Thank you! I’ve been tying since the mid 60’s, and used to do a lot of Squirrel hunting. I have looked into what Mepps buys, but it was always more practical for me to just use the tails, or sell them to other tyers. When you start trying to make a business with anything involving fish & game, and all the different regulations that might apply, there can be a lot of them, and every state can have different laws. I grew up & lived in MD for many years, and there, they have laws pertaining to bears, but I never saw that the use of the hair was regulated, only as it applied to legally taking them. The hair is sold by many fly shops, and there’s plenty of flies & jigs sold that use it. But, here in SC, by how that law is worded, I cannot sell any flies or lures tied with it, even if I can prove I had acquired the hair legally. So, the point is, to making sure you’re operating within all laws that apply. I had the thought of selling minnows and worms years ago in MD, and local earthworms or night crawlers that I could dig up had no regulations at all that applied. MD does have laws that restrict importing any animal, or otherwise, so even that can apply. I was told by the MDDNR, that as far as trapping or netting minnows, there was no restriction, but I would need a bait traders license if I imported and sold wholesale to stores. That has more to do with invasive species than it does with fishing baits. The only other issue would have been with the young of gamefish, or any fish that had a seasonal or size limit applied to it, because some are not legal to sell at all, and size & creel limits still applied. So, all of this can be complex depending on the laws that might apply. I’ve also processed furs & such from trapping I did, and sold the fur as fly tying material, and that too can get into the letter of the laws. For example, Otter & beaver in MD, the raw fur had to be tagged, and could not be otherwise processed or disposed of without that tag, and that information recorded with the MD DNR. Other fur, if still raw, all I had to do was have it tanned or I could dye it and it was considered as processed and “manufactured” where the laws for raw fur no longer applied. SC has similar laws pertaining to fur trapping and fur buying. If I was to want to buy raw fur to process & use in my fishing tackle business, I would need a fur buyers license, but if it’s been tanned, there’s no requirement for having the license. So again, it all depends on the laws that might apply, and to start a business like the OP wants to do, he needs to make sure he’s compliant with all laws. BTW, I have a daughter in law, who has a Master’s Degree in International Compliance, and that’s what she does for the company she works for, makes sure they are operating within any laws that may apply to them doing business, no matter where in the world, and that can really get complicated. CA, now has a law that makes it illegal to buy or sell any “new” fur, but does allow selling “old” fur, such as old fur garments. The trouble is, it’s not really well defined what is “new” or what is “old”. I had some tanned fox tails listed on EBay, and a guy in CA tried to buy one for tying flies and I had to refund his payment, knowing it’s illegal to sell it there. He knew it too, but still tried! The risk would have been if it got reported to CA law enforcement, and then how the tails would be considered, as new or old. That’s not worth the risk to me. Also potentially, if a kid in CA kills several Squirrels hunting legally, and wants to sell the tails, and does, the kid could be breaking their laws, and may not even know it.
