Chap. 327.——-An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 49, as amended, of the Game
Inland Fish and Dog Code of Virginia, relating to hunting, trapping and fishing
on the property of another. [H B 125)

Approved March 31, 1942

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sectior
forty-nine, as amended, of the Game, Inland Fish and Dog Code of Vir-
ginia, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 49. Any person who goes on the lands, waters, ponds,

boats or blinds of another to hunt, fish or trap without the consent of the
landowner or his agent, and after having been warned by such landowner
or his agent not to do so, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or by confine-
ment in jail for not more than thirty days, or by both, in the discretion
of the court or jury trying the case.
Adequate warning, for the purposes of this section, may be given by
appropriate signs or posters placed on such property in conspicuous
places, including some place or places as near as practicable to any public
road or roads running through, bordering on, or in the vicinity of such
property. Any person who goes upon the lands, waters, ponds, boats or
blinds of another, upon which signs or posters have been placed as here-
inabove provided, to hunt, fish or trap shall be deemed to have been so
warned, and if he fails to produce a written permit, signed by the owner
of such property or his authorized agent, he shall be prima facie guilty
of the offense herein defined. The production of a written permit, how-
ever, signed by the owner or his authorized agent, which permit has not
been revoked, or a written statement from such owner or his authorized
agent, requesting that such prosecution be dismissed, shall be a com
plete defense to any prosecution hereunder. ,

Any person who shall mutilate, destroy or take down any “posted”,
“no hunting” or similar sign or poster on the lands or waters of another,
or who shall post such sign or poster on the lands or waters of another,
without the consent of the landowner or his agent, shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than fif-
teen dollars.

Fox hunters, when the chase begins on other lands, may follow their
dogs on prohibited lands, and deer hunters, when the chase begins on
other lands, may go upon prohibited lands to retrieve their dogs, but not
o hunt any game while thereon. No person shall be deemed guilty of tres-
sass hereunder upon uninclosed mountain lands not used for cultivation,
xcept in the counties of Giles east of New River, Craig, Bath, Alleghany
ind Highland and in the mountains in the western part of Rockingham
County, and in any county having a population of more than fourteen
housand and less than twenty thousand inhabitants, which adjoins a coun-
y within the geographical bounds of which is located a city having a pop-
“lation of not less than sixty thousand nor more than one hundred thou-
sand inhabitants, all according to the last United States census.

‘Nothing in this act shall be construed to affect in any way the civil
rights of a landowner as against trespassers against his property.