SEATTLE TIMES (Washington) 27 November 10 Rattlesnake skins slither onto market (Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review)

Boise: Idahoans may legally sell up to six rattlesnake skins a year, and the state is studying whether to allow hunters to salvage road-killed animals.

The new rattlesnake rules took effect this year, and are to be reviewed in the next legislative session.

Idahoans with hunting licenses are allowed to have up to four "native amphibians" including rattlesnakes and frogs that they take alive from the wild and hold in captivity.

"It's not a wide-open, go kill a rattlesnake and you can sell it," but a few rattlesnake skins can be sold legally, said agency Assistant Director Sharon Kiefer.

Meanwhile, her agency is reconsidering its objections to a law proposed last year by Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, that would have let hunters harvest pelts from bobcats and the like found dead on roads.

The Fish and Game Commission opposed that idea and he pulled it before it could be debated. Now it may adjust its rules and allow some salvage.

"I just hate to see that stuff go to waste," Harwood said. "People use that stuff all the time, especially hides. A bobcat now would probably bring $250, and just to leave it laying on the road just doesn't seem the right thing."

Road-killed wildlife is considered the property of the state and is illegal to take. Part of the problem Fish and Game had with Harwood's bill is that it would have created no paper trail — and people could scoop up out-of-season wildlife with no way to show it was taken legally.

The Fish and Game Commission directed its staff to look into possible rule changes.
Rattlesnake skins slither onto market

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