Public Act 0033 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB0352 Enrolled LRB099 05662 RJF 25702 b

Public Act 099-0033

AN ACT concerning wildlife.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Wildlife Code is amended by changing Sections 2.30, 2.30b, 2.33, and 2.33a and by adding Section 2.30c as follows:

(520 ILCS 5/2.30) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.30)

Sec. 2.30. It shall be unlawful for any person to trap or to hunt with gun, dog, dog and gun, or bow and arrow, gray fox, red fox, raccoon, weasel, mink, muskrat, badger, bobcat, and opossum except during the open season which will be set annually by the Director between 12:01 a.m., November 1 to 12:00 midnight, February 15, both inclusive.

It is unlawful for any person to take bobcat in this State at any time.

It is unlawful to pursue any fur-bearing mammal with a dog or dogs between the hours of sunset and sunrise during the 10 day period preceding the opening date of the raccoon hunting season and the 10 day period following the closing date of the raccoon hunting season except that the Department may issue field trial permits in accordance with Section 2.34 of this Act. A non-resident from a state with more restrictive fur-bearer pursuit regulations for any particular species than provided for that species in this Act may not pursue that species in Illinois except during the period of time that Illinois residents are allowed to pursue that species in the non-resident's state of residence. Hound running areas approved by the Department shall be exempt from the provisions of this Section.

It shall be unlawful to take beaver, river otter, weasel, mink, or muskrat except during the open season set annually by the Director, and then, only with traps, except that a firearm, pistol, or airgun of a caliber not larger than a .22 long rifle may be used to remove the animal from the trap.

It shall be unlawful for any person to trap beaver or river otter with traps except during the open season which will be set annually by the Director between 12:01 a.m., November 1st and 12:00 midnight, March 31, both inclusive.

Coyote may be taken by trapping methods only during the period from September 1 to March 1, both inclusive, and by hunting methods at any time.

Striped skunk may be taken by trapping methods only during the period from September 1 to March 1, both inclusive, and by hunting methods at any time.

Muskrat may be taken by trapping methods during an open season set annually by the Director.

For the purpose of taking fur-bearing mammals, the State may be divided into management zones by administrative rule.

It shall be unlawful to take or possess more than the season limit or possession limit of fur-bearing mammals that shall be set annually by the Director. The season limit for river otter shall not exceed 5 river otters per person per season. The season limit for bobcat shall not exceed one bobcat per permit. Possession limits shall not apply to fur buyers, tanners, manufacturers, and taxidermists, as defined by this Act, who possess fur-bearing mammals in accordance with laws governing such activities.

Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the taking or possessing of fur-bearing mammals found dead or unintentionally killed by a vehicle along a roadway during the open season provided the person who possesses such fur-bearing mammals has all appropriate licenses, stamps, or permits; the season for which the species possessed is open; and that such possession and disposal of such fur-bearing mammals is otherwise subject to the provisions of this Section.

The provisions of this Section are subject to modification by administrative rule.

(Source: P.A. 97-19, eff. 6-28-11; 97-31, eff. 6-28-11; 97-628, eff. 11-10-11; 98-463, eff. 8-16-13; 98-924, eff. 8-15-14.)

(520 ILCS 5/2.30b)

Sec. 2.30b. River otter and bobcat pelts. The pelts of river otters and bobcats shall be tagged in accordance with federal regulation 50 CFR 23.69(e). The Department may require harvest registration and set forth procedures, fees for registration, and the process of tagging pelts in administrative rules. Fees for registration and tagging shall not exceed $5 per pelt.

(Source: P.A. 97-31, eff. 6-28-11.)

(520 ILCS 5/2.30c new)

Sec. 2.30c. Bobcat hunting and trapping permit; fee. Before any person may lawfully hunt or trap a bobcat, he or she shall first obtain a "Bobcat Hunting and Trapping Permit" in accordance with regulations set forth in an administrative rule of the Department. The fee for a Bobcat Hunting and Trapping Permit, if any, shall not exceed $5. The Department may limit the number of Bobcat Hunting and Trapping Permits that are made available each season and take other actions to regulate harvest in accordance with Sections 1.3 and 2.30 of this Act. The harvest of bobcats in this State shall be non-detrimental, as defined by federal regulations (50 CFR 23.61), and as determined by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in accordance with 50 CFR 23.69.

(520 ILCS 5/2.33) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.33)

Sec. 2.33. Prohibitions.

(a) It is unlawful to carry or possess any gun in any State refuge unless otherwise permitted by administrative rule.

(b) It is unlawful to use or possess any snare or snare-like device, deadfall, net, or pit trap to take any species, except that snares not powered by springs or other mechanical devices may be used to trap fur-bearing mammals, in water sets only, if at least one-half of the snare noose is located underwater at all times.

