SALEM — After a nearly two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, a state rule that requires bear and cougar hunters who harvest an animal to have it checked at an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) office is back in effect as of Saturday, March 19.

The rule, which dates back many years, requires successful cougar and bear hunters to bring certain parts of the animal to an ODFW office within 10 days of harvest. The requirement was suspended during the pandemic, as ODFW offices were closed to the public.

Although the check-in rule has resumed, ODFW offices remain closed to the public and aren’t expected to reopen until May 1 at the earliest, so hunters will need to set up an appointment.

A list of field offices is available at https://myodfw.com/contact-us.

For cougars, hunters are required to bring the hide with skull, and proof of sex attached. For female cougars, the reproductive tract must be brought to the check-in as well.

Bear hunters are required to bring only the skull (although ODFW also asks hunters to voluntarily include the reproductive tract for research purposes).

If a cougar or bear skull has been frozen, it must be thawed prior to the appointment, and hunters should prop open the animal’s mouth to make it easier for ODFW biologists to extract a tooth. ODFW uses the teeth to gauge the animal’s age, information that helps the agency estimate bear and cougar populations.

Hunters also will need to show their license and tag during the appointment, and report the unit where they killed the animal.

Cougar season is open year round in Oregon.

The spring bear season opens April 1.

Roadkill salvage

Also starting on Saturday, March 19, residents who salvage a roadkilled deer or elk will have to call the nearest ODFW office and schedule an appointment to have the animal checked and turn in the head (including antlers, if it’s a buck or bull).

The appointments are required within five business days of collecting the carcass.

The purpose is to allow ODFW biologists to take tissue samples that are tested for Chronic Wasting Disease, a potentially devastating affliction that has not been confirmed in Oregon.

Deer with the disease were found in Idaho last year within 30 miles of the Oregon border, however.

Oregon’s roadkill salvage rule took effect Jan. 1, 2019.

The law requires people to fill out a permit within 24 hours of salvaging the deer or elk. That can be done online. The permit includes details such as the person’s name, where and when the animal was salvaged, and whether the person who collected the meat also struck the animal.

It is legal, in certain cases, for a person to salvage a deer or elk that another driver struck. That’s lawful so long as the animal is dead and doesn’t have to be put out of its misery with a gunshot.

But if a driver hits and wounds an animal, then has to euthanize it, only the driver can legally salvage the meat. In those cases the driver is also required to immediately notify law enforcement.

The driver who hits an animal can also salvage the meat if a police officer dispatches a wounded animal.

More information is available at https://myodfw.com/articles/roadkill-salvage-permits.