§ 4001 — Definitions

Words and phrases used in this part, unless otherwise provided, shall be construed to mean as follows:
(1) Closed season: that period of time during which fishing or hunting is prohibited.
(2) Open season: that period of time during which fishing or hunting is permitted.
(3) Legal day:
(A) Fishing: as provided by regulations of the Fish and Wildlife Board;
(B) Hunting: as provided by regulations of the Fish and Wildlife Board;
(C) [Repealed.]
(D) Hunting raccoon: as provided by regulations of the Fish and Wildlife Board.
(4) Angling: fishing by any of the following methods:
(A) By means of hook and line in hand or attached to a rod, in accordance with regulations of the Board.
(B) By casting or trolling artificial flies, lures, or baited hooks, in accordance with regulations of the Board.
(5) Black bass: large mouth bass or small mouth bass.
(6) [Repealed.]
(7) [Repealed.]
(8) Trout: brook, rainbow, and brown.
(9) Game: game birds or game quadrupeds, or both.
(10) Game birds: quail, partridge, woodcock, pheasant, plover of any kind, Wilson snipe, other shore birds, rail, coot, gallinule, wild ducks, wild geese, and wild turkey.
(11) Partridge: ruffed grouse.
(12) Game quadruped: caribou, elk, moose, deer, gray squirrel, rabbit, and black bear.
(13) Rabbit: to include wild hare.
(14) Fur-bearing animals: beaver, otter, marten, mink, raccoon, fisher, fox, skunk, coyote, bobcat, weasel, opossum, lynx, wolf, and muskrat.
(15) Wild animals or wildlife: all animals, including birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, other than domestic animals, domestic fowl, or domestic pets.
(16) Private preserves: lands or waters where the taking of fish or wild animals is prohibited as provided in sections 5204-5206 of this title.
(17) Propagation farms: lands or waters used for the propagation of fish or wild animals as provided in sections 5207-5209 of this title.
(18) Person: includes principal, agent, employee, firm, partnership, corporation, and association.
(19) Possession: actual or constructive possession or any control of things referred to.
(20) Resident: a person who has resided in this State for the six months immediately prior to the date of making application for a license and who has not during that period claimed a residence in any other state for any purpose.
(21) Nonresident: a person not a resident.
(22) Sell, sold, or sale: barter, exchange, and offering or exposing for sale; and possession with intent to sell.
(23) Take and taking: pursuing, shooting, hunting, killing, capturing, trapping, snaring, and netting fish, birds, and quadrupeds and all lesser acts, such as disturbing, harrying, worrying, or wounding or placing, setting, drawing, or using any net or other device commonly used to take fish or wild animals, whether they result in the taking or not; and shall include every attempt to take and every act of assistance to every other person in taking or attempting to take fish or wild animals, provided that when taking is allowed by law, reference is had to taking by lawful means and in a lawful manner.
(24) Transport and transportation: all carrying or moving or causing to be carried or moved.
(25) Whole to include part: every provision in this part relating to any fish or wild animal shall be deemed to apply to any part thereof with the same force and effect as it applies to the whole.
(26) Inclusion and exclusion of dates: except as herein otherwise specially provided, when a period is named during which an act is permitted or prohibited, the first date shall be included within and the last excluded from such period.
(27) Commissioner: Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife.
(28) Board: Fish and Wildlife Board.
(29) Bow in the phrase “bow and arrow”: hand-held bow, including a long bow, recurve bow, or compound bow.
(30) Person with paraplegia: a person who has permanent paralysis of the lower half of the body with involvement of both legs, or a person who is missing both lower extremities.
(31) Big game: deer, bear, moose, wild turkey, caribou, elk, and anadromous Atlantic salmon taken in the Connecticut River Basin.
(32) Field trials: a competitive event held by an organized club for the purpose of demonstrating the skill of hunting and retrieving dogs under hunting conditions.
(33)(A) Muzzle loading firearm: a single-shot, single-barrel rifle, or smoothbore firearm, with a minimum barrel length of 20 inches, designed to be fired from the shoulder or a single-shot pistol with a minimum barrel length of 10 inches. Both rifle and pistol must be incapable of being loaded from the breach without the use of tools, and must have a minimum bore diameter of 0.43 inches and an ignition system of traditional or modern flintlock, caplock, matchlock, in line, or wheellock style.
(B) Ammunition: for purposes of this section, black powder or other suitable nonsmokeless propellant, and a single ball or bullet shall be the sole ammunition permitted.
(34) Small game: game birds, except for turkeys; game quadrupeds, except for big game; furbearers; and other wild animals.
(35) Secretary: the Secretary of Natural Resources.
(36) Point-of-sale agent: an agent authorized by the Commissioner to sell licenses and provide replacement licenses electronically through the State’s point-of-sale license system.
(37) Mitigation: the acquisition of an interest in land, change in operation, or funds or other remuneration paid in order to compensate for the loss of habitat, plants, or animals required by a permitting or regulatory process.
(38) Captive hunt facility: any enclosure created by the use of fences, man-made structures, or natural barriers where animals are confined for the purpose of taking or attempting to take an animal by hunting. Captive hunt facility shall not mean activities covered by the Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife’s rules for the training of dogs or for the regulation of regulated shooting grounds.
(39) Enclosure: means a structure designed to restrict the free movement of animals and the area within that structure.
(40) Domestic pet: domesticated dogs, domesticated cats, domesticated ferrets, psittacine birds, or any domesticated animal.
(41) Gun suppressor: any device for muffling or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a gun suppressor, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication. (Added 1961, No. 119, § 1, eff. May 9, 1961; amended 1973, No. 178 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 1975, No. 61; 1977, No. 103, § 4, eff. May 6, 1977; 1981, No. 85, § 1, eff. May 7, 1981; 1981, No. 119 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1983, No. 118 (Adj. Sess.); 1983, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. April 13, 1984; 1983, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), eff. April 13, 1984; 1985, No. 92, § 1; 1985, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 16, 1986; 1987, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1989, No. 190 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, No. 205 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1991, No. 33, § 1; 1991, No. 230 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 2, 29; 2005, No. 31, § 1; 2009, No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2009, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § B10; 2011, No. 128 (Adj. Sess.), § 25; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 36; 2013, No. 116 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Feb. 12, 2014; 2015, No. 61, § 1, eff. June 17, 2015; 2017, No. 170 (Adj. Sess.), § 12, eff. Jan. 1, 2019; 2021, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. July 1, 2022; 2025, No. 47, § 1, eff. July 1, 2025.)