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 Monroe County. They are included herein for reference purposes. Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

1. Public Acts of 1877, Chapter 25, made it unlawful to take and catch fish with seines, nets, traps, gigs, or by any other means than hook and line, and by trot line. Anyone whose lands were trespassed for these purposes could maintain injunctive relief or proceed by suit at law for a remedy. It was further unlawful to place the seine, net, or trap, at or near the mouth of a stream which device would prevent the free passage of fish up and down the same. The terms of this act were applicable only in the counties of Monroe, Robertson, Montgomery, Maury, Gibson, Madison, Stewart, Franklin, Loudon, Hawkins, Henry and Crockett.
2. Public Acts of 1891, Chapter 13, amended Public Acts of 1889, Chapter 171, Section 2, a general game and fish law, so as to strike out a portion of that section which permitted the hunting of quail and partridges in the counties of Monroe and McMinn.
3. Public Acts of 1899, Chapter 97, amended Public Acts of 1895, Chapter 127, a general state law regulating fishing, so as to allow persons in Monroe County to fish with bait baskets in connection with rod and reel, or trot line, provided the slats of the basket were not less than 1 ½" apart.
4. Private Acts of 1901, Chapter 337, declared it to be unlawful to hunt deer with dogs in the counties of Monroe, Blount and Polk for a period of five years following the passage of this act. Fines for violators ranged from $5.00 to $25.00.
5. Acts of 1905, Chapter 515, amended Acts of 1903, Chapter 169, the general game law, so as to provide that squirrels may be caught and killed in Monroe County between June 1 and March 1.
6. Acts of 1907, Chapter 185, amended Acts of 1903, Chapter 169, the general game law, so as to allow squirrels to be killed between June 1 to March 1 in Monroe County.
7. Acts of 1909, Chapter 187, declared it to be unlawful for livestock of any kind to run at large in the counties of Monroe and Jefferson. Any person who knowingly allowed the same to happen was guilty of a misdemeanor and could be fined from $2.00 to $10.00 for each offense. Any damages inflicted were a lien on the invading livestock as well, which could be taken up and cared for by the person injured and the cost of that added to the lien for damages.
8. Private Acts of 1911, Chapter 102, prevented livestock from running at large in Monroe County and also created a range district in said county. This act was amended by Private Acts of 1929, Chapter 448, so as to exclude the eighteenth civil district from the fifth school district which constituted a range district.
9. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 143, amended Private Acts of 1915, Chapter 289, an act which prohibited the killing of quail in McMinn and Blount counties, so that the provisions applied to Monroe County. Chapter 143 made it unlawful for any person to shoot, trap, or otherwise kill or destroy quail for a period of two years after December 1, 1915, after which it was against the law to kill quail at any time except from December 15 to January 1 of each year in Monroe County. Offenders could be fined from $5.00 to $25.00 for each offense.
10. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 169, made it lawful to gig fish in any and all the streams of Monroe County and Polk County, provided the same be done only to obtain fish for home consumption, and that all other laws and regulations were observed. Anyone failing to comply with this act was subjected to the penalties provided under the general game and fish laws of the state.
11. Private Acts of 1921, Chapter 405, was an act by which virtually every county in the state, including Monroe, exempted themselves from the provisions of Public Acts of 1919, Chapter 61, which was a general dog law for the state.
12. Private Acts of 1921, Chapter 595, rendered it illegal for any person in Monroe County to shoot any fox or to destroy the den of any young fox, or, by means of any snare, trap, or other device, catch, maim, or otherwise destroy or injure any fox. The terms of this act did not prohibit the setting of traps and snares about one's dwelling place, barn, or out-houses, connected with and reasonably adjacent to the home, nor did it prevent the killing of any such animal which constituted a menace to crops or to domestic poultry. Fines for violations ran from $25.00 to $100.00 for each offense.
13. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 409, declared it to be unlawful and a misdemeanor for any person to kill, trap, catch, or in any way, take quail or partridges for a period of three years following the passage of this act in Monroe County. The fines for non-compliance herewith went from $5.00 to $10.00 for each offense.
14. Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 467, amended Public Acts of 1917, Chapter 131, the general law which created the Appalachian Fish and Game Preserve in the counties of Monroe, Sevier, Blount and Polk, by deleting the words "At Tellico Plains" and inserting the words "in Monroe County" in their place. This amendment allowed the deputy warden for Monroe County to be stationed anywhere in the county rather than at Tellico Plains alone. Public Acts of 1917, Chapter 131, was superseded by Public Acts of 1951, Chapter 115, which provided for a comprehensive game and fish law for the state.gne