(c) It is unlawful for any person at any time to take a wild mammal protected by this Act from its den by means of any mechanical device, spade, or digging device or to use smoke or other gases to dislodge or remove such mammal except as provided in Section 2.37.

(d) It is unlawful to use a ferret or any other small mammal which is used in the same or similar manner for which ferrets are used for the purpose of frightening or driving any mammals from their dens or hiding places.

(e) (Blank).

(f) It is unlawful to use spears, gigs, hooks or any like device to take any species protected by this Act.

(g) It is unlawful to use poisons, chemicals or explosives for the purpose of taking any species protected by this Act.

(h) It is unlawful to hunt adjacent to or near any peat, grass, brush or other inflammable substance when it is burning.

(i) It is unlawful to take, pursue or intentionally harass or disturb in any manner any wild birds or mammals by use or aid of any vehicle or conveyance, except as permitted by the Code of Federal Regulations for the taking of waterfowl. It is also unlawful to use the lights of any vehicle or conveyance or any light from or any light connected to the vehicle or conveyance in any area where wildlife may be found except in accordance with Section 2.37 of this Act; however, nothing in this Section shall prohibit the normal use of headlamps for the purpose of driving upon a roadway. Striped skunk, opossum, red fox, gray fox, raccoon, bobcat, and coyote may be taken during the open season by use of a small light which is worn on the body or hand-held by a person on foot and not in any vehicle.

(j) It is unlawful to use any shotgun larger than 10 gauge while taking or attempting to take any of the species protected by this Act.

(k) It is unlawful to use or possess in the field any shotgun shell loaded with a shot size larger than lead BB or steel T (.20 diameter) when taking or attempting to take any species of wild game mammals (excluding white-tailed deer), wild game birds, migratory waterfowl or migratory game birds protected by this Act, except white-tailed deer as provided for in Section 2.26 and other species as provided for by subsection (l) or administrative rule.

(l) It is unlawful to take any species of wild game, except white-tailed deer and fur-bearing mammals, with a shotgun loaded with slugs unless otherwise provided for by administrative rule.

(m) It is unlawful to use any shotgun capable of holding more than 3 shells in the magazine or chamber combined, except on game breeding and hunting preserve areas licensed under Section 3.27 and except as permitted by the Code of Federal Regulations for the taking of waterfowl. If the shotgun is capable of holding more than 3 shells, it shall, while being used on an area other than a game breeding and shooting preserve area licensed pursuant to Section 3.27, be fitted with a one piece plug that is irremovable without dismantling the shotgun or otherwise altered to render it incapable of holding more than 3 shells in the magazine and chamber, combined.

(n) It is unlawful for any person, except persons who possess a permit to hunt from a vehicle as provided in this Section and persons otherwise permitted by law, to have or carry any gun in or on any vehicle, conveyance or aircraft, unless such gun is unloaded and enclosed in a case, except that at field trials authorized by Section 2.34 of this Act, unloaded guns or guns loaded with blank cartridges only, may be carried on horseback while not contained in a case, or to have or carry any bow or arrow device in or on any vehicle unless such bow or arrow device is unstrung or enclosed in a case, or otherwise made inoperable.

(o) It is unlawful to use any crossbow for the purpose of taking any wild birds or mammals, except as provided for in Section 2.5.

(p) It is unlawful to take game birds, migratory game birds or migratory waterfowl with a rifle, pistol, revolver or airgun.

(q) It is unlawful to fire a rifle, pistol, revolver or airgun on, over or into any waters of this State, including frozen waters.

(r) It is unlawful to discharge any gun or bow and arrow device along, upon, across, or from any public right-of-way or highway in this State.

(s) It is unlawful to use a silencer or other device to muffle or mute the sound of the explosion or report resulting from the firing of any gun.

(t) It is unlawful for any person to take or attempt to take any species of wildlife or parts thereof, intentionally or wantonly allow a dog to hunt, within or upon the land of another, or upon waters flowing over or standing on the land of another, or to knowingly shoot a gun or bow and arrow device at any wildlife physically on or flying over the property of another without first obtaining permission from the owner or the owner's designee. For the purposes of this Section, the owner's designee means anyone who the owner designates in a written authorization and the authorization must contain (i) the legal or common description of property for such authority is given, (ii) the extent that the owner's designee is authorized to make decisions regarding who is allowed to take or attempt to take any species of wildlife or parts thereof, and (iii) the owner's notarized signature. Before enforcing this Section the law enforcement officer must have received notice from the owner or the owner's designee of a violation of this Section. Statements made to the law enforcement officer regarding this notice shall not be rendered inadmissible by the hearsay rule when offered for the purpose of showing the required notice.

