C 

0 The State of Texas 

P 

Y OFFICE OF THEATTORNEY -OFTAustin 

Gerald C. Mann 

Attorney General 

Donorable 2. D. Dodgen, Chief Clerk 

Game, Fish and Oyster Commission 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion ITo. O-3509 

??e: The status cf t:le law in Robertson 

County in respeot to taking wild 

turkeys. 

Your letter of May 5, 19JJ, calls our attention to 

Senate Bill go. 507 of the Regular Session of the @nd Legislature, whit& amended Chapter 10 of the l&h Galled Session of 

the &.l.st Legislature, and which reads ln part as follows: 

&e open season for killing wild turkeys in any 

county composing the third, fifth and fourteenth senatorial districts . . . shall be during the months of 

!Jarch and April. Whoever kills a wild turkey in any 

of said counties at any time other than during said 

shall be fined not less than Ten 

lO.OOj Doli&'nor more than One Hundred ($100.00) 

f ,.. 

and to Rouse~R~3.l Ho. 377 of the Regular Session of the &th 

Legislature,(whish reads as follows: 

*Ii shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, trap, 

ensnare kill or attempt to kill, by any meana whatsoever, 

any ~114 deer, buok, doe ,t fawn or wild turkey in the 

county of Robertson, fn the State of Texas, for a period 

of six 16) years from and after the passage of this Act.* 

Robertson County was included within the provisions 

or Senate Bill No. 507. Rouee Bill No. 377 by Its provlsione 

expired May 6, 1911. 
,., 

Honorable H. D. Dodgen, page 2 

YOII request the opinion of this Department upon 

the status of the law et this time with reference to the 

taking of wild turkey in Robertson County under the foregoing statutes. 

The Legislature did not in Rouse Bill 377 expressly 

repeal Senate Bill 507 in Its applioatlon to Robertson County. 

The doatrlne of repeals by implication, upon the basis of an 

lrreconciliable conflict, does not oompel such a repeal because 

Rouse Bill 377 by Its express provisions was a temporary enactment to be in force and effect for only six years. The effect 

of Xouse Bill 377, in our opinion, was nerely to suspend the 

operation of Senate Bill 507 during the llre of House Bill 377. 

Th4 purpose of Hous Bill 377, as reolted In Seotion 3 ther4@, was to aooomplish the restmklng or Robertson 

Couuty with @%ld deer and turk4g. We samot, in ths abssnoe 

of exgjmss l&guage, attribute to the Legislature, in the enaotment of House Bill 377, the intent to repeal outright Sonata 

Bill 507 as %o Robertson County, and thereby, at the end of 

six years, leave the killing of wild turkey unregulated and 

uurestrloted ln suoh oountg. Manifestly this muid frustrate 

the very purpose of Houae Bill 377. 

It is therefore the opinion of this Department that 

House Bill 377 merely suspended the operation of Senate Bill 

507 in Robertson County for six years and that upon the explratiou 

or suah peri 

onas aga3n i r 

of tints the provisions of Senate Bill 507 beoam 

~iorae and effaat in anoh bounty. In oonsBqu4nue, 

the open ssaion tor the taking of wild turkeys in Robertson 

County is 1n:aocordauoe with Senate Bill 507, namely, during 

the months o? Maroh and April. 

Yours very truly 

APPROV-EIS MAY:20, 194l ATTORNEYGENERAL OFTXAS 

/a/ Grover 8bllers 

FTRST ASSISTAIW 

ATTORl'EYGEniRAL 

zcs: Aha! 

APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE 

By BViB Chairman 

By /s/ Zollie C. SteakleT 

Zollie C. Steakley 

arrsistant