11-1903 - Shooting preserves.
§ 11-1903. Shooting preserves. 1. The department may, in its discretion, issue to an owner or lessee of wholly enclosed lands or an entire island a shooting preserve license permitting him to purchase, possess, rear and transport, and to release and take by shooting therein, domestic game birds legally possessed or acquired. No birds may be held for propagation after March 31 unless the owner or lessee also has a domestic game bird breeder's license as provided for in section 11-1901. In the case of leased lands, the applicant shall furnish with his application evidence of a written lease executed by each lessor covering the premises to be licensed. The license shall expire on March 31 in each year. The department shall prescribe and furnish forms for application for such license. Applicants shall pay, and the department shall be entitled to receive, fees according to the type of license issued as follows: a. Class A license, fifty dollars for the first one hundred acres and five dollars for each additional one hundred acres or portion thereof comprising the premises described in the application. This license shall allow the holder thereof to operate a commercial shooting preserve and charge a daily fee for hunting or charge a fee for each bird killed or a combination thereof. Birds may be killed by the licensee for his own use and may be sold dead or alive. b. Class B license, twenty-five dollars for the first one hundred acres and two dollars and fifty cents for each additional one hundred acres or portion thereof comprising the premises described in the application. This license shall allow the holder thereof to operate a nonprofit shooting preserve or a nonprofit club or membership shooting preserve with use limited to members and guests. Birds may be killed by the licensee for his own use but no live birds, or their eggs, or carcasses may be sold unless the licensee holds a Class A game bird breeder's license. c. Class C license, fifteen dollars for the first one hundred acres and two dollars for each additional one hundred acres or portion thereof comprising the premises described in the application. This license shall allow the holder thereof to operate a shooting preserve with use restricted to the licensee, his family and invitees, provided no fees are charged for the privilege of hunting or for birds shot. Birds may be killed by the licensee for his own use but no live birds, or their eggs, or carcasses may be sold unless the licensee holds a Class A game bird breeder's license. 2. Applications for shooting preserve licenses shall not be entertained from September 1 through March 31. 3. The department may revoke the license of any licensee convicted of a violation of this section, and no license shall be issued to him for the ensuing two years. The licensee, unless he shall waive such right, shall have an opportunity to be heard. Notice of hearing shall be given by mailing the same in writing to the licensee at the address contained in his license. Attendance of witnesses may be compelled by subpoena. Revocation shall be deemed an administrative act reviewable by the supreme court as such. 4. After March 31, 1965 the minimum acreage for a shooting preserve, under a Class A or Class B license, which is licensed for the first time or for which a previous license has not been renewed for a period of one year or more, shall be not less than one hundred acres in a contiguous block. 5. The boundaries of a shooting preserve shall be posted with appropriate signs in accordance with section 11-2111. 6. On each area or part thereof which is licensed for the first time, or for which a previous license has not been renewed for a period of oneyear or more, the licensee of premises licensed for pheasants shall make an initial liberation, to be witnessed by a representative of the department, of a number of pheasants at least fourteen weeks of age and equal to one bird for each ten acres of the licensed premises, in the ratio of one cock to four hens. This initial liberation shall not be included in the computation of liberated birds on which a shooting authorization is based. 7. Domestic game birds may not be killed, by shooting, on the premises specified in the application for the license, except under the following conditions: a. Birds must be at least fourteen weeks of age before liberation. Ducks, geese, brant and swans shall be marked by having had the hind toe of the right foot removed, except as provided in subdivision 5 of section 11-1901, and no such duck, goose, brant or swan, over four weeks of age, may be possessed, sold or killed by shooting without such mark. Birds so marked, which have escaped, may be recaptured by the licensee. Other such domestic game birds which have escaped may be recaptured by the licensee provided they are marked as prescribed in the rules and regulations of the department. Escaped birds may be recaptured only on the premises of the licensee. b. Before any shooting of domestic game birds may be done on a licensed shooting preserve the licensee must advise the department in writing of the numbers of each species of domestic game