An Act Regarding the Use of Hunter Orange Clothing, Assisted Hunting, Baiting and the Possession of Gift Animals
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 0253
Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Sponsors: HONEY, KNEELAND, TOBIN, BRYANT
Amends: 12 MRSA §7, 12 MRSA §7406, 12 MRSA §7452, 12 MRSA §7458, 12 MRSA §7463-A, 12 MRSA §7625

Legislative Document 
No. 253 
H.P.208 
House of Representatives, January 23, 2003 
An Act Regarding the Use of Hunter Orange Clothing, Assisted 
Hunting, Baiting and the Possession of Gift Animals 
Reference to the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Representative HONEY of Boothbay. 
1J1~/h.1l/~~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Senator KNEELAND of Aroostook and 
Representative: TOBIN of Dexter, Senator: BRYANT of Oxford. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §7IOI-A is enacted to read: 
§7101-A. 
Bunting without a license 
Notwithstanding section 7371, 
subsection 3, 
a 
person may 
assist in a hunt without a license or permit for that activity as 
long as that person does not carry a weapon. 
Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §7406, sub-§12, as amended by PL 2001, c. 202, 
§1, is further amended to read: 
12. 
Bunting without hunter orange clothing. 
A person is 
guilty of hunting without hunter orange clothing if that person 
hunts with firearms during the open firearm season on deer or 
~ 
and fails to wear 2 articles of hunter orange clothing that 
are in good, serviceable condition and visible from all sides, 
except that pe~seBs a person hunting from a tree stand or hunting 
waterfowl from a boat or blind or in conjunction with waterfowl 
decoys need not wear hunter orange clothing. 
One article of 
clothing must be a solid-colored hunter orange hat. 
The other 
article of clothing must cover a major portion of the torso, such 
as a jacket, vest, coat or poncho, and must be a minimum of 50% 
hunter orange in color. 
The presence of a decal on an article of 
clothing that is otherwise solid-colored hunter orange does not 
disqualify 
that 
article 
of 
clothing 
from 
satisfying 
the 
requirements of this subsection. 
Sec. 3. 12 MRSA §7452, sub-§4. as enacted by PL 1979, c. 420, 
§l, is amended to read: 
4. 
Exceeding bag limit on bears. 
Except 
as 
otherwise 
provided, a person is guilty of exceeding the bag limit on bears 
if ae that person possesses more than one bear in any calendar 
year. 
A person may keep more than one legally obtained bear in 
that person's home at any time. 
Sec. 4. 12 MRSA §7452, sub-§12, as amended by PL 1999, c. 322, 
§1, is further amended to read: 
12. 
Illegal possession of gift bear. 
A person is guilty, 
except as 
provided in section 7531, 
and notwithstanding the 
provisions of subsection 13, of illegal possession of a gift bear 
if that person possesses any part or parts of a bear given to 
.that person and: 
A. 
Each part is not plainly labeled with the 
name 
aBa 
aQQ~ess of the person who registered the bear and the year 
the bear was registered by that person; or 
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C. 
Each part is not plainly labeled with the name 
aRa 
aaaFe66 of the party transporting the part or parts and the 
year the bear was registered, if a 3rd party transports a 
part or parts. 
Sec. 5. 12 MRSA §7458, sub-§l, as enacted by PL 1979, c. 420, 
§1, is amended to read: 
1. 
Exceeding bag limit. 
A. person 
the bag limit on deer if Be that person 
deer during any open season, except as 
person may keep more than one legally 
person's home at any time. 
is guilty of exceeding 
possesses more than one 
otherwise provided. 
b 
obtained deer in that 
Sec. 6. 12 MRSA §7458, sub-§8. as repealed and replaced by PL 
1993, c. 438, §31, is amended to read: 
8. 
Illegal possession of gift deer. 
Notwithstanding the 
provlslons of 
subsection 11, 
a 
person is guilty, 
except 
as 
provided in subsection 15, paragraph C, of illegal possession of 
a gift deer if that person possesses a part or parts of a deer 
given to that person unless each separate part is plainly labeled 
with EBe-~e~~ewiR~: 
B. 
The name aRa--a44.£e66 of the person who registered the 
deer and the year it was registered. 
Sec. 7. 12 MRSA §7458, sub-§9. as amended by PL 1999, c. 403, 
§22, is repealed. 
Sec. 8. 12 MRSA §7458, sub-§15. ~H, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 
156, §2, is repealed. 
Sec. 9. 12 MRSA §7463-A, sub-§9, as enacted by PL 1981, c. 
118, §2, is amended to read: 
9. 
Bag limit. The bag limit is one moose per permit holder. 
In the case of a permittee and a subpermi ttee, the permi t 
6Ba~± 
a~~ew allows one of them to take one moose. 
A. person may keel? 
more than one legally obtained moose in that person's home at any 
time. 
Sec. 10. 12 MRS A §7464, sub-§7, as amended by PL 1993, c. 438, 
§34, is further amended to read: 
7. 
Illegal possession of gift moose. 
A person is guilty, 
notwithstanding subsection 3, of illegal possession of a gift 
moose if that person possesses a part or parts of a moose unless 
each separate part given to that person is plainly labeled with 
eae-fellewiB~: 
B. 
The name aBa--aQQ-£ess of the person who registered the 
moose and the year it was registered. 
Sec. 11. 12 MRSA §7625, as enacted by PL 1979, c. 420, §l, is 
amended to read: 
§7625. 
Failure to label fish 
A person is guilty of failure to label fish if ae that 
person keeps 
any black bass, 
salmon, 
togue or trout at any 
sporting camp, hotel or public lodging place and fails to aeeaea 
label the fish with the name aBa-aaa~ess of the person who caught 
eaem-ee the fish and the date when the fish was caught. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires 
moose hunters 
to wear 
articles of 
hunter orange clothing and exempts hunters from the hunter orange 
clothing requirement when hunting from a tree stand. 
The bill 
also allows a person to keep a gift bear, deer, moose or fish if 
it is labeled with just the name of the person who harvested the 
animal and the date when the animal was harvested. 
Additionally, 
the bill removes the prohibition on baiting deer and allows a 
person to keep more than one legally harvested game animal in 
that person's home. 
Finally, the bill allows a person to assist 
in a hunt without a license or permit if that person does not 
carry a weapon during that hunt.