House Bill 1446

(As Passed the House)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 49-7-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW TRAPPERS TO SELL SKINS AND MEAT AFTER THE CLOSE OF TRAPPING SEASON; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 49-7-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-7-13. (1) Any resident of the state sixteen (16) years of age or older, upon application, is entitled to receive a state trapper's license with tag for the sum of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00), together with the fee provided in Section 49-7-17 to the officer issuing same. This license shall be required of each helper or assistant sixteen (16) years of age or older employed or used by a trapper.

(2) No person shall trap or set a trap on lands in which the record title is vested in another person unless he has a prior agreement with the landowner which allows him to trap or set a trap on the lands of the landowner.

(3) Every trap shall have an identification number attached to traps by a metal tag or permanently inscribed, etched or stamped on traps and every trapper shall be required to visit his traps at least every thirty-six (36) hours. The conservation officer shall be authorized to take up any traps not properly marked.

(4) No person shall place or set a trap on or within one hundred (100) feet of any street or public road. Public roads shall not be construed to mean public waterways.

(5) This section shall not apply to a landowner trapping on his own lands except subsection (4).

(6) A licensed trapper shall be allowed to catch and sell skins of fur-bearing and predatory animals during trapping season. A licensed trapper shall be allowed to sell skins or pelts of legally acquired furbearing and predatory animals to any Mississippi-licensed fur dealer for ten (10) days beyond the close of trapping season. The meat of legally acquired raccoons, muskrats and opossums may also be bought and sold during trapping season and ten (10) days thereafter.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2005.