A BILL to amend and reenact § 29.1-506 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Board of Wildlife Resources; prescribing seasons and bag limits for taking wild birds, animals, and fish.
HB767 amends Virginia Code § 29.1-506, which governs the Board of Wildlife Resources’ authority to set hunting, fishing, and trapping seasons and bag limits for wild birds, animals, and fish. The bill keeps the Board’s existing power to regulate harvest levels by species and locality, and it restates that the Board may adjust seasons and bag limits when it finds an unusual scarcity of a species or a risk that a population in a city or county could be eliminated.
In practical terms, the bill is aimed at wildlife conservation and population management. It would continue to allow the Board to tailor regulations by species and by geographic area to promote recovery and stabilization of wildlife populations when needed. The measure does not create a new program or licensing system; rather, it refines and reinforces the Board’s regulatory authority over game and fish management.
The bill would amend a single statute, § 29.1-506 of the Code of Virginia, without changing the overall structure of the Board of Wildlife Resources’ authority. Its effect would be to preserve and clarify the Board’s ability to prescribe seasons and bag limits for hunting, fishing, and trapping in response to local wildlife scarcity or population risk. Affected parties would include hunters, anglers, trappers, landowners, and wildlife managers subject to Board regulations.
There is little recorded public or committee sentiment in the available materials, and no votes or transcript discussion are provided. Based on the bill text, the measure appears to be a routine conservation and wildlife-management bill rather than a controversial policy change. Its committee referral and subsequent status of being left in committee suggest it did not advance, but the record provided does not show a formal debate or recorded opposition.
No specific points of contention are documented in the available committee transcripts or vote history. Potential areas of concern, based on the bill’s subject matter, would likely center on how much discretion the Board of Wildlife Resources should have to restrict harvest seasons and bag limits in particular localities, and how such restrictions might affect hunters, anglers, and rural communities. However, the provided record does not identify any member or stakeholder taking a position on those issues.