SB 586 — AN ACT CONCERNING THE CONTROL OF NUISANCE WILDLIFE.

General Assembly ProposedCommittee Bill No.

28734336 Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT Introduced by:

SEN.(ENV) AN ACT AUTHORIZING BLACK BEAR HUNTING IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY.

MINER, 30th Dist.

SEN.

BERTHEL, 32nd Dist.

AN ACT AUTHORIZING BLACK BEAR HUNTING IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY.

ThatSection the1. general statutes be amended to provide for the hunting of black bear in Litchfield County and to further provide the following:

(1)Section Permit26-86a the taking of black bear during the firstgeneral yearstatutes ofis suchrepealed huntingand at a rate that does not exceed five per cent of the totalfollowing blackis bearsubstituted population in thelieu statethereof as(Effective ofOctober the1, effective2019): date of this section, and (2) require the submission of a report to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the environment one year after the beginning of such black bear hunting that includes information on the number of black bear taken pursuant to such hunting, the number of licenses issued by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to hunt such black bear and any recommendations of the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection for any modifications to such black bear hunting in the state.

(a) (1) The commissioner shall establish by regulation adopted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 standards for deer management, and methods, regulated areas, bag limits, seasons and permit eligibility for hunting deer with bow and arrow, muzzleloader and shotgun, except that no such hunting shall be permitted on Sunday by any means other than with bow and arrow on private property pursuant to section 26-73.

No person shall hunt, pursue, wound or kill deer with a firearm without first obtaining a deer permit from the commissioner in addition to the license required by section 26-27.

Application for such permit shall be made on forms furnished by the commissioner and containing such information as he may require.

Such permit shall be of a design prescribed by the commissioner, shall contain such information and conditions as the commissioner may require, and may be revoked for violation of any LCO No.

4336 1 of 7 Committee Bill No.586 provision of this chapter or regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

As used in this section, "muzzleloader" means a rifle or shotgun of at least forty-five caliber, incapable of firing a self-contained cartridge, which uses powder, a projectile, including, but not limited to, a standard round ball, mini-balls, maxi-balls and Sabot bullets, and wadding loaded separately at the muzzle end, and "rifle" means a long gun the projectile of which is six millimeters or larger in diameter.

The fee for a firearms permit shall be nineteen dollars for residents of the state and sixty-eight dollars for nonresidents, except that any nonresident who is an active full-time member of the armed forces, as defined in section 27-103, may purchase a firearms permit for the same fee as is charged a resident of the state.

The commissioner shall issue, without fee, a private land deer permit to the owner of ten or more acres of private land and the husband or wife, parent, grandparent, sibling and any lineal descendant of such owner, provided no such owner, husband or wife, parent, grandparent, sibling or lineal descendant shall be issued more than one such permit per season.

Such permit shall allow the use of a rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader or bow and arrow on such land from November first to December thirty-first, inclusive.

Deer may be so hunted at such times and in such areas of such state-owned land as are designated by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection and on privately owned land with the signed consent of the landowner, on forms furnished by the department, and such signed consent shall be carried by any person when so hunting on private land.

The owner of ten acres or more of private land may allow the use of a rifle to hunt deer on such land during the shotgun season.

The commissioner shall determine, by regulation, the number of consent forms issued for any regulated area established by said commissioner.

The commissioner shall provide for a fair and equitable random method for the selection of successful applicants who may obtain shotgun and muzzleloader permits for hunting deer on state lands.

Any person whose name appears on more than one application for a shotgun permit or more than one application for a muzzleloader permit shall be disqualified from the selection process for such permit.

28734336 12 of 27 ProposedCommittee Bill No.No.586 No person shall hunt, pursue, wound or kill deer with a bow and arrow without first obtaining a bow and arrow permit pursuant to section 26-86c, as amended by this act.

586"Bow Statementand arrow", as used in this section and in section 26-86c, as amended by this act, means a bow with a draw weight of Purpose:not less than forty pounds.

The arrowhead shall have two or more blades and may not be less than seven-eighths of an inch at the widest point.

No person shall carry firearms of any kind while hunting with a bow and arrow under this section and section 26- 86c, as amended by this act.

(2) Any regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section may provide for the hunting of black bear in Litchfield County provided any such regulations:

(A) Permit the taking of black bear during the first year of such hunting at a rate that does not exceed five per cent of the total black bear population in the state as of the effective date of this section, (B) require the submission of a report to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the environment one year after the beginning of such black bear hunting that includes information on the number of black bear taken pursuant to such hunting, the number of licenses issued by the department to hunt such black bear and any recommendations of the commissioner for any modifications to such black bear hunting in the state, (C) authorize such hunting only on private lands, (D) prohibit such hunting on Sundays, and (E) prescribe that such hunting only be by bow and arrow or long gun.

(b) Any person who takes a deer or black bear without a permit shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not less than thirty days or more than six months or shall be both fined and imprisoned, for the first offense, and for each subsequent offense shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars or more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year or shall be both fined and imprisoned.

The provisions of this subsection concerning black bear shall only be applicable after the commissioner adopts regulations pursuant to LCO No.

4336 3 of 7 Committee Bill No.586 subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of this section.

Sec.

2.

Section 26-86b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019):

The commissioner shall issue tags to be attached to the carcass of any deer killed under the provisions of sections 26-82 and 26-86a to 26- 86c, inclusive, as amended by this act, which tag shall be immediately attached to such deer and remain affixed until such carcass is dressed and butchered and packaged for consumption.

Each person so taking deer shall, within twenty-four hours, report such kill to the commissioner on a form furnished by him.

The provisions of this section shall apply to black bear when the commissioner adopts regulations in accordance with section 26-86a, as amended by this act.

Sec.

3.