California Canned Hunt Statutes and Regulations

Partial Ban: Fish and Game officials stated canned hunts are prohibited in California.

Statute

Section 2124 of the Fish and Game Code states: "Except as otherwise authorized by this code or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, including, but not limited to, those provisions that authorize raising deer to produce venison for market, it is unlawful for any person to possess, transport, import, export, propagate, purchase, sell, or transfer any live mammal listed under Section 2118 for the purposes of maiming, injuring, or killing the mammal for gain, amusement or sport. Furthermore, except as otherwise authorized by this code or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, the buyer of a live mammal listed in Section 2118 shall not resell the live mammal to another buyer who has the intent to maim, injure, or kill that mammal for the purposes of gain, amusement or sport." A.C.C. §2124a.

This section does not apply to the meat, hide, or parts of a dead mammal. Id. at §2124b.

California law specifies that "every person in possession or control of property who imposes or collects a fee for the privilege of taking birds or mammals thereon, or who imposes or collects a fee for any type of entry or use permit which includes the privilege of taking birds or mammals on the property, is maintaining a commercial hunting club if birds or mammals are taken on the property, and shall procure a commercial hunting club license." A.C.C. §3240.5.

This provision, however, does not "apply to any hunting club or program licensed under other provisions of this code, or to any person who receives less than fifty dollars ($50) per entrant and receives less than a total of five hundred dollars ($500) between July 1 and the following June 30 for permission, entry, access, or use fees which include the privilege of hunting on property in his or her possession or control." Id. Section 2118 does exempt bighorned sheep now or formerly indigenous to California.

A "domesticated game breeder's license" is required by "any person engaged in raising or importing, or who keeps in captivity, in this state domesticated game birds or domesticated game mammals which normally exist in the wild..." Id. at §3200. This provision, however, does not apply to licensed pheasant clubs, Id. at §3200(a), or "licensed domesticated migratory game bird shooting areas." Id. At §3200(b). A "class 1" domesticated game breeder's license authorizes the "licensee to engage in all domesticated game breeding activities." Id. at §3202(a).

Except as authorized under a domesticated game breeder's license, "any deer, elk, or bear kept in captivity may be killed only with the approval of the department, and under such regulations as the commission may prescribe." Id. at §3006. Furthermore, the state also has extensive statutes pertaining to the importation, transportation, and sheltering of wild animals. Id. at §2116 et seq.
 
Section 1-89 of the Fish and Game Code defines "mammal" as any wild or feral mammal or any part thereof, but not any wild, feral, or undomesticated burro. "Game mammals" as designated include deer (genus Odocoileus), elk (genus Cervus), prong-horned antelope (genus Antilocapra), wild pigs, including feral pigs and European wild boars (genus Sus), black and brown or cinnamon bears (genus Euarctos), mountain lions (genus Felis), jackrabbits and varying hares (genus Lepus), cottontails, brush rabbits, pigmy rabbits (genus Sylvilagus), and tree squirrels (genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus). Id. at §3950.     

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