Current through August 30, 2024
(a) A permit and
valid, current Alaska hunting license is required for taking, transporting, or
possessing a raptor for falconry or for practicing falconry in this state. The
permit will be issued under standards, procedures, and conditions set out in
the Falconry Standards section of the Alaska Falconry Manual
No. 11, dated July 1, 2022; that section of the falconry manual is hereby
adopted by reference. Only a bird defined in (f) of this section as a raptor
may be taken, transported, imported, exported, held, or possessed for falconry.
(b) A permittee may not
permanently export a raptor taken from the wild in this state, except that a
permittee changing residence from this state to another state may retain
possession of a raptor taken from the wild in this state if the permittee has
legally held that raptor for at least one year, meets the residency
requirements under
AS
16.05.415, and transfers that raptor to a
permit for that person in the new state of residence. Prior written approval of
the commissioner is required before a raptor may be temporarily or permanently
exported from or imported into this state, except as follows:
(1) a raptor taken from the wild in this
state and legally possessed under an Alaska falconer permit may be temporarily
exported from this state for a period not to exceed 12 months by an Alaska
falconer who
(A) meets the residency
requirements under
AS
16.05.415 for the previous year; or
(B) legally possessed the raptor in this
state for at least one year;
(2) a person with a valid, current permit for
falconry in another jurisdiction may temporarily import a raptor, and use it
for falconry under the terms of a temporary permit issued by the commissioner;
a person moving into this state may import an approved raptor species under
authority of a temporary permit, but must apply for an Alaska falconry permit
no later than 30 days after the raptor arrives in this state; upon approval of
the falconry permit, the permit becomes valid with a current Alaska hunting
license; conditions for the import of the raptor shall be determined by the
department as specified in the
Alaska Falconry Manual.
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(c) A falconer is liable for the actions of
the raptor with respect to seasons, bag limits, and other applicable
regulations. If a falconry bird takes game that may not be taken under
established regulations, the falconer must leave the dead game where it lies,
except that the raptor may feed upon the game before leaving the kill
site.
(d) The commissioner may
impose additional permit conditions as necessary and may adopt regulation
changes under a delegation of regulatory authority issued by the board under
board findings number 2012-190-BOG, dated January 15, 2012 and incorporated by
reference.
(e) Before taking
peregrine falcons for the practice of falconry, a permittee must possess either
an Alaska master class falconry permit or an Alaska general class falconry
permit and have more than two years of experience in the practice of falconry
at the general class level.
(f) In
this section, "raptor" means any bird of the following species, including all
subspecies of those species:
(1) northern
harrier (Circus cyaneus);
(2) sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter
striatus);
(3) northern
goshawk; any nonindigenous subspecies of northern goshawk (Accipiter
gentilis) must be behaviorally (imprinting) or surgically sterilized,
except Accipiter gentilis atricapillus or A.g.
laingi.;
(4) red-tailed or
Harlan's hawk (Buteo jamaicensis);
(5) rough-legged hawk (Buteo
lagopus);
(6) golden eagle
(Aquila chrysaetos);
(7) white-tailed sea eagle
(Haliaeetus albicilla);
(8) Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetlls
pelagicus);
(9) American
kestrel (Falco sparverius);
(10) Eurasian kestrel (Falco
tinnunculus);
(11) Asiatic
sparrow hawk (Accipiter gularis);
(12) merlin (Falco
columbarius);
(13)
gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus);
(14) peregrine falcon (Falco
peregrinus);
(15)
great-horned owl (Bubo virginianus);
(16) snowy owl (Bubo
scandiacus);
(17) northern
hawk-owl (Surnia ulula);
(18) barred owl (Strix
varia);
(19) great-gray
owl (Strix nebulosa);
(20) western screech-owl (Megascops
kemiicottit);
(21)
northern pygmy-owl (Glaucidium gnoma);
(22) long-eared owl (Asio
otus);
(23) short-eared
owl (Asio flammeus);
(24) boreal owl (Aegolius
funereus);
(25) northern
saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus);
(26) a hybrid of the species in this
subsection that is produced by a raptor breeder; and
(27) the following nonindigenous species:
(A) Harris's hawk (Parabuteo
unicinctus);
(B) Cooper's
hawk (Accipiter cooperii);
(C) Ferruginous hawk (Buteo
regalis);
(D) Swainson's
hawk (Buteo swainsoni);
(E) prairie falcon (Falco
mexicanus);
(F) Aplomado
falcon (Falco femoralis).
