2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 87. Fish and Wildlife › Chapter 2. Fishing, Hunting, and Trapping Licenses › Part 1. General Provisions › 87-2-101. Definitions

87-2-101. Definitions.
As used in Title 87, chapter 3, and this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Angling" or "fishing" means to take or harvest fish or the act of a person possessing any instrument, article, or substance for the purpose of taking or harvesting fish in any location that a fish might inhabit.
(2) (a) "Bait" means any animal matter, vegetable matter, or natural or artificial scent placed in an area inhabited by wildlife for the purpose of attracting game animals or game birds.
(b) The term does not include:
(i) decoys, silhouettes, or other replicas of wildlife body forms;
(ii) scents used only to mask human odor; or
(iii) types of scents that are approved by the commission for attracting game animals or game birds.
(3) "Fur-bearing animals" means marten or sable, otter, muskrat, fisher, mink, bobcat, lynx, wolverine, northern swift fox, and beaver.
(4) "Game animals" means deer, elk, moose, antelope, caribou, mountain sheep, mountain goat, mountain lion, bear, and wild buffalo.
(5) "Game fish" means all species of the family Salmonidae (chars, trout, salmon, grayling, and whitefish); all species of the genus Sander (sandpike or sauger and walleyed pike or yellowpike perch); all species of the genus Esox (northern pike, pickerel, and muskellunge); all species of the genus Micropterus (bass); all species of the genus Polyodon (paddlefish); all species of the family Acipenseridae (sturgeon); all species of the genus Lota (burbot or ling); the species Perca flavescens (yellow perch); all species of the genus Pomoxis (crappie); and the species Ictalurus punctatus (channel catfish).
(6) "Hunt" means to pursue, shoot, wound, take, harvest, kill, chase, lure, possess, or capture or the act of a person possessing a weapon, as defined in 45-2-101, or using a dog or a bird of prey for the purpose of shooting, wounding, taking, harvesting, killing, possessing, or capturing wildlife protected by the laws of this state in any location that wildlife may inhabit, whether or not the wildlife is then or subsequently taken. The term includes an attempt to take or harvest by any means, including but not limited to pursuing, shooting, wounding, killing, chasing, luring, possessing, or capturing.
(7) "Migratory game birds" means waterfowl, including wild ducks, wild geese, brant, and swans; cranes, including little brown and sandhill; rails, including coots; Wilson's snipes or jacksnipes; and mourning doves.
(8) "Nongame wildlife" means any wild mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile, fish, mollusk, crustacean, or other animal not otherwise legally classified by statute or regulation of this state.
(9) "Open season" means the time during which game birds, game fish, game animals, and fur-bearing animals may be lawfully taken.
(10) "Person" means an individual, association, partnership, or corporation.
(11) "Predatory animals" means coyote, weasel, skunk, and civet cat.
(12) "Trap" means to take or harvest or participate in the taking or harvesting of any wildlife protected by the laws of the state by setting or placing any mechanical device, snare, deadfall, pit, or device intended to take wildlife or to remove wildlife from any of these devices.
(13) "Upland game birds" means sharp-tailed grouse, blue grouse, spruce (Franklin) grouse, prairie chicken, sage hen or sage grouse, ruffed grouse, ring-necked pheasant, Hungarian partridge, ptarmigan, wild turkey, and chukar partridge.
(14) "Wild buffalo or bison" or "wild buffalo" means a bison that:
(a) has not been reduced to captivity;
(b) has never been subject to the per capita fee under 15-24-921;
(c) has never been owned by a person; and
(d) is not the offspring of a bison that has been subject to the per capita fee under 15-24-921.
History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 238, L. 1921; re-en. Sec. 3681, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 77, L. 1923; amd. Sec. 12, Ch. 192, L. 1925; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 59, L. 1927; re-en. Sec. 3681, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 37, L. 1949; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 36, L. 1951; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 121, L. 1951; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 19, L. 1953; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 34, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 11, L. 1965; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 28, L. 1965; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 46, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 189, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 167, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 27, L. 1974; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 67, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 93, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 113, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 235, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 26-201; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 44, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 46, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 478, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 420, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 568, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 28, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 417, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 84, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 499, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 43, Ch. 19, L. 2011; amd. Sec. 91, Ch. 258, L. 2011; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 105, L. 2015; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 507, L. 2021.