1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to game and fish; requiring establishment of
1.3 	certain deer management zones and youth special hunts;
1.4 	providing penalties; proposing coding for new law in
1.5 	Minnesota Statutes, chapter 97B.
1.6 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7 	Section 1. [97B.313] DEER MANAGEMENT.
1.8 		Subdivision 1.Experimental farmland deer management
1.9 	zone. (a) The commissioner shall establish an experimental
1.10 	farmland deer management zone under section 97B.311, beginning
1.11 	with the 2005 deer season, consisting of antlerless permit areas
1.12 	433, 446, and 447 in parts of Lac qui Parle, Swift, Big Stone,
1.13 	Chippewa, and Yellow Medicine Counties.  In the experimental
1.14 	farmland deer management zone, a person 18 years of age or older
1.15 	may not take an antlered deer with antlers that have fewer than
1.16 	four points on one side.
1.17 	(b) A violation related to antler size in the experimental
1.18 	farmland deer management zone is not a crime but is subject to a
1.19 	petty misdemeanor penalty and a fine of up to $50.
1.20 	(c) The commissioner shall annually report to the senate
1.21 	and house of representatives committees with jurisdiction over
1.22 	natural resources policy on the experimental farmland deer
1.23 	management zone.  The report must include information on the
1.24 	number of antlered deer taken in the experimental farmland deer
1.25 	management zone and estimates of the antlered deer population in
2.1 	the zone, including the quality of the population.
2.2 		Subd. 2.Youth special hunt. The commissioner shall
2.3 	establish an early season two-day special firearms deer season
2.4 	under section 97B.112, beginning with the 2005 deer season, for
2.5 	youth residents who are at least 12 years of age and under 15
2.6 	years of age to take an antlerless deer in intensive harvest
2.7 	permit areas.  The two-day special season shall be established
2.8 	on the weekend following the third Thursday in October.
2.9 		Subd. 3.Expiration. This section expires December 31,
2.10 	2009.