Wis. Stat. § 29.001 — WI Code / Chapter 29 / Section 29.001
Definitions.
Status: in_force

In this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:

(3) “Address” means a street name and number or post-office box number, the name of the city, village or town, the state and the zip code.

(6) “Aircraft” means any contrivance invented, used or designed for navigation of or flight in the air.

(7) “Airgun” means a weapon originally manufactured to expel one or more metal projectiles by the expansion of compressed air.

(9) “All-terrain vehicle” has the meaning given in s. 340.01 (2g) .

(12) “Approval” means any type of approval, privilege, or authorization issued or conferred by the department under this chapter including any license, permit, certificate, card, stamp, preference point, or tag. “Approval” does not include a conservation card issued under s. 23.47 (2) .

(15) “Attending boat” means an open boat used to transport equipment, crew or catch of a licensed boat, provide assistance in the operation of fishing gear by the licensed boat or provide other assistance in the commercial fishing operations of a boat licensed under s. 29.519 .

(16) “Boat” means any device capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.

(17) “Bow,” when used with reference to hunting, means a bow, drawn and held by and through the effort of the person releasing it, but does not include a crossbow.

(18) “Carcass” means the dead body of any wild animal, including any part of the wild animal or the eggs of the wild animal.

(19) “Cervid” means any species of deer or elk that is present in the wild and that is not a farm-raised deer.

(19m) “Crossbow” means any device using a bow that, once drawn, is held solely by means other than the effort of the person firing it.

(20) “Deer” means white-tailed deer and does not include farm-raised deer.

(21) “Documented boat” means a licensed commercial fishing boat with valid federal documentation under s. 30.51 (2) (c) 2.

(22) “Elk” means elk that is present in the wild and that does not have an ear tag or other mark identifying it as being raised on a farm.

(24) “Farm-raised deer” has the meaning given in s. 95.001 (1) (ag) .

(25) “Farm-raised fish” means a fish that is kept on a fish farm for propagation purposes or reared on a fish farm and that has not been introduced, stocked or planted into waters outside a fish farm or that has not escaped from a fish farm.

(25m) “Farm-raised game bird” has the meaning given in s. 169.01 (12m) .

(26) “Fish farm” has the meaning given in s. 95.001 (1) (aj) , except that “fish farm” does not include a state or municipal fish hatchery or a private fishing preserve.

(27) “Fishing” includes taking, capturing or killing fish, other than farm-raised fish, or attempting to take, capture or kill fish, other than farm-raised fish. When “fish” is used as a verb, it has the same meaning as “fishing”.

(28) “Food distribution service” means a program that provides food or serves meals directly to individuals with low incomes or to elderly individuals, or that collects and distributes food to persons who provide food or serve meals directly to these individuals.

(29) “Freeze-out pond” means a natural, self-contained body of water in which freezing or anoxic conditions prevent the body of water from naturally sustaining a fish population at least twice every 5 years.

(30) “Fur-bearing animal” includes otter, beaver, mink, muskrat, woodchuck, marten, fisher, skunk, raccoon, fox, weasel, opossum, badger, wolf, coyote, bobcat, cougar, and lynx.

(33) “Game” includes all varieties of wild mammals or birds.

(36) “Game animal” includes deer, moose, elk, bear, rabbit, squirrel, woodchuck, fox, and raccoon.

(39) “Game birds” means birds that are in the wild and includes wild geese, brant, wild ducks, wild swan, rails, coots, gallinules, snipe, woodcock, plovers, sandpipers, ruffed grouse, prairie chicken, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasants, gray partridge, chukar partridge, bobwhite, quail, crows and wild turkey.

(41) “Game fish” includes all varieties of fish except rough fish and minnows.

(41m) “Great Lakes fish” means lake trout, siscowet, whitefish, chubs, yellow perch, menominee, lake herring, smelt, alewife, and burbot.

(42) “Hunt” or “hunting” includes shooting, shooting at, pursuing, taking, capturing or killing or attempting to capture or kill any wild animal.

(45) “Inland waters” means all waters not classified as outlying waters, including the bays, bayous and sloughs of the Mississippi River bottoms.

(51) “Licensed boat” means a boat, other than an attending boat, included under a commercial fishing license.

