Landowner license requirements question

[Deleted]

Greetings,

My wife and I bought a small farm near Rossville in Clinton County.  We have sheep.  We closed on the property and became official owners on August 19th of this year.  I have not moved up yet, but will move there permanently from North Carolina later this week.  I plan on getting an Indiana Driver's License as soon as I can at the end of this week or early next week.

What do I need license-wise in order to hunt?  If I hunt without a license under the landowner exemption, how do I go about tagging and checking/registering a deer kill?  Thank you for your help.

[morrison]

I have posted portions of the Indiana Code that provides guidance in the scenario you have described. Indiana Code requires that a person reside in Indiana for a minimum of 60 days to be considered a resident for hunting, fishing, and trapping purposes. Therefore, if you hunt in Indiana on property you do not own, you will need to purchase a NONRESIDENT license unless you wait until you have documentation (utility bill) showing you have lived in Indiana for the required 60 days. In addition, you could not have claimed residency in another state for 2016 for the purposes of purchasing a hunting license. (If you purchased a resident license in North Carolina in 2016, you would not be eligible to purchase a resident Indiana license until 2017 and the 60 day requirement.

If you have lived in Indiana for 60 days, you are considered a resident and can hunt your property without a license due to the raising of livestock being a qualifying factor for the land to be considered farmland. However,If you have not met the 60 day requirement and you are going to hunt the property you own in Indiana, the laws of North Carolina will dictate what you need to hunt the property you own. If North Carolina allows for nonresidents who own property in North Carolina to hunt the property they own in North Carolina without a license then you (as a nonresident of Indiana but a resident of North Carolina) can hunt the property you own in Indiana without a license. If North Carolina requires nonresidents to purchase a license to hunt the property in North Carolina, Indiana will require you to have a license to hunt the property you own in Indiana due to being a nonresident until the 60 day requirement is satisfied.

I am sure that is clear as mud. If you have any additional questions, let me know.


IC 14-22-11-1 "Farmland"; license requirements and conditions; public use
airport manager reporting requirements
Sec. 1. (a) As used in this section, "farmland" means agricultural
land that is:
(1) devoted or best adaptable for the production of crops, fruits, timber, and the raising of livestock; or
(2) assessed as agricultural land for property tax purposes.
(b) An individual may not take or chase, with or without dogs, a wild animal without having a license, except as follows:
(1) An individual who is a resident or nonresident of Indiana while participating in a field trial that has been sanctioned by the director is not required to possess a license while
participating in the trial.
(2) Subject to subsection (d), an owner of farmland located in Indiana who is a resident or nonresident of Indiana and the spouse and children living with the owner may hunt, fish, and trap without a license on the land that the owner owns.
(d) The right of a nonresident who owns farmland in Indiana (and of the spouse and children who reside with the nonresident) to hunt, fish, and trap on the farmland without a license under subsection
(b)(2) is subject to the following conditions:
(1) The nonresident may hunt, fish, and trap on the farmland without a license only if the state in which the nonresident resides allows residents of Indiana who own land in that state to hunt, fish, and trap on their land without a license.
(2) While hunting, fishing, or trapping on the farmland, the nonresident must keep proof that the nonresident owns the farmland (for example, a tax receipt identifying the nonresident as owner) in a place where the proof is readily accessible by the nonresident.

IC 14-8-2-242 "Resident"
Sec. 242. (a) "Resident", for purposes of IC 14-22, except as provided in subsection (b), means a person who:
(1) is domiciled in Indiana for sixty (60) consecutive days immediately preceding the date of the purchase of a license or permit; and
(2) does not claim residency for hunting, fishing, or trapping in any state other than Indiana or any country other than the United States.