§ 23-5-104 — Investigation of applicant; issuance of license; purchase or replacement of birds; marking of birds

(a) Upon the filing of the declaration the department
shall investigate and require the applicant to produce
satisfactory evidence of the facts stated in the declaration.
The licensee shall purchase or replace to the state all game
birds within the boundaries of the proposed farm and to effect
this purpose, the department shall appoint one (1) man, the
applicant one (1) man, and these two (2) shall select a third
man, the three (3) to act as a board to go upon the lands
embraced within the proposed license and determine as nearly as
possible the number of wild game birds occupying the proposed
tract. The determination shall be made within thirty (30) days
after the date of the application for a license. The necessary
expense of all of the members of the board shall be paid by the
licensee. Within thirty (30) days after the date of the
determination of the number of occupying game birds the licensee
shall pay to the department a specified sum per bird as
determined by the department or replace to the state an
equivalent number of birds.
(b) The department shall issue a license to the applicant
describing the lands, and certifying that the licensee is
lawfully entitled to use the lands for the breeding,
propagating, hunting, killing, and selling of licensed game
birds thereon according to the provisions of this act if upon
such examination it appears:
(i) The applicant is the owner or lessee of the
lands;
(ii) The applicant intends in good faith to
establish, operate, and maintain a commercial game bird farm,
and raise and release additional game birds into the wild;
(iii) The area to be licensed is enclosed by a legal
fence and posted as a "private game bird farm"; and
(iv) The applicant has paid to the department the
specified sum for game birds on the premises or replaced to the
state an equivalent number of game birds.
(c) When a license has been granted, the licensee becomes
the owner of all offspring of the game birds actually produced
and remaining thereon. No person shall entice game birds into
the licensed premises by baiting, artificial feeding or by any
other means. All adult game birds released on the licensed
premises shall be marked by identifying leg or wing bands.
After three (3) years of continuous operation and licensure for
the same location, the licensee shall not be required to mark
adult game birds with identifying leg or wing bands. To be
qualified as a licensee under this act, each licensee shall
release a minimum of one hundred (100) game birds each year on
the licensed premises, which number may be a combination of any
species of game birds. Failure to release the minimum number of
birds is cause for revocation of the license. The commission
shall not limit by rule and regulation or policy the number or
species of game birds a licensee may raise, possess, confine,
transport or dispose of in accordance with the provisions of
this chapter.