Title 20.1, Game, Fish, Predators, and Boating

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the governor may provide by proclamation for the taking of any wildlife, whether protected or unprotected, determined by the governor to be a harmful predator, in a manner and number, at any place, and during any time, including after d…

1. Except as provided in subsection 2, the governor, in the governor's proclamation, shall prohibit a nonresident from hunting for the first seven days of the pheasant season on land owned or private land enrolled by the department for the purposes of hunting or on land for which…

Except as provided in subsection 4 of section 20.1-08-02, a summary of each order or proclamation issued by the governor pursuant to this chapter must be published once in the official newspaper of each county affected thereby. The summary must include a list of the species that …

Any person violating a provision of this chapter for which a penalty is not specifically provided is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Permits to propagate, domesticate, or possess live protected birds or animals may be issued by the director to any North Dakota resident. These permits expire on December thirty-first of the year they are issued. One permit may cover several species of birds or animals, but a sin…

An application for a permit to propagate, domesticate, or possess live protected birds or animals must be made upon forms furnished by the director, must be signed by the applicant, and must state: 1. The name and address of the applicant. 2. A description of the premises where t…

Every person holding a permit to propagate and domesticate protected birds or animals shall report to the director annually, on or before December thirty-first, any increase or decrease in the number of birds or animals held under the permit during the year in which the report is…

Protected birds or animals held for propagation and domestication under a permit may be sold or transported live for propagation purposes. Their eggs may be collected, sold, or transported during seasons the director prescribes. All collections, sales, and shipments must be with …

The director, deputy director, or any bonded game warden shall seize all wild birds, wild animals, or fish, or any part thereof, taken, killed, or possessed, or transported contrary to law, and shall seize all dogs, guns, seines, nets, boats, lights, automobiles, vehicles, instru…

If any wildlife, or parts thereof, is packed, stored, or contained in the same shipment, bag, or other receptacle or is otherwise commingled, and one or more has been taken in violation of this title, the entire contents must be confiscated.

A court having jurisdiction of an alleged offense against this title may order the disposition of all birds, animals, or fish, or any part thereof, or other property that has been confiscated. This order may be entered only after a hearing duly had upon proper notice to the owner…

All confiscated property that a court has ordered to be disposed of by the director must be turned over to the North Dakota wildlife federation to be sold for the highest price obtainable. On any sale of animals, birds, or fish, or parts thereof, the seller shall issue to each pu…

Perishable property confiscated pursuant to this chapter may be sold without a court order by the officer making the seizure for the highest price obtainable. The proceeds of such sale must be deposited in a court of competent jurisdiction to await disposition by the court.

Whenever any person makes a complaint to any judge having authority to issue warrants in criminal cases that the person knows or has good reason to believe that any wild animal, bird, or fish, or any part thereof, taken, killed, or possessed contrary to this title, is concealed i…

Any officer executing a warrant issued pursuant to section 20.1-10-06 shall, in the officer's return, describe the property seized with as much particularity as possible. The seized property must be safely kept upon direction of the judge as long as necessary to use as evidence. …

Any person violating a provision of this chapter for which a penalty is not specifically provided is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Any person owning, or having control by lease or otherwise, for the required time, of any lands within this state, may establish a state game refuge thereon by filing with the director a written application containing: 1. The name of the owner or lessee of the lands described the…

The owner or owners, lessee or lessees, of land surrounding or adjoining any lake within this state, pursuant to section 20.1-11-02, may dedicate the lake to this state for a breeding, resting, and refuge place for migratory waterfowl.

The director may establish state game refuges on any unsold public lands of this state with the written consent of the entity responsible for the management of those lands. The refuge continues to exist until canceled by the director or the land management entity, or until the la…

The director may establish game or fish management areas upon any state-owned lands for the use and benefit of the game and fish department with the written consent of the entity responsible for the management of any state-owned lands, or upon any publicly or privately owned land…

The director shall keep a record of all state game refuges established on privately owned or leased lands or on public lands. This record must list each state game refuge by the county in which it is located and, with reference to each refuge established on privately owned or lea…

The director shall post each state game refuge and game management area with sign boards bearing the words "state game refuge" or "state game management area". These signs must be located at each corner of the refuge or management area and along the outer lines at intervals of ap…

The owner or lessee of any lands or lake set aside as a state game refuge under this chapter may not hunt or carry firearms within the limits thereof, nor permit the members of that person's family or other persons to do so. However, if that person has reason to believe there are…

The director, with the consent of the refuge owner or lessee, may designate any game warden or other person to destroy, subject to the regulations of the director, predatory birds or animals within any state game refuge.

