34 Pa.C.S. Ch. 1

34 Pa.C.S. § 101 Short title of title.

This title shall be known and may be cited as the Game and Wildlife Code.

34 Pa.C.S. § 102 Definitions.

Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent provisions of this title which are applicable to specific provisions of this title, the following words and phrases when used in this title shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: "Acknowledgment of guilt." A written statement admitting guilt, given by an accused individual to an officer or deputy officer along with the payment of a fine, which statement shall have the same force and effect as though the person executing it had a hearing before proper authority and been convicted of the offense of which he is accused. "Arrow." A missile shot from a bow, having a slender shaft with fletching or vanes at the butt and a pointed head without any explosive, chemical or poison in the head or shaft and used solely with a bow. "Big game." Unless otherwise modified by regulation of the commission, includes the elk, the whitetail deer, the bear and the wild turkey. "Bird." A member of the class Aves, including any part, product, egg or offspring thereof, or the dead body or parts thereof (excluding fossils), whether or not included in a manufactured product or in a processed food product. "Blind." A manmade structure of any size, shape or design constructed or arranged of any material in such a manner as to conceal the body of any person, either in whole or part. "Bodily injury." Impairment of physical condition or substantial pain. "Bow." A weapon which propels an arrow, is hand-held, hand-drawn, held in the drawn position by hand or by a hand-held mechanical device and released by hand. The term includes a device held in place by a brace secured around the body of the hunter. The term also includes a crossbow which, when used for hunting deer, bear or turkey, has a draw weight of no less than 125 pounds and uses arrows tipped with broadheads of a cutting edge design. "Closed season." The periods of the calendar year and the hours during which it is unlawful to take game or wildlife. "Commission." The Pennsylvania Game Commission of the Commonwealth. "Conspire" or "conspiracy." The act or action of two or more persons combining in any manner or degree to violate any provisions of this title, either before or after the actual commission of the offense, even though the offense is not consummated. "Contraband." Any game or wildlife, or part or product thereof, or any personal property, including, but not limited to, firearms, traps, boats, decoys, vehicles and attachments and property designed for use or used in hunting and taking game or wildlife, when the game or wildlife, or part or product thereof, or the personal property is held in possession, transported or used or taken in violation of any law, the enforcement or administration of which is vested in the commission. Contraband shall be forfeited to the commission to be disposed of at the discretion of the director. "Convicted." The finding of guilty of a person charged with an offense after a hearing before a qualified authority. The execution of an "acknowledgment of guilt" or a "plea of guilty" shall have the same effect. "Director." The Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission or any person to whom authority has been delegated by the director. "District justice." (Deleted by amendment). "Domicile." That place where a person has a true, fixed and permanent home and principal residence and to which, whenever the person is temporarily absent, the person intends to return. A domicile is a permanent building, or part thereof, including a house, condominium, apartment room in a house or complex, or mobile home. No vacant lot, second home, camp, cottage or premises used solely for business shall be considered a domicile. "Each." The whole or any part or parts, or manufactured products containing the whole or any part or parts, of any game or wildlife. "Endangered species." All species and subspecies of wildlife which have been declared by: (1) the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior to be threatened with extinction and appear on the Endangered Species List or the Native Endangered Species List published in the Federal Register; or (2) the director to be threatened with extinction and appear on the Pennsylvania Endangered Species List published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. "Facsimile." A copy of game or wildlife with similar characteristics. The term includes man-made, taxidermy mounts, mechanical or electronic facsimiles. "Fine shot." Pellets which are no larger than what is commonly known as BB's. The term does not include buckshot. "Firearm." An instrument used in the propulsion of shot, shell, bullet or any other object by the action of gunpowder exploded, explosive powder, the expansion of gas or the force of a mechanical device under tension. (1) "Automatic." Any firearm which discharges more than once with a single pull of the trigger. (2) "Semiautomatic." Any firearm which reloads without aid of the shooter, but fires only once with a single pull of the trigger. "Furbearers." Unless otherwise modified by regulation of the commission, the term includes