(54) “Minnow” includes a sucker not listed as endangered or threatened under s. 29.604 (3) , central mudminnow, tadpole madtom, stonecat, banded killifish, blackstripe topminnow, brook silverside, brook stickleback, ninespine stickleback, trout-perch, darter, log perch, sculpin. “Minnow” includes any minnow family cyprinid that is not listed as endangered or threatened under s. 29.604 (3) and that is not a goldfish, grass carp, common carp or rudd. “Minnow” does not include any sucker, darter, sculpin or minnow species that is designated as detrimental under s. 29.424 .

(57) “Motor vehicle” means a self-propelled vehicle, including a combination of 2 or more vehicles or an articulated vehicle. “Motor vehicle” includes a snowmobile or an all-terrain vehicle. “Motor vehicle” does not include an aircraft, a vehicle operated exclusively on rails, an electric scooter, or an electric personal assistive mobility device.

(58) “Municipal fish hatchery” means a fish hatchery that is owned or operated by a city, village, town, county, or a federally recognized Indian tribe or band located in this state.

(59) “Muzzle-loading firearm” means a firearm that shoots a projectile loaded exclusively from the muzzle.

(60) “Nongame species” means any species of wild animal that is living in the wild and that is not classified as a game fish, game animal, game bird or fur-bearing animal.

(63) “Outlying waters” means Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, Sawyer’s Harbor and the Fox River from its mouth up to the dam at De Pere.

(64) “Preexisting fish rearing facility” means a body of water that is a fish farm or part of a fish farm and that is not a self-contained body of water but that was licensed as a private fish hatchery, or as part of a private fish hatchery, under s. 29.52 , 1995 stats., on January 1, 1998 and that has been continuously used to rear fish since that date.

(65) “Proof,” when used in reference to evidence of an approval, means the original approval document issued by the department or an agent appointed under s. 29.024 (6) (a) or any alternative form of proof designated by rule under s. 23.47 (1) .

(66) “Registered boat” means a boat having a valid certificate of number issued under s. 30.51 .

(69) “Resident” means a person who has maintained his or her place of permanent abode in this state for a period of 30 days immediately preceding his or her application for an approval. Domiciliary intent is required to establish that a person is maintaining his or her place of permanent abode in this state. Mere ownership of property is not sufficient to establish domiciliary intent. Evidence of domiciliary intent includes, without limitation, the location where the person votes, pays personal income taxes, or obtains a driver’s license or an identification card issued under s. 343.50 .

(72) “Resident senior citizen” means a resident who has attained the age of 65 years.

(74) “Rough fish” includes suckers, not listed as endangered or threatened under s. 29.604 (3) , common carp, asian carp, goldfish, freshwater drum, burbot, bowfin, garfish, sea lamprey, alewife, gizzard shad, rainbow smelt and mooneye.

(75) “Self-contained body of water” means a body of water that has no inlet from or outlet to a natural body of water, except that it may have pipes or similar conduits to put in or withdraw water that are equipped with barriers that prevent the passage of fish between the body of water and the other waters of the state.

(76) “Self-contained fish rearing facility” means any of the following:

(a) An artificial, self-contained body of water that is a fish farm or part of a fish farm.

(b) A freeze-out pond for which a permit is issued under s. 29.733 (2) .

(78) “Snowmobile” has the meaning given in s. 340.01 (58a) .

(81) “Sturgeon Bay” means that body of water lying south and east of a line commencing at the most northerly point of section 23, township 28 north, range 25 east, and running in a northeasterly direction to the water’s edge on north line of section 13, same township and range.

(84) “Trapping” includes the taking, or the attempting to take, of any wild animal by means of setting or operating any device that is designed or made to close upon, hold fast, or otherwise capture a wild animal. When “trap” is used as a verb, it has the same meaning as “trapping”.

(87) “Vehicle” means any device for moving persons or property or pulling implements from one place to another on land or rails or in the air.

(90) “Wild animal” means any mammal, bird, fish, or other creature of a wild nature endowed with sensation and the power of voluntary motion.

History: 1997 a. 248 ss. 39 to 47 , 49 to 75 , 84 ; 1999 a. 9 ; 2001 a. 56 , 90 , 109 ; 2005 a. 286 , 288 ; 2011 a. 180 , 252 ; 2013 a. 20 ; 2015 a. 89 ; 2017 a. 64 ; 2019 a. 11 ; 2023 a. 114 , 115 , 116 .