ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 697
(By Senator Schoonover)
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[Introduced February 23, 1998; referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-four-b, article two, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to wildlife resources; and requiring the bear damage stamp to be purchased before the beginning of bear hunting season.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-four-b, article two, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.

§20-2-44b. Bear damage stamp; proceeds to be paid into bear damage fund; purposes, etc.

Any hunter licensed to hunt bear in this state shall in addition to a hunting license of either Class A, or AB, in the case of a resident, or C, E, EE, L, LL or M, in the case of a nonresident, have a bear damage stamp which shall be issued by the department of natural resources and which shall be sold at places where hunting and fishing licenses are sold: Provided, That the bear damage stamp shall be purchased prior to the first day of the relevant hunting season any where in the state. The fee for a bear damage stamp shall be four dollars and all proceeds from the sale of such stamps shall be paid into the bear damage fund which shall be maintained by the department of natural resources for the purposes of paying claims of property owners for damages to real and personal property caused by acts of bear and to cover the expense of hunting, capturing and removing offending bear to remote areas.