California Fish and Game Code

§ 4181.5

FGC § 4181.5 Effective Jan 1, 2024Div. 4 · Part 3 · Ch. 3 · Art. 2

Statute text

(a)Any owner or tenant of land or property that is being damaged or destroyed or is in immediate danger of being damaged or destroyed by deer may apply to the department for a permit to kill those deer. The department, upon satisfactory evidence of actual or immediately threatened damage or destruction shall, pursuant to regulations adopted by the commission, issue a revocable permit for the taking and disposition of those deer, for a designated period not to exceed 60 days.

(b)The regulations of the commission shall include provisions concerning the type of weapons to be used to kill the deer. The weapons shall be those as will ensure humane killing, but the regulations of the commission shall provide for the use of a sufficient variety of weapons to permit the designation of particular types to be used in any particular locality commensurate with the need to protect persons and property. Firearms using .22-caliber rimfire cartridges may be used only when authorized by the director or the director’s designee. No pistols shall be used.

(c)The caliber and type of weapon to be used by each permittee shall be specified in each permit by the issuing officer who shall take into consideration the location of the area, the necessity for clean kills, the safety factor, local firearms ordinances, and other factors that apply. Rifle ammunition used shall have expanding bullets; shotgun ammunition shall have only single slugs, or, if authorized by the department, 0 or 00 buckshot.

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Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 132, Sec. 87. (AB 1760) Effective January 1, 2024.