House Bill 698

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 49-7-20.1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF TWELVE AND SIXTEEN WHO HAVE NOT SATISFACTORILY PASSED THE HUNTER EDUCATION COURSE TO BE ACCOMPANIED WHILE HUNTING BY MISSISSIPPI LICENSED OR EXEMPT HUNTER AT LEAST TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE; TO CREATE A RESIDENT APPRENTICE LICENSE ALLOWING PERSONS AGE SIXTEEN OR OLDER TO HUNT OR TRAP IN THE STATE WHEN ACCOMPANIED BY MISSISSIPPI LICENSED OR EXEMPT HUNTER AT LEAST TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 49-7-20.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-7-20.1. (1) To reduce hunting accidents of children under license age, to protect the safety of these children and to promote hunter safety, a child at least twelve (12) years of age and under sixteen (16) years of age must have a certificate of satisfactory completion of a hunter education course approved by the department before hunting in this state.

(2) A child under the age of twelve (12) must be in the presence and under the direct supervision of a licensed or exempt hunter at least twenty-one (21) years of age when the child is hunting. A child at least twelve (12) years of age and under sixteen (16) years of age that has not satisfactorily completed the hunter education course as approved by the department must be in the presence and under the direct supervision of a licensed or exempt hunter at least twenty-one (21) years of age when the child is hunting.

(3) There is no penalty for a violation of this section, but to protect the safety of the child a conservation officer may require the child to end the hunt and may unload the firearm and may take the firearm and the child to an adult.

(4) There is created a resident "apprentice" license to be issued by the department to anyone at least sixteen (16) years of age or older that allows the holder, without having hunter safety education, to hunt or trap with a licensed or exempt hunter twenty-one (21) years of age or older. Licensees under this section are limited to a one-time purchase. Upon the expiration of the one-time resident "apprentice" license, such licensees shall not hunt without having satisfactorily completed hunter safety education.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2006.