Bill Text: WV HB2662 | 2018 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Prohibiting the waste of game animals, game birds or game fish
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-3)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-02-06 - To Natural Resources [HB2662 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2018-HB2662-Comm_Sub.html
WEST virginia legislature
2018 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 2662
By Delegates Ambler, Cooper, Paynter, Maynard, Householder, Evans, A., Hamilton, Hicks, Eldridge and Rodighiero
[Introduced January 10, 2018; Referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §20-2-5i, relating to and prohibiting the waste of game animals, game birds or game fish and creating a misdemeanor with criminal penalties for the violation thereof.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-5i. Waste of game animals, game birds or game fish; penalties.
(a) A person may not waste a game animal, game bird or game fish (hereinafter referred to as “game”) that has been wounded, killed or taken while hunting or fishing. This section does not apply to fur-bearing animals and woodchucks or groundhogs. For purposes of this section, “waste” means:
(1) To detach or remove only the head, hide, feet, paws, claws, antlers, tusks, gall bladder or teeth or any or all of these parts from the carcass of game;
(2) To detach or remove only the feathers, fan, beard or spurs or any or all of these parts from game;
(3) To intentionally dispose of or abandon any portion of game suitable for food in the fields or woods or about the streams of the state;
(4) To leave wounded or killed game in the fields or woods or about the streams of the state without making a reasonable effort to retrieve and render it for consumption or use: Provided, That nothing in this subsection shall be construed as requiring any person to retrieve wounded game if such retrieval would constitute a violation of section seven of this article; or
(5) To transport, store or hang the carcass of game in a manner that renders it unfit for human consumption.
(b) Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to the following penalties:
(1) With respect to big game as defined in section two, article one of this chapter, a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $2,500, or confined in jail not less than ten days nor more than one hundred days, or both fined and confined. Additionally, the person shall be subject to the applicable forfeiture provisions set forth in section five-a of this article. Further, the person’s hunting and fishing licenses shall be suspended for five years.
(2) With respect to all other game a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, or confined in jail not less than ten days nor more than one hundred days, or both fined and confined.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the waste of game animals, game birds or game fish.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