(g) The taking, transporting, or possessing a
raptor for falconry by a nonresident is allowed under the following conditions:
(1) a permits and a valid, current
nonresident hunting license is required for submitting an application, taking,
transporting, possessing, and transferring a raptor to another state's falconry
program;
(2) the nontransferable
permits will be issued under standards, procedures and conditions set out in
the Alaska Fa/comy Manual No.11, dated July 1, 2022; that manual, including its
conditions related to nonresident take, is hereby adopted by
reference;
(3) take is limited to
nonresidents who are citizens of the United States;
(4) only the raptor species listed under (f)
of this section are eligible for nonresident take;
(5) up to 15 permits for taking,
transporting, or possessing a raptor for falconry by a nonresident shall be
issued annually by the department; and the Following condition:
(A) A permittee that successfully takes a
raptor is ineligible to take another raptor for four calendar years;
(B) If an applicant successfully draws a
nonresident capture permit, that applicant, if unsuccessful, will be ineligible
to apply for a nonresident capture permit the following year;
(C) up to five permits for taking,
transporting, or possessing a passage raptor for falconry may be
issued;
(D) up to five permits for
taking, transporting, or possessing an eyas Peale's peregrine falcon from Units
1 - 4 may be issued;
(E) up to five
permits for taking, transporting, or possessing an eyas northern goshawk may be
issued;
(F) applicants may only
apply for one nonresident capture permit each year;
(6) a targeted hunt system will be used to
determine permit winners if the number of applicants exceeds the number of
permits available;
(7) repealed
6/23/2022;
(8) the annual
nonresident season for acquiring a passage raptor is from September 15 -
November 15; the annual nonresident season for acquiring an eyas Peale's
Peregrine Falcon in Units 1-4, or an eyas Northern Goshawk statewide is May 1 -
July 20;
(9) the department shall
specify other permit conditions as required to be consistent with the federal
falconry laws and regulations, Alaska Falconry Manual, and export requirements;
(10) the department may, in its
discretion, establish additional permits conditions necessary to administer
this program;
(11) the department
may, in its discretion, close areas for nonresident take;
(12) if live birds or mammals are to be
imported to assist with trapping raptors, all federal and state import
requirements shall be met; including the requirements of
5
AAC 92.029; deleterious exotic wildlife and species
not listed in
5
AAC 92.029(b) may not be imported to
Alaska for use in trapping raptors; resident pigeons and starlings, if used as
lure birds, shall not be released into the wild;
(13) permits are nontransferable.
(h) All wild caught live
gvrfalcons exported from the state by a nonresident must be microchipped and
the microchip must be registered with an internationally recognized microchip
registry. Proof of microchip registration must be submitted to the department
not later than 90 days after export. Failure to provide proof of microchip
registration to the department makes the individual ineligible to receive a
future permit under
5
AAC 92.037(g).
A copy of the Alaska Falconry Manual described in 5 AAC
92.037(a) is available online at
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=otherlicense.nonresidentfalconrypermit
or at any division of wildlife conservation office of the department.
A copy of the Board of Game Finding 2012-190-BOG,
incorporated by reference in 5 AAC 92.037(d), may be obtained from the Boards
Support Section, P.O. Box 115526, Juneau, AK 99811-5526 or online at
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/regprocess/gameboard/pdfs/findings/12-190-bog.pdf.
Authority:AS
16.05.255
AS 16.05.270
AS
16.05.920
