Asking Experts about The Laws of Collecting
Sometimes, I’ll ask three experts the same question and get three different answers. This is especially difficult when it comes to understanding the law.
Normally I rely on experts, but how do I relay information to others when I can only find perspectives rather than consistency?
Before I entered the state, I Googled “laws for collecting animal remains in South Dakota.”
I didn’t find much except a Facebook post from 10 years prior saying it’s illegal to collect animal remains on Game, Fish and Parks-operated lands. But what about the rest of the lands?
As I often do, I looked on Google Maps for the nearest office of Fish and Game, Game and Fish, Fish and Wildlife, or whatever equivalent they have–in this case, Game, Fish, and Parks.
I found the number of the office that was closest to where I would be. I called, and began my question hesitantly. I can’t help but worry that talking to an authority like this will get me in trouble.
“I have an odd question. I’m going to South Dakota soon, and I was wondering what state-specific rules were regarding picking up animal remains, so long as it’s not protected, a migratory bird, or on National Park land or Game, Fish and Parks land.”
The person on the other side of the line sounded irritated, like I was a criminal. “It’s illegal to collect anything at all in South Dakota.”
I thanked her and went on with my day.
But I didn’t fully believe her. I suspected that since she worked with Game, Fish and Parks, she probably had Game, Fish and Parks rules on the brain.
Later, I talked to the paleontologist at the National Park. “I know you work with the park,” I said, “but do you happen to know what the rules are for collecting modern animal remains outside the park, such as on the grassland?”
“You cannot collect any vertebrate animal remains on any federal lands,” he informed me, surely.
I was friendly enough with him that I felt OK to challenge him. “That’s definitely not true,” I replied. “You can kill vertebrates on federal land in the right context.”
“You were thinking about fossils again, weren’t you?”
That paleontologist’s always got fossils on the brain.
I went to the visitor center at the National Grassland. The grassland is right outside the park, and has a lot of similar landscapes. They had a display of real and replica skulls.
“I have a weird question,” I proposed to the person working there. “What is the rule about collecting animal remains like modern, non-protected skulls on the grassland?”
“You can collect them as long as they’re not protected, she said. “And if it’s a game animal with antlers, you need a permit.”
The website for the grassland doesn’t say anything for or against collecting modern animal remains…
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Later, I was chatting with some of the National Park staff. I told them about my Artist in Residence project: photographing dead animals. That gets people talking about dead things they saw.
One mentioned I could pick up this antlered deer head he had seen, just outside the gate of the park. When I declined, another person in the group asked where the head was so he could collect it.
“And you’re sure it’s outside the park?” he asked.
“Yep, right on the other side of the gate. I know we can’t collect anything inside the park.”
No one asked what land the skull was on. Did it matter? They work at the park. They have the rules of the park on the brain, and in their minds, other types of land can be summed up as “not the park.” I’m sure the people working at the grassland don’t refer to it as “not the park,” but “the grassland.”
No place is defined as simply “not another place,” nor are their rules.
But what are the rules if no one knows them?
Do you have any similar or different stories about trying to understand what you can or can’t do?
