Chap. 262.—An ACT to amend and re-enact chapter 422 of the acts of assembly
of 1926, concerning elk in the counties of Giles, Bland, Pulaski, Montgomery
and Craig, as amended by chapter 202 of the acts of assembly of 1928.

[S B 180]
Approved March 24, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That chap-
ter four hundred and twenty-two of the acts of assembly of nineteen
hundred and twenty-six, as amended by chapter two hundred and two
of the acts of assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, at any time, in
the counties of Giles, Bland, Pulaski, Montgomery and Craig, to chase
elk with dogs; to hunt or track elk when the ground is covered with
snow; to trap, capture or take alive, any elk in any manner or by
any means whatever; or to kill any elk in either of said counties at any
time or in any manner except hereinafter provided.

Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any person to remove, or
take part in removing, the whole or any part of any elk killed in either
of said counties, from the county in which killed without the written
permission of the regular game warden of such county, which per-
mission he shall give upon satisfactory proof to him that such elk had
been lawfully killed. It shall be unlawful for any person to remove,
or take part in removing, from the spot where killed, the whole or any
part of any elk killed in violation of any of the provisions of section
one of this act, and it shall be the legal duty of any person knowing
any such elk to have been unlawfully killed, to promptly report such
fact to the regular game warden of the county who shall take charge
of said elk and dispose of same to the best advantage, and pay the net
proceeds thereof into the State treasury to the credit of the game
protection fund.

It shall also be unlawful for any person to hunt for or kill any
elk in either of said counties without a special license to hunt elk, to be
obtained as hereinafter provided for, and any person found in any
territory frequented by elk, without such license, on any day on which
elk may be lawfully killed under the provisions of this act, carrying any
such rifle as is mentioned in the next section, shall be deemed guilty
of hunting elk without a license so to do.

Section 3. It shall be lawful for any person to kill one, and only
one elk in any one season, which may be done in either of said counties
on either the first, second or third day of December in any year, or on
the fourth day of December if either of said days should fall on Sun-
day, provided that such elk be a buck with horns plainly visible above
the hair, and be killed with a rifle with a bore no smaller than twenty-
five (twenty-five-twenty), and it shall be unlawful to hunt for or shoot
at anv elk at any time, with any other kind of gun, and no doe elk shall
be killed at any time.

Section 5. Any person desiring to hunt elk in either of said coun-
ties during any open season as defined in section three of this act,
shall first obtain from the clerk of the circuit court of the county, a
special license to hunt elk in that county, the fee for which shall be
fifty cents for a resident of this State and two dollars and fifty cents
for a non-resident, and the clerk’s compensation shall be ten per centum
of all such license fees collected by him. There shall be issued along
with the license, a button with a number corresponding with the num-
ber of the license, the form and type of both license and button to be
designated by the department of game and inland fisheries, and changed
each year, which license and button, together with a regular hunting
license and button shall be carried on the person while hunting elk.

Section 6. ‘The money arising from the sale of such special licenses
shall be paid by the clerk, less his commissions for issuing the same,
into the county treasury, and what may remain after paying for the
license forms and buttons, shall constitute a fund for the payment of
damages done by elk to crops or other property in such county. If at
the end of any year there shall be accumulated in said fund more than
$200.00 in excess of the amount necessary to pay all such claims, which
have been approved and which are then unpaid, such excess over and
above $200.00 shall be paid by the county into the State treasury to
the credit of the game protection fund.

Any person whose crops or other property has been damaged by
elk, shall promptly notify the regular game warden of the county, who
shall make an investigation and if possible, come to an agreement as
to the amount of damage, and in the event of failure to agree, the
same shall be settled by arbitration according to the usual custom of
the country, and the award of the arbitrators shall be final and binding.

The warden shall report all such agreements and awards to the
board of supervisors for payment as provided for in the preceding sec-
tion; provided, however, that said board shall have the right to inquire
into, and investigate any and all such claims for damages, and to dis-
allow any claim for fraud or deception in the adjustment thereof, with
the right of appeal by the claimant to the circuit court of the county.

Section 7. The penalty for violating any provision of section one
of this act shall be a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more
than two hundred and fifty dollars and confinement in jail for not less
than two months nor more than six months. The penalty for viola-
tion of any provision of section two shall be a fine of not less than
twenty-five dollars nor more than fifty dollars, and confinement in
jail not less than one month nor more than three months, but the judge
or justice before whom the case is tried may suspend the jail sentence
upon prompt payment of the fine and costs; provided, however, that
the penalty for the accidental or unintentional killing of an elk con-
trary to the provisions of this act, shall be a fine of twenty-five dollars,
and the penalty for failure of the person who killed such elk, or any
other person knowing such fact, to report the same to the regular game
warden of the county, shall be a fine of seventy-five dollars.

Section 8. One-half of all fines imposed and collected for viola-
tions of any of the provisions of this act, shall go to the persons, other
than the game warden reporting such violations, provided the of-
fender be convicted. :
2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with any of the provisions
of this act are hereby repealed.
This act shall become effective on the first day of December, 1930.