Title 15, Natural Resources and Economic Development

(1) An employee of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission who is employed as extra help may not, in a fiscal year:(1) Receive an amount to exceed eighty-five percent (85%) of the maximum annual salary for a comparable position under:(A) The Uniform Classification and Compens…

(a) Employees of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission may receive cost-of-living and merit pay adjustments at the discretion of the commission. (b) The commission may develop and establish a merit pay system that shall be reviewed by the Legislative Council or, if the Gene…

(a) (1) The Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission may pay a compensation differential under this section to an employee occupying a regularly appropriated position in an amount not to exceed twelve percent (12%) of an employee's base salary.(2) An employee may be paid more than…

(a) The Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry, Inc. program is designed to:(1) Share the harvest of an abundant resource with Arkansans who are in need of food;(2) Partner with the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission to provide a solution for a healthy, balanced deer herd;(3) P…

(a) (1) If approved by the Director of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission, the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission may make overtime payments to game wardens or other employees who are currently assigned or may be assigned by the director or his or her designee to sp…

Any game warden or other officer having authority to enforce the game laws of this state is authorized to proceed according to law to search any person, railroad train, boat, place of business, or any other public carrier to ascertain whether or not the game and fish laws are bei…

(a) All fines assessed against and collected from persons convicted for infractions of the state laws protecting game, fish, fur-bearing animals, or fresh water mussels shall be paid to the county treasurer or the district court clerk of the county in which the fine is assessed a…

(a) As used in this section, “acceptable electronic format” means an electronic image produced on the person's own cellular phone or other type of portable electronic device that displays all of the information on the hunter education certificate as clearly as the paper hunter ed…

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Hunting Heritage Protection Act”.

(1) The General Assembly finds that:(1) Recreational hunting is an important and traditional recreational activity in which some fourteen million (14,000,000) Americans sixteen (16) years of age and older participate;(2) Hunters have been and continue to be among the foremost sup…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Commission” means the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission;(2) “Commission-leased lands” means those lands over which the commission holds a possessory interest under lease or other written agreement that has a term of at least one (1) year …

(a) Subject to valid existing rights, commission-managed lands shall be open to access and use for recreational hunting except as limited by the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission for reasons of fish or wildlife management or as otherwise limited by statutory authority of th…

Any resident of this state who is required to have a license to hunt or fish and who shall be guilty of hunting or fishing in this state without first having obtained a hunting or fishing license shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum of no…

(a) (1) The maximum fee for the annual resident basic hunting license for any resident of the State of Arkansas who is sixteen (16) years of age or older for the privilege of taking small game and the taking of one (1) deer by the use of a modern center-fire firearm shall be as p…

The Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission shall not issue a free or discounted hunting or fishing license to any person except as is specifically authorized or directed by law.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any resident person to take or attempt to take fish by means of artificial bait or lures in this state without first procuring an annual resident fishing license. (b) It shall also be unlawful for any person more than sixteen (16) years of age who is …

(a) (1) It shall be unlawful for any nonresident person to take or attempt to take fish in this state in any manner without first procuring a nonresident fishing license.(2) The nonresident annual fishing license fee shall be five dollars ($5.00). (1) It shall be unlawful for any…

(a) The Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission shall issue or cause to be issued a three-day fishing license to any nonresident of the state upon application therefor and the payment of a fee of three dollars and fifty cents ($3.50). (b) The commission is authorized to adopt and…

The maximum fee for a three-day fishing license for any resident in the State of Arkansas who is sixteen (16) years of age or older but less than sixty-five (65) years of age shall not exceed six dollars and fifty cents ($6.50) each.

(a) It shall be unlawful for the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission or any employee thereof to issue a permit to any person, firm, or corporation for the issuance in a state bordering Arkansas of any Arkansas resident or nonresident hunting and fishing license, unless the st…

(a) Every resident of this state who is on active duty in the armed services of the United States and who was a resident of Arkansas at the time that he or she entered the armed services, whether stationed in Arkansas or elsewhere, shall be entitled to receive without charge a li…

(a) All funds derived by the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission under the provisions of this section and § 15-42-104(a)-(c) shall be deposited in the State Treasury, and the Treasurer of State shall credit the funds to the Game Protection Fund. (b) Of the amount so deposited…

(a) Twenty-five cents (25¢) of the additional fee derived from the sale of each annual resident hunting license shall be set aside by the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission into a special account within the Game Protection Fund to be known as the “Beaver Control and Eradicat…

