JEFFERSON COUNTY MISSOURI CONSERVATION TICKET LAWYER

No wildlife shall be pursued, taken, killed, possessed or disposed of except in the manner, to the extent and at the time or times permitted by such rules and regulations; and any pursuit, taking, killing, possession or disposition thereof, except as permitted by such rules and regulations, are hereby prohibited.

Any person violating this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Any person who shall have in his possession or under his control any wildlife, except in the manner, to the extent and at the time or times permitted by the provisions of this chapter and the rules and regulations of the commission, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor

No person shall hunt or fish during a period when any permit or privilege allowing such person to hunt or fish is suspended, revoked, or denied by any court of this state or by the conservation commission during the term of such suspension, revocation, or denial.

Violation of this section is a class A misdemeanor.

A person commits the offense of unlawful fishing, hunting, or trapping on private land if he or she fishes, hunts, or traps upon or retrieves wildlife from any private land that is not owned or in the possession of such person without permission from the owner or lessee of such land.

The offense of unlawful fishing, hunting, or trapping on private land is a class B misdemeanor.

A person commits the offense of unlawful retrieval of large or small game if he or she, while engaged in the retrieval of wildlife from private land that is not owned or in the possession of such person with permission of the landowner or lessee of the land: (1) Intentionally drives or flushes any large or small game located on the land toward other hunters of the retriever’s same hunting group located on other parcels of land or right-of-ways; or (2) Intentionally discharges a firearm at large or small game that originates from the private land during retrieval.

The offense of unlawful retrieval of large or small game is a class B misdemeanor.

A person commits the offense of interference with hunting, fishing, or trapping in the first degree if he or she intentionally interferes with the lawful taking of wildlife by another.

The offense of interference with lawful hunting, fishing or trapping in the first degree is a class A misdemeanor.

A person commits the offense of interference with hunting, fishing, or trapping in the second degree if he or she enters or remains in a hunting, fishing or trapping area where lawful hunting, fishing or trapping may occur with the intent to interfere with the lawful taking of wildlife.

The offense of interference with lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping in the second degree is a class B misdemeanor.

The commission may suspend, revoke or deny a hunting permit or privilege for a maximum of five years when a person, while hunting, inflicts injury by firearm or other weapon to another person who is mistaken for game.

Any person hunting deer during a firearms deer-hunting season shall wear a cap or hat, and a shirt, vest or coat with the outermost color of daylight fluorescent orange, blaze orange or hunter orange, which must be plainly visible from all sides while being worn.

Any person violating rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be guilty of an infraction.

Any authorized agent of the commission, sheriff, marshal or their deputies, may make complaint and cause proceedings to be commenced against any person for the violation of this law or of any such rules and regulation and such officer shall not be obligated to furnish security for costs. He may search, without warrant, any creel, container, gamebag, hunting coat, or boat in which he has reason to believe wildlife is unlawfully possessed or concealed; and at any and all times may seize any wildlife in the possession or control of any person violating or who there is good reason to believe has violated this law or any of the rules or regulations of the commission;

Any person who shall resist such search or interfere with such agent or officer in the execution of a search warrant shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

Any person who shall obtain or cause to be issued any certificate, license, or privilege from this state or any political subdivision thereof, or from any licensing or certifying organization authorized to certify or license by the laws of this state, by any deceit, shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

It shall be unlawful for any person to place or cause to be placed or erected any seine, screen, net, weir, fish dam or other obstruction in or across any of the waters, rivers, creeks, ponds, streams, sloughs or other watercourse within the jurisdiction of this state in such a manner as will obstruct the free passage of fish up and down and through such water or watercourses.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be fined upon conviction not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars and costs of prosecution.

It shall be unlawful for any person to cause any deleterious substance to be placed, run or drained into any of the waters of this state in quantities sufficient to injure, stupefy or kill fish which may inhabit the same at or below the point where any substance was thrown, run or drained into such waters.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

It shall be unlawful for any person to place any explosive substance or preparation in any of the waters of this state, whereby any fish which may inhabit said waters may be killed, injured or destroyed; and no person, by any such means, shall kill, catch or take any fish from said waters.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not more than two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, for each such offense.

The sale, taking for sale or possession for sale of any species of fish or wildlife, or parts thereof, which shall include eggs, which have been taken or possessed in violation of the rules and regulations of the commission, is prohibited.

Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor for the first offense if the sale amounts to less than five hundred dollars or a guilty of a class D felony for the first and all subsequent offenses if the sale amounts to five hundred dollars or more.

