Animals and Fish - Historical Notes

The following is a listing of acts that at one time affected, but no longer appear to have any effect on, hunting, fishing or animal control in Van Buren County. They are included herein for reference purposes. Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

1. Private Acts of 1879, Chapter 133, made it unlawful for any person who was not a citizen of Cumberland, Fentress, Morgan, Scott, Campbell, Overton, Putnam, White, Roane, Rhea, Bledsoe, and Van Buren Counties to hunt and kill deer, or any species of game for profit in the said counties, but all citizens of the state could hunt and kill deer for their own use in those counties named. A fine of $50 for the first offense and $100 for all subsequent violations was established.
2. Private Acts of 1889, Chapter 244, made it unlawful for any person other than a citizen of Tennessee to hunt kill or capture any wild deer, wild turkey, quail, or partridge, or any other species of game or fish in Bledsoe, Cumberland, Grundy, James, Meigs, Morgan, Overton, McMinn, Rhea, Roane, Sequatchie, Van Buren, Warren, and White Counties at any season of the year. Citizens of Tennessee could do so for their own use but not for profit; only the citizens of said counties named were permitted to hunt for profit. Fines from $25 to $100, and jail sentences in the discretion of the court were the penalties for violation.
3. Private Acts of 1897, Chapter 172, declared it to be a misdemeanor for anyone from any other county to hunt, capture, kill, shoot, wound, or destroy, any quail, partridge, wild turkey or deer in Grundy and Van Buren Counties. Quail would not be killed on the enclosed lands of another without his consent nor would any quail or partridge be exported from said counties. Anyone guilty of violation would be fined from $5.00 to $10.00.
4. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 686, declared open seasons, as specified below, in Bledsoe, Cumberland, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, and Van Buren Counties. These would be effective each year as open seasons on turkeys from November 1 to January 1, on "Gobblers" from April 1 to May 1, on quail from November 1, to February 1, on deer from November 1 to December 10, and on squirrels for the entire year.
5. Private Acts of 1921, Chapter 748, amended Public Acts of 1919, Chapter 61, which was a statewide Act regulating the care and keeping of dogs, so as to exempt Bledsoe, Van Buren, and Sequatchie Counties from its operations.