‘An Act Regarding the Tracking of Wounded Animals with a Leashed Dog’
| HP0214 LD 320 |
Session - 127th Maine Legislature C "A", Filing Number H-76, Sponsored by
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LR 900 Item 2 |
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| Bill Tracking, Additional Documents | Chamber Status | ||
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act Regarding the Tracking of Wounded Animals with a Leashed Dog’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the summary and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §11109, sub-§3, ¶N, as amended by PL 2005, c. 12, Pt. III, §4, is repealed.
Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §11111, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 655, Pt. B, §117 and affected by §422, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
§ 11111. Tracking wounded animals with a leashed dog
Sec. 3. 12 MRSA §11214, sub-§1, ¶¶K to M, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 414, Pt. A, §2 and affected by c. 614, §9, are amended to read:
Sec. 4. 12 MRSA §11225, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 168, §6, is repealed.
Sec. 5. 12 MRSA §12862 is enacted to read:
§ 12862. Retrieval of wounded or killed bear, deer or moose after hours
Notwithstanding sections 11205, 11206 and 11111, the commissioner may authorize a person licensed to guide hunters under section 12853 whose client during a guided hunt wounds or kills a bear, deer or moose to track and dispatch that animal outside of legal hunting hours. A licensed guide authorized to track a wounded animal pursuant to this section may use one leashed dog for tracking purposes. The commissioner may place conditions and restrictions on tracking activities conducted pursuant to this section to ensure its proper administration and the humane treatment of a wounded animal.’
summary
Current law provides for a license to use leashed dogs to track wounded animals and allows a person who holds such a license to provide dog tracking services to others for a fee without being licensed as a guide. This amendment consolidates those provisions and makes the following changes.
1. It converts the license to use leashed dogs to track wounded animals from an annual license for $27 to a 3-year permit for $81.
2. It provides that a person must hold a big game hunting license to be eligible to obtain the permit to use a leashed dog to track a wounded animal and specifies that the permit only allows the tracking of a lawfully wounded animal.
3. It allows the permit holder to track a wounded animal outside of legal hunting hours.
4. It expressly gives the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife rule-making authority to regulate activities conducted pursuant to the permit.
Current law allows a licensed hunting guide to track and dispatch a client's wounded bear, deer or moose after legal hunting hours without a license to use leashed dogs to track wounded bear, deer or moose. This amendment relocates and changes that provision of law to provide that the hunting guide must obtain authorization from the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to track and dispatch a client's wounded bear, deer or moose after legal hunting hours. It also specifies that a guide authorized to track a wounded bear, deer or moose may use one leashed dog for tracking purposes.