23:4-42 Killing deer, season, permit to kill on cultivated land.

23:4-42. a. Except as provided in subsection b. of this section, no person shall hunt for, pursue, shoot at, take, kill, wound or attempt to take, kill or wound a deer of any description prohibited by the provisions of the State Fish and Game Code, or hunt for, pursue, shoot at, take, kill, wound or attempt to take, kill or wound any wild deer at any time except during the period permitted by the State Fish and Game Code, or kill in any one year more than the number of deer permitted by the State Fish and Game Code.

b. The owner or lessee of any land, a portion of which is under cultivation, or the authorized agents of the owner or lessee having on their person a written permit issued by the division and countersigned by the owner or lessee may kill any deer that may be found on that land during the period covered by the permit. If requested by the owner or lessee of the land, the period covered by the permit issued to the owner or lessee, or authorized agent thereof, shall also include the entire months of February and March. The carcass of a deer killed under such permit shall become the property of the division and may be removed and disposed of in the manner it directs. For the purpose of this section, "land under cultivation" shall mean (1) pasture fields that are seeded with cultivated grass or that have been so seeded within the prior 12 months, or (2) land on which planted crops are growing or were growing within the prior 12 months. The division may require the owner or lessee of the land to provide evidence of deer damage within the prior 12 months as a condition of issuing a permit pursuant to this subsection.

Amended 1947, c.239, s.1; 1948, c.448, s.57; 1957, c.193, s.1; 1967, c.158, s.1; 1999, c.327.