birds reared, purchased or otherwise acquired for liberation, and request and receive in writing a shooting authorization which shall state the numbers of each species of game bird that may be taken by shooting. The number of birds authorized to be taken by shooting shall not be less than eighty per cent of the number liberated. Shooting authorization shall be based on the actual number of birds on hand or on contract at the time of application for such authorization. If birds are purchased, the applicant shall submit one copy of the contract agreement signed by the purchaser and seller on forms furnished by the department. The contract shall state the name, address and license number of the party from whom purchased as well as the numbers of birds purchased and the dates of delivery. c. Ducks, geese, brant and swans liberated under this section may be taken only under rules and regulations made by the department. d. On the premises described in the application for the license, the licensee may kill domestic game birds by shooting from September 1 through March 31 and in any manner, other than by shooting, at any time, or any person may take domestic game birds by shooting from September 1 through March 31 with the consent of the licensee. When an investigation made by the department in the month of March of any year reveals that during the current shooting preserve season reasonable opportunities were not afforded to harvest domestic game birds in any area or areas of the state because of abnormal weather conditions, the department shall have power to extend by order the shooting preserve season in such area or areas for a period not to exceed 15 days. 8. The holder of a shooting preserve license shall keep records and make reports as required by and upon forms furnished by the department. The reports shall be subscribed by the licensee, and shall contain an affirmation that the statements therein are made subject to the penalties of perjury. The records shall be continuous and current and shall be kept on the licensed premises, and the licensee shall allow any representative of the department to enter upon the premises to inspect his operations and records. Records must be retained for a period of three years.9. On the premises described in the application for the license, the licensee may take any unprotected wild birds, or any predatory wildlife except protected birds, disturbing domestic game. Such birds or wildlife may be taken at any time and in any manner, except that no trap of the leg-gripping type, having teeth in the jaws or having a greater spread of jaws than six inches, shall be used for such purpose, nor shall a trap be set so that any wildlife when caught shall be suspended. Carcasses of such birds or wildlife shall be immediately buried or cremated, except that carcasses of unprotected wildlife, and of protected wildlife other than birds if taken during their respective open seasons, may be possessed, transported, bought and sold to the extent permitted by section 11-0917. 10. a. The department shall supply tags, for which the licensee shall pay a fee of five cents each, which shall be affixed to the carcass of a domestic game bird and remain so affixed until the bird is finally prepared for consumption. No domestic game birds so killed shall be possessed without such tag. Only an authorized person as provided in the rules and regulations of the department shall have in his possession such tags. b. Notwithstanding any provision in this section to the contrary, no untagged carcass may be removed from the premises except carcasses which are removed for processing. When transporting untagged carcasses for processing, the bearer must have a statement signed by the licensee stating the number of carcasses transported and the name and address of the processor. The bearer must also have in his possession tags equal in number to the carcasses transported. The processor or bearer, after picking and dressing the carcasses, shall affix the tags, furnished by the licensee, to each carcass. c. The licensee shall keep records of the number of tags used. If a shooting preserve license is not renewed on its expiration date, all unused tags on inventory shall be returned to the nearest regional office of the department not later than ten days after the expiration date of the license. There shall be no refund of money for such returned tags, which shall be immediately invalidated. d. The tagging required by this subdivision shall constitute compliance with the tagging requirements of section 11-1721. Carcasses of domestic game birds, tagged as provided in this subdivision, may be possessed and transported by all licensees under this section, and they may be bought, sold and offered for sale to the extent permitted by sections 11-1719 and 11-1723, except that no domestic duck, goose, brant or swan shall be bought, sold or killed by shooting unless marked as provided in subdivision 7 of this section. 11. Notwithstanding any provision in this section to the contrary, any person may conduct a field trial on the grounds of a shooting preserve at any time under the provisions of section 11-0927.