New Hampshire § 208:8 Illegal Night Hunting

New Hampshire Statutes

§ 208:8 — Illegal Night Hunting

New Hampshire § 208:8

Title XVIIIFISH AND GAME

Ch. 208GAME ANIMALS

SubdivisionDeer

This text of New Hampshire § 208:8 (Illegal Night Hunting) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 208:8 (2026).

Text

I. A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if the person:

(a)Knowingly takes wild birds or wild animals between 1/2 hour after sunset and 1/2 hour before sunrise.

(b)Knowingly uses an artificial light between 1/2 hour after sunset and 1/2 hour before sunrise to illuminate, locate, or attempt to locate wild birds or wild animals while possessing on the person or in a motor vehicle, OHRV, snowmobile, boat, aircraft, or other craft propelled by mechanical power, a bow and arrow, crossbow and bolt, rifle, pistol, revolver, shotgun, or muzzle-loading firearm with live ammunition to fit the weapon, whether loaded or unloaded, or an air rifle with ammunition which fits the rifle on the person. II. Any person convicted of illegal night hunting shall forfeit such firearms, lights, or any other equipm

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I. A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if the person:
(a) Knowingly takes wild birds or wild animals between 1/2 hour after sunset and 1/2 hour before sunrise.
(b) Knowingly uses an artificial light between 1/2 hour after sunset and 1/2 hour before sunrise to illuminate, locate, or attempt to locate wild birds or wild animals while possessing on the person or in a motor vehicle, OHRV, snowmobile, boat, aircraft, or other craft propelled by mechanical power, a bow and arrow, crossbow and bolt, rifle, pistol, revolver, shotgun, or muzzle-loading firearm with live ammunition to fit the weapon, whether loaded or unloaded, or an air rifle with ammunition which fits the rifle on the person.
II. Any person convicted of illegal night hunting shall forfeit such firearms, lights, or any other equipment used or usable in the illegal night hunting at the time of such offense.
III. The knowledge or belief required for paragraph I is presumed in the case of a person who:
(a) Uses or is found in the possession of a bow and arrow, crossbow and bolt, a muzzle-loading firearm with live ammunition components to fit, or a rifle, revolver, or pistol larger than .22 caliber long rifle; or
(b) Uses shotgun shells carrying shot larger than number 4 birdshot.
IV. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit the use of lights for checking traps as permitted in RSA 210:13.

Legislative History

1935, 124:2. 1941, 29:1. RL 242:6. 1947, 161:1. 1951, 119:1. RSA 208:8. 1955, 62:1. 1959, 25:1. 1983, 449:21. 1987, 277:2. 1989, 33:2, 3. 1993, 237:1. 1994, 51:3. 1996, 108:8, 9. 2004, 40:3. 2005, 210:9, eff. July 1, 2006. 2025, 21:2, eff. July 13, 2025.