THE OKLAHOMA LAW JOURNAL EDITED AND PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY D. H. FERNANDES, GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA. VOL. 7. May, 1909. No. 11. NEW LAWS OF LAST OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE-GAME LAWS. AN ACT To Protect Fish, Game and Birds: Regulating Hunting, and to Prescribe Penalties for Violation, and Providing for the Enforcement thereof. (Senate Bill No. 2.) Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Oklahoma: ARTICLE 1. General Provisions. Section 1. All wild animals and wild birds, resident or migratory, found in this state are the property of the State. Section 2. For the purpose of this Act the following meaning, unless otherwise determined by the context. shall govern the language of any section: The term "person" shall include firm, corporation or association, and shall include principal, agent or employe. The term "game animal" shall include all animals protected by this Act, and any part of such animal. The term "game bird" shall include quail, partridge, pheasant, grouse, prairie chicken, wild turkey, plover, snipe, sandpiper, tatlers, curlew, woodcock, ducks, geese, brant, crane, swans, wild pigeons and turtle doves. It shall also include any part of any such bird. The "non-game bird' shall include all birds not included in the definition of game birds, and any part of any such bird. The term "sell" and, sale' shall include barter, and exchange. The term "possession" shall include both actual and constructive possession and any control of the article referred to. The terms "transport" and "transportation" shall include all carrying or moving or causing to be carried or moved. The term "hunt" shall include seeking, pursuing, wounding or killing with a gun or other destructive instrument. The term "open season" shall mean the season during which the killing of game is lawful; and the term “close season" shall mean the season during which the killing of game is unlawful. The term "bag-limit" shall mean the number of any kind of game permitted to be kille in one day or one year as the case may be. Whenever any period is named during which an act is permitted or prohibited, the first date shall be included within, and the last excluded from such period. Section 3. It shall be unlawful to sell or offer or expose for sale at any time any game animal, game bird or nongame bird, or the nest or eggs of any bird protected by law, except that all game seized under the provisions of this Act shall be sold, and the proceeds shall be paid out, one-half to the officer seizing the same and the other half to the State Game Warden for the benefit of the game protection fund; Provided, however, that all live birds seized by any officer or Game Warden shall be turned loose in some suitable locality. Provided, that this section shall not apply to animals or birds held in captivity in accordance with the laws of this State. Section 4. It shall be unlawful to transport, or have in posession with intent to transport, from the State of Oklahoma to any point beyond its boundaries any game animal, game bird, or non-game bird, or the nest or eggs of any bird, except as provided by the laws of this State or to transport, or have in possession for the purpose of transportation, such game or non-game birds, to any point within this State; except that persons may carry with them to any point within the State all game or fish lawfully purchased, taken or killed. Section 5. Any railroad or express company or other common carrier which receives for transportation or transports any of the birds or animals mentioned in this Act, except as provided by law, shall forfeit to the Game Protection Fund, as hereinafter provided for, a sum of not less than one hundred nor` more than five hundred dollars. Any agent, servant or employee of any such company or any individual who receives for transportation or who does transport any of such birds or animals, or any person offering for shipment any of such birds or animals shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars. Such fine shall be converted into the Game Protection Fund. The forfeiture herein provided for by companies engaged in transportation shall be recovered by an action instituted in any court of competent jurisdiction by any county attorney or by the Attorney-General of the State. It shall be obligatory on all railroads and express companies in this State to keep a copy of this Act on file at each shipping office in this State for the information of employees. Section 6. All prosecutions for violations of this Act, or any Act amendatory hereof, shall be begun within one year from the time such violation ocourred. Section 7. It shall be unlawful to take or destroy at any time the nest or egg of any game bird or non-game bird, except as specifically permitted by law. Section 8. It shall be unlawful to shoot at any game animals, game birds or non-game birds, on, from or across any public road or highway or railroad right of way. Section 9. It shall be unlawful for any person to fish or hunt upon the lands of another without the consent of the owner or occupant of said land; Provided, that such consent shall not be required for hunting or fishing upon unoccupied lands, except where notice of objection is conspicuously posted upon the premises by the owner or his agent; Provided, on lands of the State not leased or occupied, permission shall not be required to fish or hunt; and provided, further, that prosecutions for violations of this section can be commenced only upon the complaint of such owner or occupant filed before any court authorized to punish such violation, or upon written conplaint to any Game Warden or officer authorized to make arrests for such offence. It shall be unlawful to use at any time for the purpose of killing or capturing any game animal, game bird or non-game bird, any trap, net, snare, cage, pitfall, baited hook, or similar device, or any drug, poison, narcotic or explosive, or similar substance, or any swivel or punt gun, or any other gun of greater caliber than ten-gauge except that the Warden or his deputies may capture birds for propagating purposes in any suitable manner. Any person found guilty of a violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars. Section 11. It shall be unlawful to kill or capture, or attempt to kill or capture, any game bird or game animal at night; that is to say, between one-half hour after sunset and one-hour before sunrise. Section 12. The possession of game in close season, except as by law provided, shall be prima facie evidence that such game was taken in close season, except that domesticated animals or birds, or the offspring or eggs thereof, shall not be subject to the provisions of this Act, The possession of ducks, geese, brant, crane or swans by any person who at the time has in possession any swivel or punt gun or any gun of larger caliber than number 10 gauge, shall be prima facie evidence that such birds were killed with such gun. Mention of game or birds on the menu of any hotel, restaurant or bording house shall be prima facie evidence that such game or birds are in the possession of the proprietor of such hotel restaurant or boarding house, and that he is offering them for sale. ARTICLE 2. Section 1. The opening season for killing deer shall be from November 1 to December 1 of each year, and it shall be unlawful to kill any deer without horns, or more than one buck deer with horns by any one person in one hunting season. it shall be unlawful to hunt or chase deer or antelope at any time with dogs. It shall be unlawful to hunt, shoot at, or chase in any manner any antelope within this State for a period of five years from the date of taking effect of this Act, and thereafter only from November 1 to December 1, and the limit for open season shall be one buck antelope. Section 2. It shall be unlawful to hunt, capture or kill any quail, Mexican or blue quail, except from November 15 to February 1; or any wild turkey gobbler from March 15 to April 15, and three wild turkeys from November 15 to January 1, or any prairie chicken except from September 1 to November 1, or any snipe' plover, curlew, or other shore bird, or any duck, goose, brant, crane or swan, except from August 15 to may 1, or any Mongolian, Chinese, English, ring-neck or other pheasant until November 1. 1914, and thereafter only from November 1 to December 1, or any passenger pigeon at any time. Provided, that it shall be unlawlul to kill or capture or to shoot at any of the game or birds numerated in this Act, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday. Any person violating this provision shall be guilty or a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty five dollars, (25) nor more than one hundred (100) dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30) days, or both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the Court. Section 3. It shall be unlawful to exceed the following bag limit; Wild turkey, as provided in Section 2 of Article 2 of this Act; swan one in a season; prairie chicken, fifteen in a day, one hundred in a season; goose or brant, ten in a day; quail, plover, curlew, ducks, snipe, or other shore birds, twenty-five in day, one hundred and fifty in a season. Section 4. It shall be unlawful to have any game animal or game birds in possession except during the open sea. |