Hauling a hunting partner's animal on your ATV: Alberta's bill of lading, licence and tag rules

In a hunting camp, the person with the machine often does the hauling. One hunter shoots the animal, and someone else's ATV, side-by-side or trailer brings it to the truck or home. Alberta's hunting regulations cover exactly this situation, and it's easy to get wrong when everyone's tired and it's getting dark. Here's what the regulations say.

Hauling someone else's animal needs a bill of lading

The general prohibitions in the Alberta Guide to Hunting Regulations make it unlawful to transport dead wildlife taken by others without a bill of lading that goes with it. It has to be signed by the licence or permit holder and give:

• the kind and number of the licence the wildlife was killed or possessed under
• a description of the wildlife
• the points of origin and destination
• the date the wildlife is to be transported

The regulations site publishes a printable form (linked in the sources below). It has spaces for the hunter's and transporter's names, addresses and phone numbers, a description including sex and species, the date of kill, the hunter's WIN number, the licence or tag number, and signatures from both the hunter and the person transporting it.

A practical tip: print a few blank forms and keep them with the registration in your machine's cargo box or your truck. Filling one in at the kill site takes a couple of minutes. Trying to find the hunter for a signature after you've already left takes a lot longer.

The guide also says a bill of lading is no longer required when you're sharing legally hunted game animal parts after the tag has been removed. A tag may only be removed at a residence or a commercial facility, such as a butcher, when the animal is processed. So a bill of lading is for a tagged animal or carcass on the move, not for a package of steaks from your partner's freezer.

The hunter's licence still has to travel with the game

The general prohibitions also make it unlawful for a hunter to fail to carry their hunting licence while transporting game taken under it. If you carry licences electronically, the guide says the AlbertaRelm app is the only accepted way to do that. Tags can't be carried electronically. They're part of many licences and have to be carried and produced to an officer on request. It's also unlawful to carry or use another person's licence or tag, or let someone use yours.

If the hunter rides out on the same machine as the animal, they'll have their licence with them. If the animal goes out on one machine and the hunter goes out another way, the bill of lading is what covers the driver.

Partner licences: who tags it

For a partner licence, the big game regulations say a partner who kills an animal must immediately tell the primary licence holder (and the other way around). The primary licence holder must tag the animal in the normal way as soon as they reach the carcass. Sort out who's carrying which tag before the hunt, not at the kill site.

Keeping the tag and evidence attached when you quarter or debone

Most animals that come out on an ATV come out in pieces. The big game regulations say:

• For moose, elk, deer, pronghorn, bison and class 2 sheep, the tag goes through the space between the bone and the tendon of a hind leg, directly above the hock. Antlered moose, elk and deer must not be tagged around the antler base.
• The evidence of sex, species or class has to stay attached to the same part of the animal that the tag is on.
• You can debone in the field. The full hindquarter doesn't have to stay intact, as long as the part of the leg and tendon where the tag is attached still has the evidence of sex, species or class attached to it.
• The tag stays on until the carcass reaches a place where it's cut up and packaged, such as premises operating under a food establishment permit or an abattoir, the usual residence of the person who killed it, or the usual residence of an Alberta resident who is there.

When you load game bags on a rack, put the tagged leg where it won't get lost or buried. A tag that tears off on a trail or a piece that slides off the rack can turn a legal animal into a problem. The species-specific evidence rules have more detail, so check the big game page for your animal.

Following a wounded animal onto private land

The guide says that although hunters have a moral obligation to pursue wounded game and a legal requirement to make sure game is retrieved and not wasted or abandoned, these obligations don't override the legal requirement to get permission to enter private land. If the animal crosses a fence, you need the owner's or occupant's permission before you go in after it on foot or on a machine. Permission is also always required before you enter or cross public land under an agricultural or grazing lease (from the leaseholder), reserves (from the appropriate band council) and Métis settlements (from the appropriate Métis settlement association).

A short checklist for hauling day

• Blank bills of lading and a pen in the machine
• The hunter's licence travels with their game, or a signed bill of lading travels with the driver
• Tag locked on the hind leg above the hock, with the evidence of sex on the same piece
• Permission sorted for any private or leased land on the way out

More on racks, trailers and load limits is in our guide to getting game out, and the vehicle rules that apply while you hunt are in Alberta hunting rules for ATVs and side-by-sides.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. The Alberta Guide to Hunting Regulations is a summary of the law too, and it changes each season. Check the current guide before you go.