20.1-01 General Provisions

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TITLE 20.1GAME, FISH, PREDATORS, AND BOATINGCHAPTER 20.1-01GENERAL PROVISIONS20.1-01-01. General penalty. Any person violating a provision of this chapter for whicha penalty is not specifically provided is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.20.1-01-02. Definitions. In this title, unless the context otherwise requires:1."Afield" means being away from one's home or camp. The term does not include driving or being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle in violation of section 39-08-01 or equivalent ordinance.2."Any part thereof" or "the parts thereof" includes the hide, horns, or hoofs of any animal specified and the plumage, skin, and every other part of any bird specified.3."Aquatic nuisance species" means any nonindigenous, obligate aquatic species of plant or animal which is injurious to native and desirable aquatic species or which has a negative effect on aquatic habitats, environment, or the economy of the state.4."Associated equipment" means:a.Any system, part, or component of a boat as originally manufactured or any similar part or component manufactured or sold for replacement, repair, or improvement of such system, part, or component;b.Any accessory or equipment for, or appurtenance to, a boat; andc.Any marine safety article, accessory, or equipment intended for use by a person on board a boat; butd.Excluding radio equipment.5."Big game" means deer, moose, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and antelope.6."Boat" means any vessel:a.Manufactured or used primarily for noncommercial use;b.Leased, rented, or chartered to another for the latter's noncommercial use; orc.Engaged in the carrying of six or fewer passengers.7."Confiscate" or "confiscated" means to hold subject to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.8."Consideration" means something of value given or done in exchange for something of value given or done by another.9."Day leasing" means the practice of an outfitter entering a short-term lease agreement that is intended to and does last less than twenty-four hours.10."Department" means the game and fish department.11."Deputy director" means the deputy director of the department.Page No. 112."Director" means the director of the department.13."Endangered species" means any species whose prospects of survival or recruitment within the state are in jeopardy due to any of the following factors:a.The destruction, drastic modification, or severe curtailment of its habitat.b.Its overutilization for scientific, commercial, or sporting purposes.c.The effect on it of disease, pollution, or predation.d.Other natural or manmade factors affecting its prospects of survival or recruitment within the state.e.Any combination of the foregoing factors.The term also includes any species classified as endangered pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, Public Law 93-205.14."Established road or trail" means any public highway or road, improved or otherwise, dedicated for public ingress or egress, or any other road or trail normally used for travel but does not include temporary trails across cultivated land used for agricultural purposes.15."Fur-bearers" includes mink, muskrats, weasels, wolverines, otters, martens, fishers, kit or swift foxes, beavers, raccoons, badgers, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, lynx, mountain lions, black bears, and red or gray foxes.16."Game birds" includes all varieties of geese, brant, swans, ducks, plovers, snipes, woodcocks, grouse, sagehens, pheasants, Hungarian partridges, quails, partridges, cranes, rails, coots, wild turkeys, mourning doves, and crows.17."Guide" means an individual who is employed by or contracts with a licensed outfitter to help the outfitter furnish personal services for the conduct of outdoor recreational activities directly related to the conduct of activities for which the employing outfitter is licensed.18."Gun dogs" includes any dog used to hunt protected wildlife.19."Harmful wild birds" includes blackbirds, magpies, English sparrows, and starlings.20."Harmless wild birds" includes all wild birds not defined herein as "harmful wild birds" or "game birds".21."Hunt" or "hunting" means shooting, shooting at, pursuing, taking, attempting to take, or killing any game animals and game birds; searching for or attempting to locate or flush any game animals and game birds; luring, calling, or attempting to attract game animals and game birds; hiding for the purpose of taking or attempting to take game animals and game birds; and walking, crawling, or advancing toward wildlife while possessing implements or equipment useful in the taking of game animals or game birds.The term does not include possessing or using photographicequipment.22."Indian land" means land within the exterior boundaries of an Indian reservation held in trust by the federal government for the benefit of an Indian tribe or an Indian and land within the exterior boundaries of an Indian reservation owned in fee by an Indian tribe or an Indian.Page No. 223."Introduce" means to place, release, or allow the escape of a nonnative species into a free-living state.24."Manufacturer" means any person engaged in:a.The manufacture, construction, or assembly of boats or associated equipment.b.The manufacture or construction of components for