Relating to deer hunting by nonresidents on land owned or formerly owned by nonresidents, and making penalties applicable

This bill relates to nonresident deer hunting on land owned or formerly owned by a nonresident. The bill creates a definition for “nonresident landowner”, which is a nonresident who owns at least acres of land in this state, has owned that land for at least five years, and has not used an exemption from property taxes for forest and fruit tree reservations for any property the nonresident owns. The bill allows a nonresident landowner to apply once per year for two antlered or any sex deer hunting licenses for use on the nonresident landowner’s property. Licenses issued in this manner are not included in the allotment of nonresident deer hunting licenses issued by the commission. A nonresident landowner applying for the property-specific licenses shall pay a $10 habitat fee for deer herd management in addition to purchasing a nonresident annual hunting license that includes the wildlife habitat fee and paying the general $1 fee for deer herd management. If one or more parcels of land have multiple nonresident landowners, no more than two nonresident landowner deer hunting licenses may be used on a shared parcel. The department shall require proof of land ownership from the nonresident landowner and the nonresident landowner shall enter a wild animal depredation agreement with the department for purposes of limiting potential damage to crops, horticultural products, trees, and nurseries due to wild animals. If the nonresident landowner owns additional land that the department of agriculture and land stewardship determines is suitable for crop or livestock production, the nonresident landowner shall include with the application an affidavit explaining the nonresident landowner’s efforts to secure a beginning farmer as a tenant.24, subsection 2, and who has a resident spouse or child who currently qualifies as an owner on the same property. The bill extends the privilege to hunt without a license on one’s own land to former owners. A person who violates a provision of the bill is subject to a scheduled fine of $25.