CHAPTER 10. WILDLIFE REGULATION
IC 14-22-10
Chapter 10. Wildlife Regulation
IC 14-22-10-1
Consent to use private land
Sec. 1. A person may not:
(1) fish, hunt, trap, or chase;
(2) shoot with any kind of firearm or archery equipment;
(3) search for or gather any plant life (defined as the members
of the kingdoms Fungi and Plantae); or
(4) search for or gather any artifacts (as defined in
IC 14-21-1-2);
upon privately owned land without having the consent of the owner
or tenant of the land.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15. Amended by P.L.186-2003,
SEC.59.
IC 14-22-10-2
Restrictions on landowner liability to recreational users
Sec. 2. (a) As used in this section and section 2.5 of this chapter,
"governmental entity" means any of the following:
(1) The government of the United States of America.
(2) The state of Indiana.
(3) A county.
(4) A city.
(5) A town.
(6) A township.
(7) The following, if created by the Constitution of the United
States, the Constitution of the State of Indiana, a statute, an
ordinance, a rule, or an order:
(A) An agency.
(B) A board.
(C) A commission.
(D) A committee.
(E) A council.
(F) A department.
(G) A district.
(H) A public body corporate and politic.
(b) As used in this section and section 2.5 of this chapter,
"monetary consideration" means a fee or other charge for permission
to go upon a tract of land. The term does not include:
(1) the gratuitous sharing of game, fish, or other products of the
recreational use of the land;
(2) services rendered for the purpose of wildlife management;
or
(3) contributions in kind made for the purpose of wildlife
management.
(c) As used in this section and section 2.5 of this chapter, "owner"
means a governmental entity or another person that:
(1) has a fee interest in;
(2) is a tenant, a lessee, or an occupant of; or
(3) is in control of;
a tract of land.
(d) A person who goes upon or through the premises, including
caves, of another:
(1) with or without permission; and
(2) either:
(A) without the payment of monetary consideration; or
(B) with the payment of monetary consideration directly or
indirectly on the person's behalf by an agency of the state or
federal government;
for the purpose of swimming, camping, hiking, sightseeing, or any
other purpose (other than the purposes described in section 2.5 of
this chapter) does not have an assurance that the premises are safe for
the purpose.
(e) The owner of the premises does not:
(1) assume responsibility; or
(2) incur liability;
for an injury to a person or property caused by an act or failure to act
of other persons using the premises.
(f) This section does not affect the following:
(1) Existing Indiana case law on the liability of owners or
possessors of premises with respect to the following:
(A) Business invitees in commercial establishments.
(B) Invited guests.
(2) The attractive nuisance doctrine.
(g) This section does not excuse the owner or occupant of
premises from liability for injury to a person or property caused by
a malicious or an illegal act of the owner or occupant.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15. Amended by P.L.178-1995, SEC.3;
P.L.138-1997, SEC.2; P.L.75-1998, SEC.2.
IC 14-22-10-2.5
Restrictions on landowner liability to hunters, fishers, and trappers
Sec. 2.5. (a) A person who goes upon or through the premises,
including caves, of another:
(1) with or without permission; and
(2) either:
(A) without the payment of monetary consideration; or
(B) with the payment of monetary consideration directly or
indirectly on the person's behalf by an agency of the state or
federal government;
for the purpose of hunting, fishing, trapping, or preparing to hunt,
fish, or trap, does not have an assurance that the premises are safe for
that purpose.
(b) The owner of the premises does not:
(1) assume responsibility; or
(2) incur liability;
for an injury to a person or property caused by an act or failure to act
of other persons using the premises.
(c) This section does not affect Indiana case law on the liability
of owners or possessors of premises with respect to the following:
(1) Business invitees in commercial establishments.
(2) The attractive nuisance doctrine.
(d) This section does not excuse the owner or occupant of
premises from liability for injury to a person or property caused by
a malicious or an illegal act of the owner or occupant.
As added by P.L.75-1998, SEC.3.
IC 14-22-10-3
Transportation of fish and game outside state
Sec. 3. (a) A person may not take, carry, ship, transport, or accept
for shipment or transportation outside Indiana a wild animal
protected by Indiana law, except as provided in this article.
(b) A person having a license to use a commercial fishing device
in Indiana may ship, carry, or transport outside Indiana fish that the
person has legally taken or caught by the commercial fishing device.
(c) A person having a license to hunt, trap, or fish in Indiana may
do the following:
(1) Carry, transport, or ship outside Indiana, in open season, in
one (1) day, a wild animal that the person has legally taken in
open season, not to exceed in number the possession limit of the
wild animal.
(2) Ship, carry, or take outside Indiana in one (1) week more
than two (2) times the possession limit for the wild animal.
(d) Hides and furs of furbearing animals legally taken in open
season may be shipped or carried outside Indiana in any number:
(1) during the open season; or
(2) within five (5) days after the last day of the open season.
(e) A person having a breeder's license may ship, carry, or
transport outside Indiana a wild animal that the person has legally
possessed under the breeder's license in Indiana.
(f) A person may not ship, carry, or transport or accept for
transportation or shipment to a place in Indiana or outside Indiana a
wild animal unless the wild animal is enclosed in a package or
container on which there is clearly, legibly, and conspicuously
marked on the outside of the package or container the following
information:
(1) The name and address of the shipper and the consignee.