(u) It is unlawful for any person to discharge any firearm for the purpose of taking any of the species protected by this Act, or hunt with gun or dog, or intentionally or wantonly allow a dog to hunt, within 300 yards of an inhabited dwelling without first obtaining permission from the owner or tenant, except that while trapping, hunting with bow and arrow, hunting with dog and shotgun using shot shells only, or hunting with shotgun using shot shells only, or providing outfitting services under a waterfowl outfitter permit, or on licensed game breeding and hunting preserve areas, as defined in Section 3.27, on federally owned and managed lands and on Department owned, managed, leased, or controlled lands, a 100 yard restriction shall apply.

(v) It is unlawful for any person to remove fur-bearing mammals from, or to move or disturb in any manner, the traps owned by another person without written authorization of the owner to do so.

(w) It is unlawful for any owner of a dog to knowingly or wantonly allow his or her dog to pursue, harass or kill deer, except that nothing in this Section shall prohibit the tracking of wounded deer with a dog in accordance with the provisions of Section 2.26 of this Code.

(x) It is unlawful for any person to wantonly or carelessly injure or destroy, in any manner whatsoever, any real or personal property on the land of another while engaged in hunting or trapping thereon.

(y) It is unlawful to hunt wild game protected by this Act between one half hour after sunset and one half hour before sunrise, except that hunting hours between one half hour after sunset and one half hour before sunrise may be established by administrative rule for fur-bearing mammals.

(z) It is unlawful to take any game bird (excluding wild turkeys and crippled pheasants not capable of normal flight and otherwise irretrievable) protected by this Act when not flying. Nothing in this Section shall prohibit a person from carrying an uncased, unloaded shotgun in a boat, while in pursuit of a crippled migratory waterfowl that is incapable of normal flight, for the purpose of attempting to reduce the migratory waterfowl to possession, provided that the attempt is made immediately upon downing the migratory waterfowl and is done within 400 yards of the blind from which the migratory waterfowl was downed. This exception shall apply only to migratory game birds that are not capable of normal flight. Migratory waterfowl that are crippled may be taken only with a shotgun as regulated by subsection (j) of this Section using shotgun shells as regulated in subsection (k) of this Section.

(aa) It is unlawful to use or possess any device that may be used for tree climbing or cutting, while hunting fur-bearing mammals, excluding coyotes.

(bb) It is unlawful for any person, except licensed game breeders, pursuant to Section 2.29 to import, carry into, or possess alive in this State any species of wildlife taken outside of this State, without obtaining permission to do so from the Director.

(cc) It is unlawful for any person to have in his or her possession any freshly killed species protected by this Act during the season closed for taking.

(dd) It is unlawful to take any species protected by this Act and retain it alive except as provided by administrative rule.

(ee) It is unlawful to possess any rifle while in the field during gun deer season except as provided in Section 2.26 and administrative rules.

(ff) It is unlawful for any person to take any species protected by this Act, except migratory waterfowl, during the gun deer hunting season in those counties open to gun deer hunting, unless he or she wears, when in the field, a cap and upper outer garment of a solid blaze orange color, with such articles of clothing displaying a minimum of 400 square inches of blaze orange material.

(gg) It is unlawful during the upland game season for any person to take upland game with a firearm unless he or she wears, while in the field, a cap of solid blaze orange color. For purposes of this Act, upland game is defined as Bobwhite Quail, Hungarian Partridge, Ring-necked Pheasant, Eastern Cottontail and Swamp Rabbit.

(hh) It shall be unlawful to kill or cripple any species protected by this Act for which there is a bag limit without making a reasonable effort to retrieve such species and include such in the bag limit. It shall be unlawful for any person having control over harvested game mammals, game birds, or migratory game birds for which there is a bag limit to wantonly waste or destroy the usable meat of the game, except this shall not apply to wildlife taken under Sections 2.37 or 3.22 of this Code. For purposes of this subsection, "usable meat" means the breast meat of a game bird or migratory game bird and the hind ham and front shoulders of a game mammal. It shall be unlawful for any person to place, leave, dump, or abandon a wildlife carcass or parts of it along or upon a public right-of-way or highway or on public or private property, including a waterway or stream, without the permission of the owner or tenant. It shall not be unlawful to discard game meat that is determined to be unfit for human consumption.

(ii) This Section shall apply only to those species protected by this Act taken within the State. Any species or any parts thereof, legally taken in and transported from other states or countries, may be possessed within the State, except as provided in this Section and Sections 2.35, 2.36 and 3.21.

(jj) (Blank).

(kk) Nothing contained in this Section shall prohibit the Director from issuing permits to paraplegics or to other disabled persons who meet the requirements set forth in administrative rule to shoot or hunt from a vehicle as provided by that rule, provided that such is otherwise in accord with this Act.