boats and associated equipment to be sold for subsequent assembly.c.The importation into the state for sale of boats, associated equipment, or components thereof.25."Motorboat" means any vessel propelled by machinery, whether or not the machinery is the principal source of propulsion. The term does not include a vessel having a valid marine document issued by the bureau of customs of the United States government or any federal agency successor thereto.26."Motor-driven vehicle" means any land vehicle, with or without wheels, that is propelled by any motor.27."Native aquatic species" means an animal or plant species that is naturally present and reproducing within this state or which naturally expands from its historic range into this state.28."Nonnative species" means a species that is not a native species.29."Operate" means to navigate or otherwise use a motorboat or a vessel.30."Outfitter" means a person that holds the person's business operation out to the public for hire or consideration; provides facilities or services for consideration; maintains, leases, or otherwise provides compensation for the use of land and which receives compensation from a third party for use of that land; or otherwise uses equipment or accommodations for consideration for the conduct of outdoor recreational activities, including hunting animals or birds and fishing on lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and streams. An outfitter may act as a guide. The term does not include a person holding title or an equitable interest in business operations if the purpose of the business operation is to provide food or lodging to the general public, chamber of commerce activities, travel agencies, or others that offer free information to attract outdoor and recreational use of their communities.31."Owner" means a person, other than a lienholder, having the property in or title to a motorboat.The term includes a person entitled to the use or possession of amotorboat subject to an interest in another person, reserved or created by agreement and securing payment or performance of an obligation, but the term excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security.32."Passenger" means every person carried on board a vessel other than:a.The owner or the owner's representative.b.The operator.c.Bona fide members of the crew engaged in the business of the vessel who have contributed no consideration for their carriage and who are paid for their services.Page No. 3d.Any guest on board a vessel which is being used exclusively for pleasure purposes who has not contributed any consideration, directly or indirectly, for that person's carriage.33."Person" includes every partnership, association, corporation, and limited liability company. No violation of this title may be excused because it was done as the agent or employee of another, nor because it was committed by or through an agent or employee of the person charged.34."Personal watercraft" means a motorboat that is powered by an inboard motor powering a water jet pump or by an inboard or outboard marine engine and which is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling on the craft, rather than in a conventional manner of sitting or standing inside a motorboat.35."Possession" means control, actual possession, and constructive possession of the article or thing specified.36."Private fish hatchery" means a body of water, whether natural or artificial, and any other facilities used, maintained, or operated by any private person, firm, corporation, or limited liability company for the propagation and production of fish for sale or planting in other waters. Except in the case of trout, walleye, northern pike, and crappie, which may be raised in a private fish hatchery without the director's approval, the director may, by rule, regulate the species of fish which may be raised in a private fish hatchery. No waters stocked by any state or federal governmental agency may be considered a private fish hatchery.37."Public waters" means waters to which the general public has a right to access.38."Resident" means any person who has actually lived within this state or maintained that person's residence therein for at least six months immediately preceding the date that residence is to be determined. A person's residence is the place where the person remains when not called elsewhere for special or temporary purposes. A resident can only have one residence and a residence cannot be lost until another is gained. A residence or home is a permanent building or part of a building and may include a house, condominium, apartment, room in a house, or mobile home. A rental property, vacant lot, or house, cabin, or premises used primarily for business or recreational pursuits may not be considered a residence. A "nonresident" is any person who has not actually lived within this state or maintained that person's residence within this state for at least six months immediately preceding the date that residence is to be determined.39."Resident species" means any species nearly all of whose individuals in this state are located within this state for at least three-fourths of annual cycle of the species.40."Retrieve" means to have taken possession and made ready for transportation.41."Sell" and "sale" means any sale or offer to sell, or possession with intent to sell, use, or dispose of, the article or