ENROLLED

Senate Bill No. 496

(By Senators Bowman and Prezioso)

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[Passed March 11, 2006; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend and reenact §20-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to transportation of wildlife outside of the state; penalties; and allowing residents and nonresidents to take legally killed, taken or captured game out of the state.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-12. Transportation of wildlife out of state; penalties.
(a) A person may not transport or have in his or her possession with the intention of transporting beyond the limits of the state any species of wildlife or any part thereof killed, taken, captured or caught within this state, except as provided for in this section.
(b) A person legally entitled to hunt and fish in this state may take with him or her personally, when leaving the state, any wildlife that he or she has lawfully taken or killed, not exceeding, during the open season, the number that any person may lawfully possess.
(c) This section does not apply to persons legally entitled to propagate and sell wild animals, wild birds, fish, amphibians and other forms of aquatic life.
(d) Licensed resident hunters and trappers and resident and nonresident fur dealers may transport beyond the limits of the state pelts of game and fur-bearing animals taken during the legal season.
(e) The hide, head, antlers and feet of a legally killed deer and the hide, head, skull, organs and feet of a legally killed black bear may also be transported beyond the limits of the state.
(f) The director shall have authority to promulgate rules in accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of this code dealing with the transportation and tagging of wildlife and the skins.
(g) A person violating the provisions of this section by transporting or possessing with the intention of transporting beyond the limits of this state deer or wild boar shall be deemed to have committed a separate offense for each animal so transported or possessed.
(h) A person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars and be imprisoned in jail not less than ten nor more than sixty days.