A. Excluding furbearers and coyotes, no person may capture, kill, mutilate or destroy any wildlife protected by law and remove the head, claws, teeth, hide, antlers, horns or any or all of such parts from the body with the intent to abandon the body.
B. Excluding furbearers and coyotes, no person may capture or mutilate any living wildlife protected by law by removing the claws, teeth, hide, antlers, horns or any or all of such parts from the body.
C. No person may kill any wildlife protected by law and abandon the body without disposing of the body in the most appropriate manner.
D. Any person convicted of violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) nor more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one (1) year, or by both fine and imprisonment.
E. Any hunting or fishing license issued to a person by the Department of Wildlife Conservation shall be automatically revoked upon conviction of the person of violating the provisions of this section. The revocation shall be for a period set by the court of not less than one (1) year nor more than ten (10) years. If the court does not set a period, the revocation shall be for one (1) year from the date of the conviction. During this period of revocation, the Department shall not issue the person a hunting or fishing license. If the court does not set a revocation period, the Department shall not issue that person a license within one (1) year of the conviction of the person pursuant to this section. A person who has a license or permit revoked pursuant to this section shall surrender the revoked license or permit to the court, or the court may order the defendant to surrender the license or permit directly to an officer from the Department of Wildlife Conservation present at the hearing. If the license or permit is surrendered to the court, the court shall send the Department of Wildlife Conservation the revoked license. The court shall also send the Department a copy of the judgment of conviction. For purposes of this section, “conviction” shall include a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to an offense or the imposition of deferred adjudication for an offense. In lieu of sending a paper copy of the documents and information required by this subsection, the court clerk may transmit the conviction information by using an electronic method authorized by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
Added by Laws 1982, c. 134, § 1, operative Oct. 1, 1982. Amended by Laws 1991, c. 182, § 48, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Laws 1992, c. 149, § 11, emerg. eff. April 30, 1992; Laws 2013, c. 286, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2013; Laws 2021, c. 370, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2021.