The importation, transportation, or sale of any endangered species of fish or wildlife, or hides or other parts thereof, or the sale or possession with intent to sell any article made in whole or in part from the skin, hide or other parts of any endangered species of fish or wildlife is prohibited. The exportation, transportation, or sale of any endangered species of plant, or parts thereof, or the sale of or possession with intent to sell any product made in whole or in part from any parts of any endangered species of plants is prohibited, unless authorized by regulation. 3. Such rule shall take effect sixty days after it has been filed with the secretary of state. The collecting, digging, or picking of any rare or endangered plant without the permission of the property owner is prohibited.

Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Unless a person has the prior written permission of an owner, officer, lessee, or superintendent of a cave or cavern, such person commits the offense of unlawfully entering or defacing a cave or cavern if he or she: Willfully or knowingly breaks, breaks off, cracks, carves upon, writes or otherwise marks upon, or in any manner destroys, mutilates, injures, defaces, removes, displaces, mars, or harms the surfaces of any cave or any natural material therein including, without limitation, stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, anthodites, gypsum flowers, or needles, cave pearls, flowstone, draperies, rimstone, spathites, columns or similar crystalline mineral formation, including the host rock thereof; or Breaks, forces, tampers with, removes, or otherwise disturbs a lock, gate, door or other structure designed to prevent entrance to a cave or cavern. A person violates this subsection whether or not entrance to the cave or cavern is achieved.

The offense of unlawfully entering or defacing a cave or cavern is a class A misdemeanor.

A person commits the offense of polluting cave or subsurface waters if he or she purposely introduces into any cave, cave system, sinkhole or subsurface waters of the state any substance or structure that will or could violate any provision of the Missouri clean water law, or any water quality standard or effluent limitation promulgated pursuant thereto.

The offense of polluting cave or subsurface waters is a class A misdemeanor.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) uses a point system to identify serious and repeat offenders of the Wildlife Code. Points are assigned to offenses based on the severity of Wildlife Code violation.

How the Wildlife Point System Works

When you violate the Wildlife Code, an agent issues you a ticket. If you are convicted of the violation, the court may assess a fine and/or time in jail. Depending on the violation, MDC staff assigns you anywhere from zero to 16 points per violation.

If you accumulate 16 points, your permit privileges may be revoked for up to one year. If you accumulate more than 16 points, you face revocation of privileges for more than one year. Points remain active for a period of 5 years. Regardless of the number of points associated with a particular violation, MDC may revoke your permit privileges for any violation.

See below if you would like further information on Wildlife Violations and Points Assessed.

General violations:

Take wildlife by molesting a nest, den, home, eggs of wildlife. 4 pts.

Import, transport, sell, purchase, take or possess protected species of wildlife, or parts thereof, inconsistent with rules of the code. 4 pts.

Illegal purchase or selling of wildlife, fish, live bait, etc. 12 pts.

causing a deleterious substance to be placed, run, or drained into any waters of the state in quantities sufficient to injure, stupefy, or kill fish. 12 pts.

no person who legally takes or possess any wildlife shall wantonly leave or abandon any portion of such wildlife commonly used as human food. 4 pts.

Endangered species:

import, transport, sell, purchase, take or possess endangered species of wildlife, hides or other parts, inconsistent with the rules or the code. 12 pts.

Ginseng:

Failure to register with the department as a ginseng dealer. 4 pts.

Prohibited species:

Import, export, transport, sell, purchase or possess live prohibited species. 4 pts.

Inspection:

Refuse to submit any or all fishing or small game hunting permits to an agent of the department. 4 pts.

Refuse to submit any or all commercial permits to agent of the department. 4 pts.

Refuse to permit inspection of creel, game bag, equipment or any devices or facilities used in taking, possessing or transporting fish and/or wildlife. 4 pts.

Owner may protect property:

Capture or kill deer, turkeys, mountain lion, migratory birds, black bear or endangered species for damage to personal property without permission of agent. 0 pts.

Use, transport, sell or give away wildlife captured or killed as a result of personal property damage. 0 pts.

Using illegal method to capture or kill wildlife that is damaging personal property. 0 pts.

Failure of property owner that has captured or killed wildlife as a result of property damage to report the action taken to an agent within twenty-four (24) hours. 0 pts.

Transportation:

Possess and transport into, within or out of this state illegally taken wildlife. 4 pts.

Giving away wildlife:

Wildlife legally taken and possessed may be given to another only by the taker after completion of the days fishing or hunt. Any wildlife given to another shall continue to be included in the daily limit of the taker