Schedule C clarification regarding meat & hides

[41 Colt]

So Schedule C animals, particularly Gray & Fox Squirrels, don't require hunting licences to hunt. If you took one of these animals you can harvest the meat and hide like you were hunting a Deer (with proper licences), correct?

 

[nowarningshot]

Check out Fish, Wildlife, and habitat maintenance website for a copy of the regs. i dont have them in front of me, but IIRC one schedule has some restrictions for methods and season, the other none.

If you want squirrel meat and hides i doubt anyone is going to stop you. Where i see someone getting in trouble with this is private vs crown land, or using firearms in a area that is no shooting. Wonder what would happen with using a pellet gun, given the recent SCC ruling.......

 

[trevj]

Check out Fish, Wildlife, and habitat maintenance website for a copy of the regs. i dont have them in front of me, but IIRC one schedule has some restrictions for methods and season, the other none.

If you want squirrel meat and hides i doubt anyone is going to stop you. Where i see someone getting in trouble with this is private vs crown land, or using firearms in a area that is no shooting. Wonder what would happen with using a pellet gun, given the recent SCC ruling.......

BC Regs have a "No Handguns" clause in them, so it pretty much is a moot point, WRT the recent ruling.
And on that, I didn't get the impression that they really declared anything other than that if you do stupid stuff with an air pistol, it still counts as being a gun, when they charge yer dumb arse, no?

As far as I have ever known,the critters on Sched C are no bag limits, no seasons, and nobody much cares what you do with them afterwards. They are on the list mainly because they mostly wouldn't be missed if exterminated. I think there MAY be some issues with selling hides so gathered, but that would like as not fall under the trapping regs.

Yeah, I figure the big concern is simply to find a place to hunt in peace and quiet, pretty much.

Given the foodie/wild food lot that I have been seeing around, you may find yourself with too many folks wanting you to show them how to make use of the stuff! Not a bad thing, really!

Cheers
Trev

 

[scott_karana]

The regs: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlif...6/docs/Hunting-TrappingSynopsis_2014-2016.pdf

Check page 14, the It's Unlawful section:

It's Unlawful...
...to traffic in live wildlife, wildlife meat or offer to do so except as authorized by permit.

...to traffic in dead wildlife or a part of wildlife except when the wildlife was lawfully killed in BC during an open season under the Wildlife Act or lawfully brought into BC, or when trafficking in cast antlers or when the wildlife or part of wildlife has been processed into a product that no longer resembles the original wildlife or part.

Unless there's another "Unlawful" that I missed, it sounds like it is legal to kill, skin, and re-sell the pelts of Schedule C animals. Read everything closely: there may be other laws regarding fur-bearers. But I think you're good.

You can always call a CO and ask...

 

[41 Colt]

I was intending to tan the hides and sell them as I have seen tanned squirrel hides going for $10-$30....that is if they come out all right. Plus I head they taste okay. I'm a newly licenced trapper too, so the skinning practice was the main reason for thinking about this.

BC Regs have a "No Handguns" clause in them, so it pretty much is a moot point, WRT the recent ruling.

If you don't require a hunting or trapping licence for Schedule C animals are you hunting them under the eyes of the law? My question then is can you use an antique handgun to "hunt" Schedule C animals?

 

[trevj]

Check the wording in the regs.

It's in the "It is Unlawful to..." section, where they say you cannot shoot any game with a handgun. Pg 15, Item 38, "to hunt wildlife with a handgun".
Sched C wildlife is still wildlife, eh? And if looks like a handgun, it still is one, as you would know as well as any. The 'It Is Not A Gun' status, only applies towards those sections of the Acts they specified.

Maybe different for a trapline scenario, but I'm gonna guess that it's not by much. Different thing than using a handgun to dispatch a trapped animal, if you are so permitted.

And that's what they wrote!

Cheers
Trev

 

[41 Colt]

That makes sense, thanks for the help.

 

[yodave]

you need a hunting licence for schedule c animals on anyone else's property other then your own, your good to go in your own back yard but you need to pay the queen to hunt on her's or your neighbors

 

[scott_karana]

you need a hunting licence for schedule c animals on anyone else's property other then your own, your good to go in your own back yard but you need to pay the queen to hunt on her's or your neighbors

Wrong, mainly. Read the regulations. They're very clear:

Schedule "C" animals can be killed anywhere and at any time in BC. Schedule “C” birds may be hunted using electronic calls.

You do not need a hunting licence to capture, hunt or kill the following Schedule “C” wildlife:
(a) Rana catesbeiana - American bullfrog
(b) Ranaclamitans - greenfrog
(c) all species of the family Chelydridae - snapping turtles
(d) Didelphisvirginiana - North American opossum
(e) Sylvilagusfloridanus - eastern cottontail
(f) Oryctolagus cuniculus - European rabbit
(g) Myocastor coypus - nutria
(h) all species of the genus Sciurus - gray squirrels and fox squirrels
(i) Passer domesticus - house sparrow
(j) Sturnus vulgaris - European starling
(k) Columbia livia - rock dove (domestic pigeon)

4. You do need a hunting licence to hunt the following Schedule “C” wildlife UNLESS you are hunting them on your property or they are damaging your property:
(a) Corvus caurina - Northwestern Crow
(b) Corvus brachyrhynchos - American Crow
(c) Pica pica - black-billed magpie
(d) Molothrus ater - brown-headed cowbird and the eggs of this bird species may be destroyed.

Emphasis mine.