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 Gibson County.  They are included herein for reference purposes.  Also referenced below is an act which repeals prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

1.    Public Acts of 1893, Chapter 15, made it unlawful to kill, trap or capture quail or partridges in Gibson County, except from November I st to March I st of each year, and unlawful to net quail or partridges at any time of the year.

2.    Public Acts of 1893, Chapter 43, prohibited the use of fish traps or fish dams across streams in the counties of Carroll, Gibson, Obion, Weakley and Montgomery.

3.    Private Acts of 1897, Chapter 181, made it a misdemeanor to hunt or fish on the enclosed lands of another without the written permission of the landowner or his agent.

4.    Private Acts of 1897, Chapter 240, made it unlawful to catch fish in Gibson County from April 1st to June 1st of each year, and prohibited fishing by poison, dynamite or wing net.

5.    Acts of 1909, Chapter 230, was a stock law enacted to prevent horses, mules, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, geese and ducks from running at large in Gibson County.  This law gave any persons damaged by wandering livestock a lien on the livestock as well as the right to pen up the livestock to insure the payment of damages.

6.    Private Acts of 1915, Chapter 540, prohibited the killing, trapping, catching, or taking in any manner of quail or partridges for a two-year period in Gibson County, beginning January 1, 1915.

7.    Private Acts of 1915, Chapter 614, made it unlawful for any person to take fish from the various streams and lakes in Gibson County, by "grabbling" or by hand.

8.    Private Acts of 1921, Chapter 15, set the open season for quail and partridges from the last Thursday in November until January 31st of each year.

9.    Private Acts of 1921, Chapter 813, exempted Gibson County from the provisions of the general law regulating the possession and ownership of dogs.

10.    Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 66, set a bounty of $1.00 on hawks, to be paid upon presentation by a hunter to the Gibson County Clerk of a hawk's head and an affidavit of the hunter that he killed it within Gibson County.  This act was repealed by Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 12.

11.    Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 160, made it lawful to fish without a license with a hand pole, hook and line for home consumption.