the badger, the fisher, the mink, the muskrat, the opossum, the otter, the pine marten, the striped and spotted skunk, the beaver, the raccoon, all weasels, the red and gray fox and the bobcat. "Game." Includes "game animals," "game birds" and any facsimile thereof. "Game animals." Unless otherwise modified by regulation of the commission, the term includes the elk, the whitetail deer, the bear, the cottontail rabbit, the snowshoe hare, the red, gray and fox squirrel and the groundhog or woodchuck. "Game birds." Unless otherwise modified by regulation of the commission, the term includes geese, brant, wild ducks, mergansers and swans; coots, gallinules, rails, snipe, woodcock; turkeys, grouse, pheasants, Hungarian partridges, bobwhite quail and mourning doves. "Green pelt." A pelt which is not dried, cured or tanned. "Hunt" or "hunting." Any act or furtherance of the taking or killing of any game or wildlife, or any part or product thereof, and includes, but is not limited to, chasing, tracking, calling, pursuing, lying in wait, trapping, shooting at, including shooting at a game or wildlife facsimile, or wounding with any weapon or implement, or using any personal property, including dogs, or the property of others, of any nature, in furtherance of any of these purposes, or aiding, abetting or conspiring with another person in that purpose. "Loaded firearm." A firearm of any kind which has a live shell or cartridge in either the chamber or magazine. "Magisterial district judge." Includes a court of the minor judiciary having jurisdiction over summary offenses generally. "Management unit." Any geographic area defined and designated by regulation of the commission for game or wildlife management purposes which may consist of all or a part or parts of one or more contiguous counties or management units and includes all lands and waters therein. "Migratory game bird." Any game bird defined in 50 CFR 20.11 (relating to meaning of terms), except as otherwise provided in Pennsylvania Game Commission regulations. "Migratory waterfowl." All species as defined in 50 CFR by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior. "Mounted specimen." Any game or wildlife, or any portion or part thereof, prepared, preserved, arranged, set up or posed in a lifelike position or some other form of display. "Officer." Any Game Commission officer or deputy Game Commission officer appointed by the commission or any other person with law enforcement powers who is designated by the director to enforce this title. "Open season." The indicated periods of the calendar year and the daily hours during which game or wildlife may be legally hunted, taken or killed and includes both the first and the last day of the season or period of time designated by this title or by regulation of the commission. "Part" or "parts." Any portion of tissue, flesh, blood, bone, hide, skin, hair or feather of such substance, size, volume or weight, which may be determined by a qualified person as belonging to the species alleged, even though diluted or contained in any manufactured product. "Person." An individual, partnership, association, corporation, political subdivision, municipal authority, the Commonwealth or any other legal entity as the context requires. "Poaching." To unlawfully take game or wildlife by means of or as a result of multiple violations of the provisions of this title or the regulations thereunder. "Possession." The detention and control, or the manual or ideal custody, of anything which may be the subject of property, for one's use and enjoyment, either as owner or as the proprietor of a qualified right in it, and either held personally or by another who exercises it in one's place and name. Possession includes the act or state of possessing and that condition of facts under which one can exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure to the exclusion of all other persons. Possession includes constructive possession which means not actual but assumed to exist where one claims to hold by virtue of some title without having actual custody. The presence in a vehicle of any kind, or its attachments, of any unlawfully taken game or wildlife or unlawful device or contraband is presumptive evidence of its possession by all persons occupying the vehicle or its attachments. "Protected birds." All wild birds not included within the term "game birds." "Raptors." All eagles, falcons, hawks and owls, individually or collectively, whether protected or unprotected. "Resident." A person who is permanently domiciled within this Commonwealth which person's principal domicile is in this Commonwealth to which that person has the intention of returning whenever that person is temporarily absent. "Serious bodily injury." Bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. "Shooting hours." The designated periods of time, including any modification by regulation of the commission, for the lawful killing or taking of game or wildlife. "Small game." All species of game birds and game animals not classed as big game. "Take." To harass, pursue, hunt for, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, possess or collect any game or wildlife, including shooting at a facsimile of game or wildlife, or attempt to