seem, that based on the TPWD and Federal Migratory Game rules, if you have a private, non-commercial cold storage area designated as such and kept documentation that is required that you would not have to keep a wing on, as long as you had the proper documentation as required by the feds.

In the federal statue, they go so far as to make a distinction between hunting club and migratory game preservation facilities.

If you're staying at a lodge, that is not your residence. You must keep the wing on for transport until you reach the processing facility or your residence. Will someone give you a ticket for this? I doubt it but I would still leave it on until you get home.

The likelihood of getting checked for ducks when commuting home on the highway is extremely low, but every single duck hunt I have, I leave the wings attached until I get to my house. EVERYONE on the club is instructed to do so and occasionally a GW shows up and they have confirmed this.

I agree with ttha aggie. Ive done the same. And when I was running 2 to 6 groups a day they would absolutely stop them on the road leaving the boat ramp area.

Trust me Scotty you DO NOT want to be discussing the fine details you have highlighted with a state or federal warden. It will not go as you hope. You will not educate them on it.

LEO has no problem treating you like a drug smuggler for being over possession on otherwise legally killed birds. Don't assume that they'll offer you any discretion. LOTS of stories out there about it.



When we travel to OK and KS, we bring back our legal possession of 18 a person. It's usually cold so we bring large coolers and just leave them whole. Even when it's not, we ice them and just clean wet ducks when we get home. Sometimes you can find people to give some to. If we shoot teal, we eat those in camp first, to reduce our numbers.

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however, all tagging and proof of sex requirements apply.

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I would bet it would only take one GW who is in a bad mood to not like your documentation that says of the 18 ducks in a bag, only 3 are mallard hens, etc.

I might have missed it, but is said documentation from the outfitter tagging each strap with the hunters harvest info?

If so, you might be ok with a bag of meat and three (assuming its three hunts) of harvest tags from the outfitter, but on no way would I risk it with your own paperwork.