Game, Fish & Wildlife Rules

Alaska lets residents trade game meat and fish taken for subsistence. The law calls it barter: fish or game swapped for other fish or game, other food, or things other than money, as long as the exchange is limited and noncommercial (AS 16.05.940). Selling game meat is against the law, and subsistence fish can be sold only in a few narrow customary trade programs that FrostBoard does not host. So every post in Wild Game & Fish Trades shows Trade only where a price would go, and every one gets a quick check before it goes live.

What Can Be Traded

• Big game meat taken for subsistence, such as moose, caribou, deer, Dall sheep, mountain goat or bear (5 AAC 92.200).
• Small game meat taken for subsistence: grouse, ptarmigan or hare.
• Salmon, other finfish and roe from a subsistence fishery. Halibut is the exception.
• Shellfish from a subsistence fishery (5 AAC 02.010).
• Fish and game a federally qualified rural resident took under federal subsistence rules (36 CFR 242).
• Game an Alaska resident took on a general season, drawing or registration hunt outside the nonsubsistence areas. ADF&G says subsistence hunting is normally managed under those same hunts.

Who Can Post a Trade

• Alaska residents. The fish or game has to come from an Alaska resident's harvest. State subsistence hunting and fishing are open to residents only (5 AAC 01.010 for finfish), and game a nonresident took cannot be traded here.
• Personal accounts only. Business accounts cannot post in Wild Game & Fish Trades. Alaska bars a licensed business, and its employees, from trading the goods or services it sells for subsistence game meat (5 AAC 92.200), and bars licensed fisheries businesses from bartering or asking to barter for subsistence salmon (5 AAC 01.010).
• Small and personal. Trade household amounts for personal and family use. Running trades as a side business makes them commercial, and the barter rules do not cover that.

What You Can Ask For in Return

Other fish or game, other food, firewood, gear or tools you own, or a service you do yourself, like help cutting and wrapping meat or a ride in your boat. It cannot be the stock or paid services of a business you own or work for. ADF&G drew that same line in its own examples: subsistence moose meat for a ride in a private boat is fine, and grocery store inventory for moose meat is not.

Never Traded on FrostBoard

The Five Nonsubsistence Areas

The state does not adopt subsistence hunting or fishing rules inside its five nonsubsistence areas: Ketchikan, Juneau, Anchorage-Mat-Su-Kenai, Fairbanks and Valdez (5 AAC 99.015 and 99.016). Fish and game taken inside them do not count as subsistence-taken, so they cannot be traded on FrostBoard. The Anchorage-Mat-Su-Kenai area covers Game Management Units 7, 14, 15 and 16(A), with a few exceptions. A moose from Unit 14 around Palmer and Wasilla, or from the Kenai Peninsula, usually comes from inside it. The ADF&G regulations describe the exact boundaries.

Before Meat Changes Hands

When unprocessed game meat or other game parts change hands, both people must be able to show a signed Transfer of Possession statement. It lists both names and addresses, both signatures, when and where the game was taken, what changed hands, and the hunting license number of the person who took it. The form is on the inside back cover of the ADF&G hunting regulations book . The person accepting the meat is responsible for making sure it was taken legally, so ask before you accept it.

Most wildlife parts can be sold in Alaska. The state's rule on buying and selling game, 5 AAC 92.200, starts from yes and then lists the exceptions, and several of them turn on an ADF&G permit or seal. The listing form asks for both, and every listing in Taxidermy, Hides, Furs & Antlers gets a quick check before it goes live.

Fine to List

• Naturally shed antlers from any species. Shed caribou antlers from Unit 23 need the pedicle still attached.
• Antlers and horns fully removed from the skull. Unit 23 caribou antlers taken off a skull can be sold only after they are made into a handicraft.
• Tanned or untanned hides of moose, caribou, deer, goat, sheep, bison, elk and muskox, whole or partial, as long as they are not rugs.
• Furs from legally taken furbearers, sealed where a seal is required.
• Black bear hides and skulls after ADF&G sealing, and wolf and wolverine skulls.
• Big game mounts, rugs and European mounts, with an ADF&G permit number in the listing. This applies even if the animal was taken outside Alaska.
• Brown bear hides with claws attached, and brown bear skulls, from areas with a two-bear bag limit, carrying the ADF&G permit number in the listing and ADF&G's permanent mark (5 AAC 92.031). Handicrafts made from brown bear fur are fine too.
• Replica fish and bird mounts with no real animal parts.

Permits and Seals

• Trophy permit. Selling a big game trophy takes an ADF&G permit (5 AAC 92.031). In Alaska a trophy includes mounts, rugs and European mounts. Big game means black bear, brown bear, bison, caribou, Sitka black-tailed deer, elk, mountain goat, moose, muskox, Dall sheep, and wolves and wolverines taken on a hunting license. ADF&G says the permit number must be in any ad for the items it covers, so put it in your listing. ADF&G trophy permits
• Seal. Sealing is ADF&G's tag and record on a hide or skull. Black and brown bear hides and skulls must be sealed before they are sold (5 AAC 92.165). So must lynx, land otter, wolf and wolverine pelts, and beaver, marten and fisher from the units ADF&G lists (5 AAC 92.170).

