(a)

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class C misdemeanorup to 30 daysup to $50
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 70-2-204

  • Agency: means the wildlife resources agency. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Commission: means the Tennessee fish and wildlife commission, and "commissioner" means a member of the fish and wildlife commission. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Fish: means all species of trout, salmon, walleye, northern pike, bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish, perch, sunfish, drum, carp, sucker, shad, minnow, and such other species of fish that are presently found in the state or may be introduced or transplanted into this state for consumptive or nonconsumptive use. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Fishing: means any effort made to take, kill, injure, capture, or catch any fish and every act of assistance in any effort. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Hunting: means chasing, driving, flushing, attracting, pursuing, worrying, following after or on the trail of, searching for, trapping, shooting at, stalking, or lying in wait for, any wildlife, whether or not such wildlife is then or subsequently captured, killed, taken, or wounded and every act of assistance to any other person, but "hunting" does not include stalking, attracting, searching for, or lying in wait for, wildlife by an unarmed person solely for the purpose of watching wildlife or taking pictures of wildlife. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Person: means an individual, association, partnership, or corporation. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Small game: means fur bearers, game birds, swamp rabbits, bullfrogs, cottontail rabbits, fox squirrels, gray squirrels, red squirrels, and all species of small mammals and birds that may be introduced into this state for hunting. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Wildlife: means wild vertebrates, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
(1)

(A) The owners and tenants of farmlands, and their spouses and children, have the right to engage in the sport of hunting and fishing, subject to all laws or regulations concerning wildlife, upon such lands and waters on the land of which they or their spouses or parents are the bona fide owners or tenants, with the permission of the landowner, during the season when it is lawful to do so, without procuring a hunting and sport fishing license.
(B) The grandchildren and great-grandchildren under sixteen (16) years of age of the owners of farmlands have the right to engage in the sport of hunting and fishing, subject to all laws or regulations concerning wildlife, upon such lands and waters on the land of which their grandparent or great-grandparent or grandparents or great-grandparents are the bona fide owners, with the permission of the landowner, during the season when it is lawful to do so, without procuring a hunting and sport fishing license.
(C) The spouses of the children of the owners of farmlands have the right to engage in the sport of hunting and fishing, subject to all laws or regulations concerning wildlife, upon such lands and waters on the land of which their mother-in-law or father-in-law is the bona fide owner, with the permission of the landowner, during the season when it is lawful to do so, without procuring a hunting and sport fishing license.
(D) Tenants and their spouses and their dependent children must be bona fide residents of this state and must actually reside on the land.
(E) Owners and their spouses, children, spouses of children, qualified grandchildren, and qualified great-grandchildren must be bona fide residents of this state.
(F) Land may qualify as farmland only if it is owned by no more than one (1) individual or a family; provided, that, if land is owned jointly or in common by persons who are first cousins related by blood, then such cousins and their children may hunt small game and fish on such land under this subsection (a).
(2) “Family” means any combination of kinship within the third degree, including any spouse who has an interest in the property.
(3) “Tenant” means an individual who receives compensation, such as free rent or money, for acting either in the place of or at the direction of the landowner in tending to the requirements needed to care for the farmland. The primary purpose of the tenancy shall be agricultural in nature.
(b) Each person claiming a license exemption under subsection (a) shall provide identification and shall submit a signed statement attesting to the exempt status described in the statement and a description of the land and the name of the land owner when requested by an officer of the wildlife agency or upon presenting any game to a check station. Such statement shall contain information sufficient to demonstrate that such person has complied with the requirements of subsection (a). The commission shall prepare a preprinted form for the submission of such statements for convenience of use. Submission of false information in a signed statement is a Class C misdemeanor.
(c) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
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