00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 81(RES)                                                                                          
01 "An Act amending the Fish and Game Code by removing 'wolf' from the                                                     
02 definition of 'big game'; relating to the classification and taking of wolves; and                                      
03 providing for a harvest incentive on wolves taken in areas designated by the                                            
04 Board of Game."                                                                                                         
05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
06    * Section 1.  AS 16.35 is amended by adding new sections to read:                                                    
07 ARTICLE 2.  WOLF.                                                                                                       
08  Sec. 16.35.210.  WOLF.  (a)  The wolf is an unclassified game animal and a                                            
09 fur bearing animal.  The department and the Board of Game may not classify the wolf                                     
10 as a big game animal and shall designate the wolf as an unclassified game animal.                                       
11  (b)  A wolf may be taken by any method or means approved for unclassified                                             
12 game or furbearers in the game management unit or subunit in which the wolf is taken.                                   
13  Sec. 16.35.220.  HARVEST INCENTIVE.  (a)  The department shall pay a                                                  
14 harvest incentive of $200 for each wolf taken in a harvest incentive area designated                                    
01 by the Board of Game and presented for identification and sealing or marking at an                                      
02 office of the department designated by the commissioner or at a regional office of the                                  
03 department designated by the commissioner.                                                                              
04  (b)  A person who claims the harvest incentive on a wolf shall present the raw                                        
05 skin with the right foreleg, including ulna and radius bones, attached in a natural state.                              
06 The department shall retain the right foreleg and seal or mark each skin presented to                                   
07 indicate that the harvest incentive had been paid for that skin.  The claimant may                                      
08 retain the skin after it is sealed or marked.  The department shall pay the harvest                                     
09 incentive to the claimant within 30 days after presentment of the skin.                                                 
10    * Sec. 2.  AS 08.54.590(2) is amended to read:                                                                       
11     (2)  "big game" means brown bear, grizzly bear, caribou, moose, black                                              
12 bear, bison, Sitka blacktail deer, elk, mountain goat, musk-ox, [WOLF,] wolverine,                                      
13 mountain or Dall sheep;                                                                                                 
14    * Sec. 3.  TRANSITION.  Notwithstanding AS 16.35.210, as added by sec. 1 of this Act                                 
15 and sec. 4 of this Act, a person who holds an unused big game tag for wolf issued under                                 
16 AS 16.05.340(a) before the effective date of sec. 1 of this Act may take a wolf before                                  
17 January 1, 1996, under big game hunting regulations for wolf as those regulations existed on                            
18 the day before the effective date of sec. 1 of this Act.                                                                
19    * Sec. 4.  AS 16.05.340(a)(15)(J) and 16.05.340(a)(21)(K) are repealed.