(A) The department may select one or more days to designate as a "South Carolina Youth Hunting Day", in addition to the regular seasons for a species of wild game. A youth hunting day must be held outside a regular season on a weekend, holiday, or other nonschool day when a youth hunter may have the maximum opportunity to participate. A day must be held on the Saturday before the regular game zone season framework for hunting antlered deer only. The daily bag limit on this day is one antlered deer. For all other game, the day may be held up to fourteen days before or after a regular season framework or within a split of a regular season, or within another open season.
(B) A person who is less than eighteen years of age may be a youth hunter. Youth hunters who have not completed the hunter education program pursuant to Section 50-9-310, who hunt on a statewide youth hunting day, must be accompanied by an adult who is at least twenty-one years of age. The adult may not harvest or attempt to harvest game during this special hunting event. A license or tag requirement pursuant to this chapter is waived for a youth hunter on a youth hunting day. A daily harvest limit remains the same as allowed during regular seasons for each species of game.
HISTORY: 2000 Act No. 299, Section 1; 2007 Act No. 23, Section 1, eff May 14, 2007; 2018 Act No. 200 (S.913), Section 1, eff May 17, 2018.
Effect of Amendment
The 2007 amendment, in subsection (B), rewrote the first sentence which formerly provided "Youth hunters must be at least ten years of age through seventeen years of age" and made nonsubstantive changes throughout subsections (A) and (B).
2018 Act No. 200, Section 1, rewrote the section, providing for a youth hunting day for hunting antlered deer only and a bag limit, providing that youth hunters who have not completed the hunter education program must be accompanied by an adult, and providing that the license or tag requirement is waived for a youth hunter on a youth hunting day.