(ll) Nothing contained in this Act shall prohibit the taking of aquatic life protected by the Fish and Aquatic Life Code or birds and mammals protected by this Act, except deer and fur-bearing mammals, from a boat not camouflaged or disguised to alter its identity or to further provide a place of concealment and not propelled by sail or mechanical power. However, only shotguns not larger than 10 gauge nor smaller than .410 bore loaded with not more than 3 shells of a shot size no larger than lead BB or steel T (.20 diameter) may be used to take species protected by this Act.

(mm) Nothing contained in this Act shall prohibit the use of a shotgun, not larger than 10 gauge nor smaller than a 20 gauge, with a rifled barrel.

(nn) It shall be unlawful to possess any species of wildlife or wildlife parts taken unlawfully in Illinois, any other state, or any other country, whether or not the wildlife or wildlife parts is indigenous to Illinois. For the purposes of this subsection, the statute of limitations for unlawful possession of wildlife or wildlife parts shall not cease until 2 years after the possession has permanently ended.

(Source: P.A. 97-645, eff. 12-30-11; 97-907, eff. 8-7-12; 98-119, eff. 1-1-14; 98-181, eff. 8-5-13; 98-183, eff. 1-1-14; 98-290, eff. 8-9-13; 98-756, eff. 7-16-14; 98-914, eff. 1-1-15.)

(520 ILCS 5/2.33a) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.33a)

Sec. 2.33a. Trapping.

(a) It is unlawful to fail to visit and remove all animals from traps staked out, set, used, tended, placed or maintained at least once each calendar day.

(b) It is unlawful for any person to place, set, use, or maintain a leghold trap or one of similar construction on land, that has a jaw spread of larger than 6 1/2 inches (16.6 CM), or a body-gripping trap or one of similar construction having a jaw spread larger than 7 inches (17.8 CM) on a side if square and 8 inches (20.4 CM) if round.

(c) It is unlawful for any person to place, set, use, or maintain a leghold trap or one of similar construction in water, that has a jaw spread of larger than 7 1/2 inches (19.1 CM), or a body-gripping trap or one of similar construction having a jaw spread larger than 10 inches (25.4 CM) on a side if square and 12 inches (30.5 CM) if round.

(d) It is unlawful to use any trap with saw-toothed, spiked, or toothed jaws.

(e) It is unlawful to destroy, disturb or in any manner interfere with dams, lodges, burrows or feed beds of beaver while trapping for beaver or to set a trap inside a muskrat house or beaver lodge, except that this shall not apply to Drainage Districts who are acting pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.37.

(f) It is unlawful to trap beaver or river otter with: (1) a leghold trap or one of similar construction having a jaw spread of less than 5 1/2 inches (13.9 CM) or more than 7 1/2 inches (19.1 CM), or (2) a body-gripping trap or one of similar construction having a jaw spread of less than 7 inches (17.7 CM) or more than 10 inches (25.4 CM) on a side if square and 12 inches (30.5 CM) if round, except that these restrictions shall not apply during the open season for trapping raccoons.

(g) It is unlawful to set traps closer than 10 feet (3.05 M) from any hole or den which may be occupied by a game mammal or fur-bearing mammal except that this restriction shall not apply to water sets.

(h) It is unlawful to trap or attempt to trap any fur-bearing mammal with any colony, cage, box, or stove-pipe trap designed to take more than one mammal at a single setting.

(i) It is unlawful for any person to set or place any trap designed to take any fur-bearing mammal protected by this Act during the closed trapping season. Proof that any trap was placed during the closed trapping season shall be deemed prima facie evidence of a violation of this provision.

(j) It is unlawful to place, set, or maintain any leghold trap or one of similar construction within thirty (30) feet (9.14 m) of bait placed in such a manner or position that it is not completely covered and concealed from sight, except that this shall not apply to underwater sets. Bait shall mean and include any bait composed of mammal, bird, or fish flesh, fur, hide, entrails or feathers.

(k) (Blank). It shall be unlawful for hunters or trappers to have the green hides of fur-bearing mammals, protected by this Act, in their possession except during the open season and for an additional period of 10 days succeeding such open season.

(l) It is unlawful for any person to place, set, use or maintain a snare trap or one of similar construction in water, that has a loop diameter exceeding 15 inches (38.1 CM) or a cable or wire diameter of more than 1/8 inch (3.2 MM) or less than 5/64 inch (2.0 MM), that is constructed of stainless steel metal cable or wire, and that does not have a mechanical lock, anchor swivel and stop device to prevent the mechanical lock from closing the noose loop to a diameter of less than 2 1/2 inches (6.4 CM).

(m) It is unlawful to trap muskrat or mink with (1) a leghold trap or one of similar construction or (2) a body-gripping trap or one of similar construction unless the body-gripping trap or similar trap is completely submerged underwater when set. These restrictions shall not apply during the open season for trapping raccoons.

(Source: P.A. 97-19, eff. 6-28-11; 97-31, eff. 6-28-11; 97-813, eff. 7-13-12.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2016