The director shall mark all game farms, state game refuges, game or fish management areas, breeding grounds, and resting places under the director's protection. No person may mutilate, destroy, tear or pull down, or shoot at any designating mark or other special or general warnin…

Before the department posts private land as a waterfowl rest area, it shall obtain the consent, in writing, of those residents owning land to be posted.

The board of university and school lands, for wildlife restoration projects, may transfer and convey to the department any state school land. A transfer and conveyance may not exceed six hundred forty acres [259 hectares] for any one project and must be made in exchange for other…

Except as provided in sections 20.1-11-05, 20.1-11-08, and 20.1-11-09, no person may: 1. Hunt, shoot, trap, kill, wound, take, or capture any game bird or protected animal within the limits of any state or federal game refuge or state game management area. 2. Drive any game bird …

The director may seize tangible property presumed abandoned on state game refuges, real property leased or managed by the game and fish department, and state game or fish management areas. After ninety days, the director may dispose of seized, unclaimed, tangible property presume…

Any person violating a provision of this chapter for which a penalty is not specifically provided is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Any person who desires to establish a shooting preserve under this chapter may apply to the director for a shooting preserve operating permit. The application must be made by the applicant, the applicant's agent, or the applicant's attorney; must be in the form the director presc…

Before issuing any permit under this chapter, the director shall determine that: 1. The applicant is financially able to provide the necessary facilities and services to operate a shooting preserve. 2. The applicant proposes to comply with this chapter. 3. The operation of the pr…

Game birds that may be stocked on a shooting preserve and hunted under this chapter must be artificially propagated pheasants, quail, partridges, turkeys, prairie chickens, and any other species allowed by the director. The director shall determine the minimum stock of each speci…

Any guest of a shooting preserve operator may harvest any game bird within the defined limits of the shooting preserve, subject to this chapter. The shooting preserve operator may establish that person's own restrictions on the age, sex, and number of each game bird that may be t…

Each shooting preserve operator shall tag all game birds harvested by guests before the birds are consumed or removed from the shooting preserve premises. The director shall provide tags to shooting preserve operators, at nominal cost to them. Once affixed, tags must remain attac…

Each shooting preserve operator shall maintain a guest register listing the guest's name and address, the date on which the guest hunted, and the number of game birds and species taken, with wild birds and operator-released birds listed separately. A record must also be maintaine…

The director shall adopt rules reasonably necessary to implement this chapter.

The director, after due notice to the shooting preserve operator and a hearing thereon, may revoke or suspend the permit of any operator for any violation of this chapter or of the rules of the director.

The provisions of chapter 28-32 apply to this chapter.

Any person violating a provision of this chapter for which a penalty is not specifically provided is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Every motorboat propelled by a motor on the waters of this state must be numbered and licensed as prescribed in this chapter. No person may operate or give permission for the operation of any motorboat on such waters unless the motorboat is numbered and licensed in accordance wit…

1. For each motorboat operated on waters of this state, an aquatic nuisance species fee must be paid. a. For each motorboat licensed in this state, the fee is due at the time of motorboat licensure. b. For each motorboat operated on waters of this state and exempt from licensure …

1. The owner of each motorboat shall file an application for number and license with the department on forms approved by it. The application must be signed by the owner of the motorboat and must be accompanied by the appropriate fee. Upon receipt of the application in approved fo…

No outboard motor manufactured after January 1, 1980, may be sold or offered for commercial sale by a dealer in this state unless the motor has permanently engraved thereon by the manufacturer an identifying serial number. The serial mark must be of a permanent nature so as to pr…

No person may possess, repair, or sell an outboard motor, acquired after January 1, 1980, from which the serial number has been removed. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a class 2 noncriminal offense.

1. Every vessel must have aboard: a. If equipped with a marine toilet or other similar device for the disposition of sewage or other wastes, only that type of marine toilet equipped with a treatment device meeting standards established by the department of environmental quality. …