Is a Duck Still a Duck Once It Becomes Sausage?

May 12, 2011

Question:My question is about possession of waterfowl when processed. A friend shot more than 250 ducks in the just-completed waterfowl season, so I asked him if he was breaking the law by having more then 14 ducks in possession. He said no because he had them regularly processed into duck sausage, and once processed they’re considered out of your possession. Is this correct? Another friend saves all his ducks throughout the 100-day duck season and then gives them all to a butcher to process into sausage. He contends if you process the meat through a meat grinder, then it’s not considered part of the possession limit anymore because it’s now processed.

If you smoke your ducks or process them through a meat grinder and put them in your freezer, are they then out of your possession? A clarification of the “in possession” rule would be greatly appreciated. (Mike)

Answer: Your friends are mistaken and could be cited for possessions of overlimits. Generally, the daily bag limit is seven ducks, and the possession limit is two daily bag limits. Possession is defined as “fresh, frozen or otherwise preserved …” (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 1.17). Making sausage only preserves the birds; they are still in possession until eaten or given away.

By the way, not only are your friends in violation for possessing overlimits, but so is the butcher if he accepts more than a possession limit from either of them for processing. No matter what condition the ducks are in (whole, quartered, ground-up, smoked, processed, etc.), a duck is a duck and all ducks count toward the limit. Ducks, like all other fish and game, are in someone’s possession until consumed, regardless of the condition in which they are stored.

If the hunter has other family members living in the same home, the hunter can gift their daily limits to other members of the household during the season and hold them for processing. However, none of the family members can ever have more than the possession limit.

This law is, has always been, and will always be a joke!

When making ducks and geese into sausage a portion of pork is generally added in every recipe I've ever seen.  Depending on the amount of sausage used per pound of duck there would be no way that the wildlife department could ever prove the number of birds contained in the processed sausage.

Regardless, you'd have to have been doing something pretty severely wrong if the wildlife department is searching through your freezers and trying to figure out how many ducks are in your sausage in the first place.  Something wrong that is way more intense than simply having over the possession limit from shooting ducks throughout a season!

The idea of possession limits is exactly to limit the situations as described in the letter to the DFG.

But, 7 a day is 7 a day. If he ate 7 every day he could just keep on killing anyway. There is nothing wrong with shooting 250 ducks in a season. Only problem is holding them to make sausage, which takes a lot of ducks.

you guys are making me hungry.

Exactly Rob!

I believe the true nature of this law is to prevent people from double dipping on the same day.  If you go out and shoot your limit (7) in the morning the possession limit would prevent you from being able to head back out and shoot another limit that afternoon.  Hence the "Fresh" wording in the rule.  The extension of this to frozen, preserved, and processed birds sounds more like a way for the wildlife department to tack on extra charges to game poachers.

How can  a sausage be a duck? If I go to an upscale market and buy 20 pounds of duck sausage, am I in violation? Of course it's probably domestic duck, but how do you prove that without DNA tests. If I buy a couple cases of canned Salmon cause the market had them on sale, am I in violation?

No, because you purchased from a store licensed to sell it.

Okay, my mother-in-law in Alaska ships us jarred smoked salmon that she does herself.  She generally sends about three cases at a time along with a 50lb box of halibut fillets.  None of its labeled and though she does have a commercial fishing operation she does not possess a "land and sell" license.  If I have three cases of jarred smoked salmon in the cabinet and go out and catch two limits of salmon over the weekend then I would be in violation of the possession limit.  This is why I say that the law is a joke and will always be a joke.  There are so many loop holes where a law abiding citizen would be in violation of the statue.  Also, this is why I said that if the wildlife department is digging through your freezer then chances are you have a lot more to worry about than a simple over the possession limit charge.  Chances are you've done something far worse that got their attention on you in the first place.

How can  a sausage be a duck? If I go to an upscale market and buy 20 pounds of duck sausage, am I in violation? Of course it's probably domestic duck, but how do you prove that without DNA tests. If I buy a couple cases of canned Salmon cause the market had them on sale, am I in violation?

Ok if it looks like a sausage and smells like a sausage. Then it is a DUCK. 

How can the butcher be over limit?  If a game processing business like a duck picker can be over limit, how is it legal for him to accept more than 2 limits per employee at any time?  He would be out of business.  The guy up town has a hundred limits at any given time and the wardens know it and actively check to make sure that no hunter is dropping limits at more than one establishment per day. 

And of course, this is CA law. Once your fish is frozen through and through in AK, it is considered to be "Reduced to consumption" and is not counted against your possession limits.

Guys:

Sometimes, Carrie Wilson gets the answers wrong.