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 its 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.