(a) Any nonresident, sixty-five (65) years of age or older, whose home state does not require nonresident fishing or hunting licenses for persons sixty-five (65) years of age and older, shall not be required to purchase a nonresident fishing or hunting license to lawfully hunt or…

(a) (1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, any person who purchases a hunting license for use in the State of Arkansas or engages in hunting privileges in this state shall be deemed to have given consent to a chemical test or tests of his or her blood, b…

(a) The General Assembly finds and determines that:(1) The regulation of hunting and fishing, and the issuance of hunting licenses and fishing licenses, in the state is a primary responsibility of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission under Arkansas Constitution, Amendment …

(a) The Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission may issue a resident depredation permit for hunting and trapping feral hogs. (b) A person may obtain a depredation permit issued under this section by:(1) Applying to the commission; and(2) Furnishing information required by the com…

(a) The Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission may allow a resident who applies for a license to hunt or fish through the commission's online sales system to indicate a desire to make an anatomical gift on his or her online application. (b) If the commission authorizes an anatom…

(a) It shall be deemed prima facie evidence that an attempt is being made to steal a dog if any person:(1) Retains in his or her possession or permits to remain on his or her premises for a period of ten (10) or more days any dog that has been duly licensed under the regulations …

All game and fish except fish in private ponds found in the limits of this state are declared to be the property of this state. The hunting, killing, and catching of the game and fish are declared to be privileges.

(a) The possession of firearms in fields, forests, along streams, or in any location known to be game cover shall be considered prima facie evidence that the possessor is hunting. (b) The possession of tackle, nets, spears, or other instruments usually used in fishing on or in th…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to set a fire or cause a fire to be set in the woods or marshlands of another, and it shall also be unlawful for any person to leave any campfire without first extinguishing the fire or to build any campfire, or other fire, in any wooded ar…

(a) (1) Whenever fifty (50) or more qualified electors residing within an area wholly or partly located within their particular county that has been designated by regulation of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission as a doe-killing area petition the appropriate county court…

(a) The General Assembly has become aware of the fact that many persons hunting deer in this state negligently allow their firearms to be discharged without exercising proper care to ascertain the object at which they shoot, thereby endangering the life, limb, and property of oth…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to set up and maintain a deer hunting camp on any state highway in this state other than at designated overnight public camping sites located on highway rights-of-way by the State Highway Commission. (b) Any person violating the provisions …

(a) The General Assembly finds and determines that:(1) The management of the state's wildlife and the regulation of hunting and hunters in the state are the primary responsibilities of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission under Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 35;(2) Prope…

(a) As used in this section, “guide” means any person who shall for pay or for other consideration aid, help, or assist any person or persons in locating, pursuing, chasing, hunting, or killing in this state any game bird, game, fur-bearing animal, or fish protected under the law…

(1) As used in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) A “single owner”, as used in subdivision (2) of this section, may be an individual person, partnership, or corporation, or may be several persons who as tenants in common own the entire premises in question; and(2…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to use, possess, transport, or attempt to use any electrical device for the purpose of stunning, stupefying, or taking fish from any of the waters of this state. (b) Any person violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a mi…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to own, possess, or use, in this state, any hoop, barrel, or pond net on which license has not been paid, except as herein provided. (b) Such nets shall contain meshes not less than two and one-half inches (2½″) square. (c) The annual licen…

(a) If any person shall take fish from any enclosed or artificial lake or pond of water belonging to any other person, without the consent of the owner, he or she shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Upon conviction, he or she shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars …

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to fish or take fish from any fish farm except with the consent of the owner thereof. Any person possessing fishing tackle on the premises of a fish farm shall be rebuttably presumed to be fishing. All fishing tackle, apparatus, and vehicle…

(a) Any person, firm, or corporation owning or operating any cold storage plant or facility therefor who permits or authorizes the storing of any game animals or birds therein shall keep a complete list of the game animals or birds as are placed in storage, together with the name…

(a) Any person owning or controlling any dam or other obstruction across any river, creek, or other watercourse in this state is required to keep the dam or other obstruction open sufficiently to admit the free and easy passage of all fish ascending or descending the river or oth…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to:(1) Withdraw, in any manner, any water from any public body of water in this state without first securely screening the intake pipes used in such withdrawal against the entry of any fish;(2) Lower the natural stage …

(a) Upon the request of any farmer with demonstrated damage to an agricultural crop from wildlife, the game warden shall assist the farmer by implementation of a control program to relocate or eradicate the wildlife which is causing injury to the crop of the farmer. (b) The progr…