Relating to game and fish; authorizing the commissioner of natural resources to purchase snowmobile and outboard motors with two stroke engines determined to be environmentally efficient or upon determination of the impracticality of using four stroke engines for the intended natural resource management purpose, requiring preference to engine models manufactured in the United States; authorizing and providing for the commissioner to conduct criminal background checks of volunteer instructor applicants for safety training and education programs; removing a certain exception to the prohibition on youthful operation of certain larger all-terrain vehicles (ATV); expanding the definitions of minnows and undressed bird; expanding the authority of the commissioner to dispose of or destroy or to issue special permits to dispose of or destroy undesirable or predatory wild animals; restricting the issuance of replacement deer hunting licenses; specifying certain requirements for the issuance of resident hunting licenses; requiring parental supervision of minors under a certain age to hunt turkey and modifying the area of validity for turkey licenses; clarifying the eligibility of resident owners or tenants of agricultural land to hunt antlerless deer on the land with a free license; restricting the authority of certain minors to trap small game without a license; authorizing nonresident minors under a certain age to purchase fishing licenses at the resident fee or to be included under a nonresident family license; authorizing the commissioner to give first preference to qualified military service members or veterans in drawings or lotteries involving the selection of applicants for certain hunting or fishing licenses, permits or special permits, excepting licenses for taking moose, elk or prairie chickens; eliminating the requirement for resident turkey hunter guide licenses; modifying certain requirements for the issuance of special permits for field trials and training hunting dogs; modifying certain requirements for the firearms safety and wildlife identification course, authorizing certain youth with a firearms safety certificate to purchase certain hunting licenses in advance of validity; modifying the requirement for classroom instruction for trappers and requiring the issuance of certificates by the trappers association conducting the courses to trappers upon completion of the course, requiring trapper education certificates for the issuance of trapper licenses to certain persons born after a certain date; removing a certain restriction on the use of firearms in hunting big game; modifying certain requirements for the use of scopes by visually impaired hunters and authorizing the use of laser sights by totally blind persons with a disability using assisted hunting opportunities; prohibiting computer assisted remote hunting; regulating stands and blinds on public lands; authorizing the use of dogs to pursue and tree raccoons during the closed season and eliminating the special permit or license requirement; eliminating the permit requirement to take lynx, bobcat or fox with a snare; extending the open season for certain upland game birds; restricting the opening of the regular duck season; further restricting the authority to take migratory waterfowl on open water; modifying the restriction on unattended decoys and expanding the authority of the commissioner to restrict the use of motorized decoys; modifying commissioner authority to dispose of fish hatchery products; clarifying certain requirements for the measurement of fish length; modifying the season for possession of nets and spears for fishing purposes and for the taking of walleye, sauger, northern pike, muskellunge and large and smallmouth bass; modifying the size limit for walleyed pike and the net limits for Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake; authorizing indication of successful completion of an advanced hunter education course on drivers licenses or identification (ID) cards; expanding the definition of lawful purpose expenditures for lawful gambling purposes to contributions to or expenditures for DNR coordinated safety training and educational programs supplies and materials; repealing certain provisions relating to fishing restrictions for brook trout, the use of vehicles for trapping beaver and otter, the Mississippi River fish refuge and certain restrictions for walleye fishing on Rainy River, Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods and certain rules relating to snaring fox, bobcat and lynx and the license requirement for turkey guides
(Ch. 146, 2005)