If you’re planning on bartering emergency stockpiles and supplies in the event of a disaster then be sure to check applicable state and Federal laws or you may end up being the subject of a sting operation, as was the case with Chad Gerondale of Alaska.

Bartering may have been a necessary trade practiced by the earliest of our human ancestors, but in a society where central planning and control is the status quo, even the exchange of food or services becomes an illegal act:

Chad Gerondale, 41, has hired well-known Fairbanks attorney Bill Satterberg to represent him in the “meat for heat” case, as it has been dubbed by online spectators.

“I’ve got a lot to say about it but (Satterberg) told me not to,” Gerondale told the News-Miner Tuesday morning when he returned phone messages left during the weekend.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers last week issued Gerondale a summons to appear in court on Feb. 3 to be arraigned on a misdemeanor charge of illegal barter of game meat. Troopers issued a news release Friday stating Gerondale had been cited for agreeing to trade 125 pounds of moose meat for two cords of firewood.

Buying, selling or bartering of game meat, except snowshoe hares, is illegal. The one exception is caribou meat in northern and western Alaska (units 22-26) may be bartered, but the meat cannot be taken out of those units.

Gerondale allegedly offered to swap moose meat for firewood on the radio show, Tradio, which airs on KFAR 660 AM.

“The allegations are the guy was on Tradio and said, ‘I need some firewood and I’m willing to trade some moose meat,’” Satterberg said.

Trooper Ken Vanspronsen contacted Gerondale to make a deal and then showed up at his house and issued him a citation, Satterberg said.

…

“If you say, ‘I’ve got some moose meat; you’ve got some salmon, let’s trade,’ that’s a crime,” Satterberg said. “Simply making the statement is the crime. That’s a serious First Amendment question.”

What the law says:

AS16.05.920. Prohibited Conduct Generally.

(a) Unless permitted by AS16.05-AS16.40, by AS41.14, or by regulation adopted under AS16.05-AS16.40 or AS41.14, a person may not take, possess, transport, sell, offer to sell, purchase, or offer to purchase fish, game, or marine aquatic plants, or any part of fish, game, or aquatic plants, or a nest or egg of fish or game.

Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

The lesson here is that if you plan on bartering, illegal or not, keep it a private matter. Government minions, whether on the Federal level, or local law enforcement, have nothing better to do than to interfere in the business of private individuals.