(2) An accurate statement of the number or quantities and kinds
of wild animals contained.
The shipper shall produce the license required under this article
authorizing the person to take or possess the wild animal. If the wild
animal is carried by the licensee personally, the wild animal shall be
carried openly for inspection, together with the license.
(g) A person having a mussel buyer's license may ship legally
taken mussels or mussel shells outside Indiana.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15.
IC 14-22-10-4
Possession of fish or game taken in foreign nation or state
Sec. 4. (a) A resident of Indiana who has a nonresident hunting or
fishing license issued by another state or country may possess in
Indiana the number of wild animals that the resident could and did
legally kill, take, and possess under authority of the nonresident
license in the state or country issuing the license, under the rules
provided in this article.
(b) A person may not possess a wild animal taken, killed, and
possessed in another state or country if the taking, killing, or
possession of the wild animal is illegal in the state or country issuing
the nonresident license.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15.
IC 14-22-10-5
Wild animals illegally taken or accidentally killed
Sec. 5. The title to a wild animal illegally taken or accidentally
killed in violation of this article or IC 14-2 (before its repeal) does
not vest in the taker of the wild animal, but remains in the state. The
director shall do the following:
(1) Seize and confiscate the wild animal in the name of the state
of Indiana.
(2) Sell or dispose of the wild animal.
(3) Deposit proceeds, if any, into the fish and wildlife fund.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15.
IC 14-22-10-6
Liability for destruction of wild animals by pollutant
Sec. 6. (a) A person who, whether or not the person has been
issued a certificate of approval, license, permit, or other document of
approval authorized by this article or any other Indiana law,
discharges, sprays, or releases waste materials, chemicals, or other
substances:
(1) either accidentally, negligently, or willfully;
(2) in any quantity, concentration, or manner onto or in any
water of Indiana, the boundary waters of the state, or onto or in
public or private land; and
(3) so that wild animals are killed as a result;
is responsible for the kill.
(b) The director shall, in the name of the state, recover damages
from the person. Upon receipt of the estimates of the damages
caused, the director shall notify the attorney general.
(c) The attorney general shall notify the persons responsible for
the destruction of wild animals in question and may effect a
settlement that the attorney general and the director consider proper
and reasonable. If a settlement is not reached within a reasonable
time, the attorney general shall bring a civil action to recover the
damage in an appropriate court in the county in which the discharge
of material responsible for the death of wild animals took place.
(d) The proceeds of a recovery shall be used to replace, as far as
and as promptly as possible, in whatever manner the director
considers proper, the wild animal population or habitat in the waters
or lands in question. If the improvement of the wild animal
population or habitat in question is not practicable, the proceeds shall
be deposited into the fish and wildlife fund.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15.
IC 14-22-10-7
Effort to retrieve crippled or killed wild animals
Sec. 7. A person may not kill or cripple a wild animal without
making a reasonable effort to retrieve the animal and include the
animal in the person's daily bag limit.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15.
IC 14-22-10-8
Fish and game preserves
Sec. 8. (a) The director may designate and set aside waters
containing state owned fish and waters of the state (including any
part of the boundary waters of the state) for the purpose of
improvement and propagation of the wild animal population. The
director shall designate the general extent and limits or periphery by
erecting appropriate signs.
(b) A person may not remove or disturb the signs erected under
subsection (a) without authorization.
(c) A person may not take, catch, kill, or pursue for the purpose
of taking, catching, or killing a wild animal from a designated area
during the time the area is designated.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15.
IC 14-22-10-9
Interstate agreements on boundary waters
Sec. 9. (a) If necessary for the better protection of wild animals in
or on the boundary waters of the state, the director may enter into an
interstate agreement or compact for and in behalf of the state with
any other state bordering the waters through the administrative or
executive officer granted similar power by the other state's
legislature.
(b) An agreement or a compact may establish the following:
(1) Uniform open seasons on the animals in or on the water.
(2) Uniform restrictions on the type and amount of gear and the
method of use.
(3) Uniform restrictions for weights or size of wild animals
taken.
(4) Uniform method of measurement of mesh.
(5) Any other restriction on gear used or the possession or sale
of wild animals taken from the water, if the restrictions are for
the better protection of the wild animals in the water.
As added by P.L.1-1995, SEC.15.
IC 14-22-10-10
State as sole regulator
Sec. 10. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the state is the
sole regulator of the trapping of wild animals in Indiana, and
trapping is regulated only by:
(1) statutes; and
(2) rules adopted under IC 4-22-2 by authority of statute.
(b) A unit of local government may not regulate in any way the
trapping of wild animals, except for the trapping of wild animals on
or in land, buildings, or other real property that is owned by the unit
of local government.
As added by P.L.52-2001, SEC.5.
IC 14-22-10-11
Regulation of raptors
Sec. 11. (a) As used in this section, "raptor" means a live
migratory bird of the order Falconiformes or the order Strigiformes,
other than a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) or a golden eagle
(Aquila chrysaetos).
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), a unit of local
government may not regulate in any way the ownership, possession,
sale, transfer, or transportation of a raptor while Indiana is on the list
of states meeting federal falconry standards maintained under 50
CFR 21.29(k).
(c) Subsection (b) does not apply to raptors on or in land,
buildings, or other real property, other than a highway or public
highway, that is owned by a unit of local government.
As added by P.L.52-2001, SEC.6.