29.1-526 - Counties and cities may prohibit hunting or trapping near primary and secondary highways.
§ 29.1-526. Counties and cities may prohibit hunting or trapping near primaryand secondary highways.
The governing body of any county or city may prohibit by ordinance thehunting, with a firearm, of any game bird or game animal while the hunting ison or within 100 yards of any primary or secondary highway in such county orcity and may provide that any violation of the ordinance shall be a Class 3misdemeanor. In addition, the governing body of any county or city mayprohibit by ordinance the trapping of any game animal or furbearer withinfifty feet of the shoulder of any primary or secondary highway in the countyor city and may provide that any violation of the ordinance shall be a Class3 misdemeanor. No such ordinance shall prohibit such trapping where thewritten permission of the landowner is obtained. It shall be the duty of thegoverning body enacting an ordinance under the provisions of this section tonotify the Director by registered mail no later than May 1 of the year inwhich the ordinance is to take effect. If the governing body fails to makesuch notice, the ordinance shall be unenforceable.
For the purpose of this section, the terms "hunt" and "trap" shall notinclude the necessary crossing of highways for the bona fide purpose of goinginto or leaving a lawful hunting or trapping area.
(1962, c. 141, § 29-144.5; 1964, c. 549; 1977, c. 377; 1982, c. 194; 1987, c.488; 1989, c. 421.)