Trophies Sell With a Permit, Never by Trade

Alaska bars trading, or even offering to trade, any big game trophy or black bear trophy (5 AAC 92.200). A mount, rug or European mount can be sold with a permit, never swapped. Leave "trades considered" off those listings.

Never Listed

Paid tanning or mounting counts as taxidermy under state law and takes an ADF&G taxidermy license.

Alaska's homemade food law, AS 17.20.332 through 17.20.338, lets people sell food they grow or make at home without a state permit, as long as they follow a few rules. It replaced the old cottage food rule in 2025.

Rules for Every Farm Fresh Food Listing

• Label packaged food with your name, current address and phone number, plus this statement, word for word: "This food was made in a home kitchen, is not regulated or inspected, except for meat and meat products, and may contain allergens."
• Sell in Alaska only, for the buyer's own use. No shipping out of state (AS 17.20.332).
• For unpackaged food, tell the buyer before the sale that it was made under Alaska's homemade food law and is not inspected, and give them your name, address and phone number.
• Potentially hazardous food, meaning food that needs refrigeration to stay safe, like cream pies or cooked dishes, has to be sold by the person who made it. Eggs are the exception: anyone can sell them.
• Homemade food cannot be sold to or used by a restaurant or other commercial food business, except raw, unprocessed fruits and vegetables.

Goes Live the Usual Way

• Eggs from backyard or farm chickens, ducks, geese or quail. Federal rules call for keeping them at 45 degrees F or below and printing SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS on the carton (21 CFR 101.17 and 115.50).
• Fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs and microgreens.
• Raw honey.
• Baked goods.
• Jams, jellies, pickles and other preserves.

Gets a Quick Check First

• Raw milk, and yogurt, kefir, cheese, ice cream, cream or butter made from it, only from a producer registered with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Put the DEC registration number in the listing; it has to be on the label too. Keep it in Alaska and below 40 degrees F (18 AAC 32.070).
• Meat and poultry. Beef, pork, lamb or goat needs a USDA inspection mark. Poultry has to come from your own flock, raised and processed by you, 1,000 birds a year or fewer, and sold in Alaska (9 CFR 381.10).
• Other homemade food not listed above.

Not Accepted in Farm Fresh Food

A person on the FrostBoard team looks at these listings before they go live:

• Every listing in Wild Game & Fish Trades.
• Every listing in Taxidermy, Hides, Furs & Antlers.
• Farm Fresh Food listings for raw milk products, meat and poultry, or other homemade food.

Eggs, produce, honey, baked goods and preserves go live the usual way. Changing the details on an approved listing that needs the check sends it back for another look.

While You Wait

Your listing shows In review on your dashboard, and only you and the FrostBoard team can see it. A notification arrives when it goes live. If it cannot go live, the notification says why. Fix what it names and post again, or email support@frostboard.com.

The check is FrostBoard's side of the deal. It does not replace your own duty to follow the law, and FrostBoard does not confirm permits, seals, harvest records or DEC registrations with the state.

These stay off FrostBoard in every category, not only the three above:

The Community Guidelines carry the full list of prohibited items, and the Firearms Policy covers rifles, shotguns and ammunition.

• Every FrostBoard member proves who they are with a government ID before they can list, so a real name stands behind every trade and sale. Read why FrostBoard verifies every member.
• FrostBoard hosts the listing. It is not a party to any trade or sale.
• You are responsible for following Alaska and federal law, including any rule that changes after this page was updated.
• FrostBoard cooperates with Alaska Wildlife Troopers and other law enforcement investigating illegal activity.
• Meet somewhere public for the handoff. Tips for safe buying, selling and trading in Alaska.

This page is a plain-language guide, not legal advice. It sums up Alaska statutes, ADF&G regulations and federal law as they stood in September 2026. Regulations change every year, and an emergency order can change them in one area overnight. The official sources:

• ADF&G regulations (fishing, hunting, trapping and subsistence)
• ADF&G hunting and trapping regulations
• Alaska Hunting Regulations book (PDF), with the Transfer of Possession form
• ADF&G subsistence regulations
• ADF&G personal use fishing regulations
• ADF&G trophy sale permits
• Alaska homemade food law, AS 17.20.332 to 17.20.338

For a question about your own harvest or product, call ADF&G or talk with a licensed Alaska attorney.

• Use the Report button on the listing.
• Email safety@frostboard.com.
• To report a fish and game violation to the state, contact the Alaska Wildlife Troopers.

A listing that breaks these rules does not go live, or comes down if it already has. Serious or repeated violations can also lead to:

• Account suspension or a permanent ban
• Referral to law enforcement

If you think a decision was wrong, the appeals process applies here too.

Alaska's fish and game rules change often. FrostBoard updates this page when the rules it covers change, and the date at the top shows the latest update.