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USF&W
Posted by thenarwhal on Jan 13 2006
Bigmnt: I couldn't tell if maybe you had a little tongue in cheek when you posted this, but if you wanted a serious response, I'll give it a go.
I think you mentioned the answer in your posting: federal land and interstate movement.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service is generally reponsible for regulatory activities on federal lands like national wildlife refuges. When I said the "state" owns the wildlife, I mean that in the generic sense of the public, not Alaska or Wyoming or any particular state. The federal government fills this role when the wildlife is on certain federal property, and the USF&W is generally the regulatory agency. USF&W also administers federal laws related to wildlife like the eagle protection act, migratory bird treaty act, endangered species act, Lacey act, etc., for those annoying animals that insist on traveling. The migratory bird act is good one to look at for your interstate commerce example. By their nature ducks and geese start the year in Canada and end it somewhere in Arkansas or Louisiana or even Mexico or South America. The feds have the authority to protect/regulate them across all the states, otherwise Minnesota might let you shoot one mallard per day and Iowa might allow 100. Same flyway, same ducks, but by the time they get to Louisiana, the few left would probably have turned noctural and taken to walking south.
Want to see a really cumbersome federal wildlife law? Go look up the migratory bird treaty act. It deals with migratory birds in the US but it also has a treaty element with Canada and Mexico and other nations to help protect/regulate birds when they cross borders. It's generally a good law, but imagine how hard it could be to enforce. Look at what are considered migratory birds. Everyone knows about waterfowl, most of us could figure out some doves and woodcocks, maybe a few songbirds, but the list has hundreds of birds on it. Hundreds! Birds the most serious birder has never seen are on the list. Birds I've never heard of, birds that are probably extinct. Alfred Hitchcock couldn't follow this list. The common crow is considered a migratory bird. That's why crow season is only open part of the week in many states (I don't know about Alaska). Like ducks the government only allows a certain number of days to shoot them, so to make the season last longer the states only open two or three days per week. Of course most states also let you shoot them if they are a nuisance or there is a population problem.
Ever stop what you're doing and wonder how the hell you ended up writing about crows on a Thursday night?
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