harass, pursue, hunt for, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect any game or wildlife or aiding, abetting or conspiring with another person in that purpose. "Taxidermy." The practice of mounting, arranging, posing, preserving or freeze-drying game or wildlife, fish or reptiles in a lifelike position. "Threatened species." All species and subspecies of wildlife which have been declared by: (1) the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior to be in such small numbers throughout their range that they may become endangered if their environment worsens and appear on a Threatened Species List published in the Federal Register; or (2) the director to be in such small numbers throughout their range that they may become endangered if their environment worsens and appear on the Pennsylvania Threatened Species List published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. "Title." The provisions of this title and any rules, regulations, restrictions or guidelines which are adopted by the commission and promulgated as required by law. "Time." Official prevailing time. "Transporting." To move from one place to another by any means whatsoever. "Trapping." The securing or attempting to secure possession of game or wildlife by means of setting, placing or using any device that is designed to close upon, hold fast, confine or otherwise capture game or wildlife whether these means result in capturing or not. It includes every act of assistance to any other person in capturing game or wildlife by means of such device whether these means result in capturing or not. "Violation." Any act in violation of a provision of this title or any regulation promulgated by the commission which implements or otherwise pertains to any provision of this title. "Wild animals." All mammals other than domestic animals as defined in 1 Pa.C.S. § 1991 (relating to definitions). The term shall not include a species or variation of swine, pig or boar, held in captivity. "Wild birds." All migratory birds as defined in 50 CFR by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, game birds and any other birds designated by the commission, including, but not limited to, grouse, partridge, pheasant, quail and wild turkey. "Wildlife." Wild birds, wild mammals and facsimiles thereof, regardless of classification, whether protected or unprotected, including any part, product, egg or offspring thereof, or the dead body or parts thereof (excluding fossils), whether or not included in a manufactured product or in a processed food product. (Nov. 25, 1988, P.L.1082, No.125, eff. imd.; Apr. 4, 1996, P.L.55, No.19, eff. imd.; Dec. 19, 1996, P.L.1442, No.184, eff. 60 days; Nov. 30, 2004, P.L.1618, No.207, eff. 60 days; July 9, 2008, P.L.920, No.65, eff. imd.; July 9, 2010, P.L.387, No.54, eff. 60 days; June 24, 2013, P.L.145, No.25, eff. 60 days; July 2, 2014, P.L.847, No.92, eff. 60 days) 2022 Correction. The Legislative Reference Bureau added back in language that had been inadvertently dropped in the def. of "wildlife." 2014 Amendment. Act 92 amended the def. of "bow." 2013 Amendment. Act 25 amended the def. of "wild animals." 2010 Amendment. Act 54 amended the defs. of "closed season," "open season" and "violation." See section 6 of Act 54 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to public notice. 2008 Amendment. Act 65 added the def. of "mounted specimen." 2004 Amendment. Act 207 deleted the def. of "district justice" and added the def. of "magisterial district judge." See sections 28 and 29 of Act 207 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to applicability and construction of law. 1996 Amendments. Act 19 added the def. of "migratory game bird" and Act 184 amended the defs. of "game," "hunt" or "hunting," "take" and "wildlife" and added the defs. of "bodily injury," "facsimile," "poaching" and "serious bodily injury." 1988 Amendment. Act 125 added the def. of "loaded firearm." Cross References. Section 102 is referred to in section 2902 of this title; section 5702 of Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses); section 5702 of Title 30 (Fish); section 67A01 of Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure).

34 Pa.C.S. § 103 Ownership, jurisdiction and control of game and wildlife.

(a) General rule.--The ownership, jurisdiction over and control of game or wildlife is vested in the commission as an independent agency of the Commonwealth in its sovereign capacity to be controlled, regulated and disposed of in accordance with this title. (b) Method of management.--The commission shall utilize hunting and trapping as methods of effecting necessary management of game, furbearer and wildlife populations.

34 Pa.C.S. § 104 Title not to apply in certain cases.

None of the provisions or requirements of this title shall be construed to apply to any member of the commission, or any of its lawfully qualified representatives or duly appointed officers or any other person charged with the enforcement of this title, when acting in any manner for the commission. This title shall not be construed to impose any liability upon any person while acting in a lawful manner and within the limitations of this title or performing any lawful duty or function imposed or authorized by this title.