thing specified, contrary to law.42."Shooting preserve" or "preserve" means any privately owned or leased acreage [hectarage] on which hatchery-raised game birds are released to be hunted for a fee over an extended season.43."Sinkbox" or "sunken device" means a raft or any type of low floating device having a depression that affords a hunter a means of concealing that person below the surface of the water.44."Slow or no wake speed" means the slowest possible speed necessary to maintain steerage.Page No. 445."Small game" includes all game birds and tree squirrels.46."Species" includes any subspecies of wildlife and any other group of wildlife of the same species or smaller taxa in common spatial arrangement that interbreed when mature.47."Threatened species" means any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future and includes any species classified as threatened pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, Public Law 93-205.48."Transport" means to cause or attempt to cause a species to be carried or moved into or within the state and includes accepting or receiving the species for transportation or shipment. The term does not include the unintentional transport of a species while on a specific water of the state or to a connected water of the state where the species being transported is already present.49."Undocumented vessel" means a vessel which does not have a valid marine document as a vessel of the United States.50."Vessel" means any watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.51."Waterfowl" includes all varieties of geese, brant, swans, ducks, rails, and coots.52."Waters" when not qualified means waters not open to the general public.53."Waters of the state" means all waters of this state, including boundary waters. This title extends to and is in force and effect over, upon, and in all such waters.54."Wildlife" means any member of the animal kingdom including any mammal, fish, bird (including any migratory, nonmigratory, or endangered bird for which protection is also afforded by treaty or other international agreement), amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, or other invertebrate, and includes any part, product, egg, or offspring thereof, or the dead body or parts thereof.Wildlife does not includedomestic animals as defined by section 36-01-00.1 or birds or animals held in private ownership.20.1-01-03. Ownership and control of wildlife is in the state - Damages - Scheduleof monetary values - Civil penalty. The ownership of and title to all wildlife within this state is in the state for the purpose of regulating the enjoyment, use, possession, disposition, and conservation thereof, and for maintaining action for damages as herein provided. Any person catching, killing, taking, trapping, or possessing any wildlife protected by law at any time or in any manner is deemed to have consented that the title thereto remains in this state for the purpose of regulating the taking, use, possession, and disposition thereof. The state, through the office of attorney general, may institute and maintain any action for damages against any person who unlawfully causes, or has caused within this state, the death, destruction, or injury of wildlife, except as may be authorized by law. The state has a property interest in all protected wildlife. This interest supports a civil action for damages for the unlawful destruction of wildlife by willful or grossly negligent act or omission. The director shall adopt by rule a schedule of monetary values of various species of wildlife, the values to represent the replacement costs of the wildlife and the value lost to the state due to the destruction or injury of the species, together with other material elements of value.In any action brought under this section, the schedule constitutes themeasure of recovery for the wildlife killed or destroyed. Notwithstanding the director's schedule of monetary values, an individual who unlawfully takes a bighorn sheep, elk, or moose is subject to a civil penalty for the replacement value of the animal of five thousand dollars for a bighorn sheep, three thousand dollars for an elk, and two thousand dollars for a moose. For a male bighorn sheep, elk, or moose over two and one-half years of age, the civil penalty for the replacement value of the animal is an additional fifty percent of the penalty. The funds recoveredPage No. 5must be deposited in the general fund, and devoted to the propagation and protection of desirable species of wildlife.20.1-01-04.Attorney general, state's attorneys, sheriffs, and peace officers toenforce game and fish laws. The attorney general, and all state's attorneys, sheriffs, and other peace officers shall enforce this title. The attorney general and the state's attorney of the county in which an action is to be brought or is pending shall appear for the director in all civil actions in which the director or any of the game wardens may be interested officially and shall appear in the prosecution of criminal actions arising under this title.20.1-01-05. Unauthorized methods of taking game birds and game animals. Exceptas otherwise provided in this title, no person, for the purpose of catching, taking, killing, or raising any game birds or game animals may:1.Set, lay, or prepare any trap, snare, artificial light, net, birdlime, swivel gun, or any other device, except that the