Cal. Fish & Game Code § 3801.6

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this code or regulations adopted pursuant to this code, it is unlawful to possess the carcass, skin, or other part of any nongame bird. The feathers, carcass, skin, or parts of any nongame bird possessed by any person in violation of any of the provisions of this code shall be seized by the department and delivered to a California Native American tribal government or a scientific or educational institution, used by the department, or destroyed.

(b) (1) It shall be an affirmative defense to a violation of this section if the possessor of feathers, carcass, skin, or other part of a nongame bird legally acquired the feathers, carcass, skin, or other part, possesses them for tribal, cultural, or spiritual purposes, and satisfies either of the following criteria: (A) The possessor is an enrolled member of a federally recognized Native American tribe or nonfederally recognized California Native American tribe listed on the California Tribal Consultation List maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission and has, in their immediate possession, valid tribal identification or other irrefutable proof of current enrollment. (B) The possessor has a certificate of degree of Indian blood issued by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs in their immediate possession. (2) Nothing in this section allows any person to sell the feathers, carcass, skin, or other part of a nongame bird. (3) A Native American satisfying the criteria that would constitute an affirmative defense under paragraph (1) may salvage dead nongame birds so long as the person salvaging the nongame bird does not possess, nor is in the company of any person who possesses, a firearm, BB device as defined in Section 16250 of the Penal Code, trap, snare, net archery equipment, device capable of discharging a projectile, or any apparatus designed to take a bird. (4) Salvaging shall not take place by any person involved in the take of the nongame bird to be salvaged, any person present at the time of the take, or by any person who received related information originating from any person present at the time of the take of the nongame bird. (5) Salvaging pursuant to this subdivision shall not take place if a bird has been struck with any thrown or discharged projectile, or trapped, netted, caught, or snared.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), an officer deputized pursuant to this code may interrupt an ongoing salvaging of a dead nongame bird carcass, feathers, skin, or part if, in the officer’s judgment, the activity causes a public disruption, safety hazard, or is detrimental to the ability of the department to prevent a possible violation of this section. In that event, the officer may seize the carcass, feathers, skin, or part being salvaged, or may return the carcass, feathers, skin, or part to the general location from where it had been salvaged.