Other Languages1. If an individual lawfully acquires wildlife in another state and lawfully brings it into Washington, the wildlife is the property of the individual, not the State. However, to lawfully bring wildlife into Washington an individual must comply with regulations of the Department of Wildlife and the individual's ownership is subject to the overarching regulatory authority of the State. 2. The Department of Wildlife has the authority to regulate deleterious exotic wildlife. Regulations adopted by the Department to regulate deleterious exotic wildlife do not conflict with RCW 77.12.010, which provides that nothing contained herein shall be construed to infringe on a private property owner's control over his or her private property.
In order to sustain a criminal prosecution for mutilating or needlessly wasting the carcass of a game animal under RCW 77.16.090, it is necessary to prove that the person charged with wasting or mutilating is the same person who killed the animal in question.
If a given county, during 1976, elects to relinquish fines and bail forfeitures for game law violations and to receive payments in lieu of property taxes instead, as provided for by RCW 77.12.201, and notice of this election is transmitted to the director of the state game department prior to January 1, 1977, the first calendar year during which the county will relinquish said fines and forfeitures and receive payments in lieu of taxes instead will be 1978.
The department of game is not entitled to compensation under Article I, § 16 (Amendment 9) of the state Constitution when the state highway department acquires property for a highway through an area designated by the game department as a game reserve pursuant to RCW 77.12.040.
Game protectors do have authority to stop and search automobiles and may do so without a warrant when the facts and circumstances before the officer are such that he has reasonable cause for believing that a violation has occurred.
The Washington Game Laws are applicable on the west side of the main channel of the Snake River, which is the boundary between Washington and Idaho.
1. A hunter who lawfully shoots a game animal acquires a vested legal right in such animal provided he continues to manifest an immediate intention to possess it by exercising actual physical possession and by tagging. 2. Where a second hunter shoots and tags a dying animal bagged by another while the first hunter is attempting to reduce it to possession, the second hunter is guilty of larceny if all other elements of the crime are present.