The commissioner may authorize the commissioner’s conservation officers or other agents to take rabbits by the use of ferrets for the purpose of restocking and redistribution. Any person who takes any rabbit by the use of a ferret, except as authorized in this section, shall be fined not less than ten dollars or more than fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days or be both fined and imprisoned, and the possession of each rabbit taken by the use of a ferret, except as so authorized, shall constitute a separate offense.