use of snares for taking coyotes is allowed under section 20.1-07-03.1;2.Drag, in any manner, any wire, rope, or other contrivance; or3.Use or cause to be used, except for transportation, any floating device or apparatus operated by electricity, steam, or gasoline, or any other floating vessel.20.1-01-06.Being afield with gun or other firearm or bow and arrow whileintoxicated prohibited - Penalty. No person may be afield at any time, with a gun or other firearm or a bow and arrow, while intoxicated or under the influence of alcoholic beverages or drugs. Upon conviction of a person for violating this section, that person's hunting license is void. The judge of the convicting court shall take the license, mark it revoked, and send it to the department.If the conviction is reversed on appeal, the license must be restored to thedefendant. Game wardens, including special wardens, have the authority of a general peace officer in the enforcement of this section. In addition to the penalty provided in this chapter, any person convicted of committing a subsequent offense under this section is ineligible for a hunting license in this state for two years from and after the conviction.20.1-01-07. Hunting big game or small game other than waterfowl or cranes withmotor-driven vehicles prohibited - Exception - Motor-driven vehicle use in transporting big game restricted. Except as provided in subsection 10 of section 20.1-02-05 and as otherwise provided in this section, a person, other than the landowner, without the written permission of the landowner or a lessee who actively farms or ranches that land, while hunting big game or small game, other than waterfowl or cranes, statewide, may not use a motor-driven vehicle on any land other than an established road or trail, unless that person has reduced a big game animal to possession and cannot easily retrieve the big game animal, in which case a motor-driven vehicle may be used to retrieve the big game animal, but after retrieval, the motor-driven vehicle must be returned to the established road or trail along the same route it originally departed. A person may not use a motor-driven vehicle on any land other than an established road or trail to hunt upland game during the deer gun season. For purposes of safety and allowing normal travel, a motor-driven vehicle may be parked on the roadside or directly adjacent to said road or trail. No person, while hunting big game or small game, statewide, may drive or attempt to drive, run or attempt to run, molest or attempt to molest, flush or attempt to flush, or harass or attempt to harass any such game with the use or aid of any motor-driven vehicle. A person, other than the landowner, without the written permission of the landowner or a lessee who actively farms or ranches that land, while hunting big game or small game, other than waterfowl or cranes, statewide, may not drive through any retired cropland, brush area, slough area, timber area, open prairie, or unharvested or harvested cropland, except upon an established road or trail. The provisions of this section relating to hunting big game or small game while using a motor-driven vehicle on any land other than an established road or trail without the written permission of the landowner or a lessee who actually farms or ranches that land do not apply to the hunting of big game during an open and lawful season for small game.Page No. 620.1-01-08. Hunting with artificial light prohibited - Exception. It is unlawful for anindividual to pursue, shoot, kill, take or attempt to take any wildlife between sunset of one day and sunrise of the next, with the aid of a spotlight or any other artificial light. This section does not make it unlawful for an individual to use a lantern, spotlight, or other artificial light to assist the person in pursuing and shooting on the person's premises any coyote, fox, skunk, mink, raccoon, weasel, owl, rabbit, or other predatory animal or bird, attacking and attempting to destroy the person's poultry, livestock, or other property. It is permissible to use an artificial light with a power source of not more than six volts while hunting afoot for raccoon during the open season on the animal. A red or amber filter must be placed on any artificial light used in the hunting of raccoon, except when taking a raccoon treed or at bay.20.1-01-09.Types of guns lawfully usable in taking raccoon with flashlight -Penalty. In the killing, shooting, pursuing, taking or in attempting to take raccoon with the use of a flashlight with a power source of not over six volts, it is illegal to use a rifle or handgun capable of firing a shell larger than a twenty-two caliber [5.59 millimeter] long rifle shell, or a shotgun larger than four-ten gauge [10.41 millimeters]. An individual who violates this section is guilty of a class 1 noncriminal offense.20.1-01-10.Hours for hunting game birds and protected animals - Penalty.Repealed by S.L. 1991, ch. 250, </DIV></DIV></DIV> </DIV>  <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV>  <DIV id=footer> <DIV class=container> Copyright © 2012-2022 Laws9.Com All rights reserved.  <A href="/contactus.html">Contact Us</A> | <A href="/aboutus.html">About Us</A> | <A href="/terms.html">Terms</A> | <A href="/privacy.html">Privacy</A> </DIV> </DIV> </BODY></HTML>

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20.1-01 General Provisions