Laws Regarding Registration

Once a bear is harvested, it must immediately be tagged by the bear trapper with a temporary transportation tag. This must be done prior to field dressing or moving the animal.

• Prior to registration, bear may be dismembered for ease of transportation, all edible meat, the head and evidence of sex must be presented for registration. The viscera, hide, lower legs and rib cage, including the ribs, spine and pelvis, are not required to be presented for registration but must be disposed of where they are not visible to a person traveling on a public or private way.
• Gift bear must have each part clearly labeled with the name and address of the person who registered the animal and the year in which it was registered.

Note: Hunters and trappers are required to remove a premolar tooth from the bear they harvest and provide the tooth at registration. Hunters and trappers can look up the age of the bear they harvested on the Bear Hunting page of the MDIFW website prior to the start of the next bear hunting season (late August).