Committee advances Game Check reporting rule and agrees to resubmit donated-deer processing recovery rule after stakeholder changes

The Senate Fish, Game and Forestry Committee on Oct. 12 voted to advance the Department of Natural Resources' electronic harvest-reporting regulation (the South Carolina Game Check system) to the Senate floor and agreed to a withdraw-and-resubmit approach on a related regulation that sets procedures for processors to recover fees for processing donated deer.

Committee staff described the Game Check regulation as formalizing electronic harvest reporting for big game species (deer, bear and wild turkey) via phone, website and app. The system collects time and date of harvest, county, whether the harvest was on public or private land, and, for public-land harvests, the WMA name, weapon type, number of antler points, weight and inside antler spread. DNR biologist Charles Ruth said optional fields such as weight and antler spread may be included by hunters who have the information; the system backfills required fields if needed.

Committee members praised the first-year reporting numbers but voiced concerns about processor burdens and hunter distrust. DNR staff said hunters reported just under 175,000 deer in the first year and described the confirmation-number mechanism: a hunter receives a confirmation number and gives it to the processor, who records it. Several senators urged ongoing work with processors to reduce recordkeeping burdens and improve trust in the system.

On the donated-deer processing regulation (Reg. 5330), staff said the rule would allow processors to recover a processing fee for legally donated doe deer from an entity other than the donor (for example, a nonprofit that receives the processed venison). Committee members and DNR agreed to withdraw and resubmit the regulation to remove or revise a provision requiring processors to record certain donor data tied to the Game Check confirmation number; those language changes were described as technical and intended to address processor concerns. The committee then voted to move the resubmitted regulation to the floor.

Committee members recorded unanimous votes and noted proxies from Senators Cromer, Turner and Young in the affirmative. The transcript records committee debate, the withdraw-and-resubmit agreement, and the favorable votes; it does not show subsequent floor or implementation steps.