And I will that every man be entitled to his hunting in wood and in field, on his own possession. And let every one forego my hunting: take notice where I will have it untrespassed on, under penalty of the full ‘wite.’

The forest of the king is the safe dwelling-place of wild beasts; not of every kind, but of the kinds that live in woods; not in all places, but in fixed ones, and ones suitable for the purpose; whence it is called “forests,” the ” e ” being changed into ” o,” as if it were ” feresta ” . i.e., an abiding place for wild beasts.

Not to shoot or hunt on other men’s land that is seated and bounds marked under penalty of 40s. but may pursue deer and shoot on their own land.

Whereas the rights and interests of the inhabitants are very much infringed by hunting and shooting of diverse men upon their neighbors lands and dividends contrary to the privileges granted to them by their patents, whereby many injuries do daily happen to the great damage of the owners of the land whereon such hunting or shooting is used, It is therefore enacted and confirmed that if any planter or person shall hunt or shoot upon or within the precincts or limits of his neighbor or other divident without leave first obtained for his so doing, and having been warned by …

. . . the Hon. Director General and Council, in order to prevent accidents, expressly forbid and interdict all person henceforward firing within the jurisdiction of this city or about the Fort, with any guns at Partridges or other Game that may by chance fly within the city, on pain of forfeiting the gun and a fine at the discretion of the Judge to be applied . . .

And, to prevent the abusing, hurting or worrying of any stock of hogs, cattle or horses, with dogs, or otherwise, Be It Enacted, That if any person or persons whatsoever, that have been convicted of any of the crimes aforesaid, or other crimes, or that shall be of evil fame, or a vagrant, or dissolute liver, that shall shoot, kill or hunt, or be seen to carry a gun, upon any person’s land, whereon there shall be a seated plantation, without the owner’s leave, having been once before warned, shall forfeit and pay one thousand pounds of tobacco…

…That if any person or persons shall, at any time after two months from the publication of this act, make use of any boat, canoe, float, raft or other vessel, wherewith to approach to, and shoot at any waterfowl, in any part of this province, he or they so offending, shall each of them forfeit and pay, for every such offence, the sum of forty shillings to the informer. And every such offender shall be, and hereby is prohibited and restrained from using a gun to shoot at waterfowl for the space of three years next after his offence, upon …

Whereas by the brefore recited act, it is, among other things, enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any person to kill or destroy any deer, running wild in the woods or unfenced grounds in this government, by guns, or any other ways or means whatsoever, between the fifteenth day of February, and the fifteenth day of July, yearly, and in each year, after the ratification of the said act; and that any person convicted of the same, shall forfeit and pay the sum of five pounds, current money . . .

Whereas by the before recited act, persons who have no settled habitation, or not tending five thousand corn hills, are prohibited from hunting, under the penalty of five pounds, and forfeiture of his gun[.]

Hunting. 1768. § 2. From and after the First day of January next, no person whatever (masters excepted) not having a freehold of one hundred acres of land within this province, or tending ten thousand corn hills, at least five feet distance each, shall hunt or kill deer, under the penalty of ten pounds proclamation money for every offence; and moreover shall forfeit his gun, or have the value thereof; to be recovered by action of debt, bill, plaint or information, by any person who will prosecute for the same, wherein, upon conviction, over and above the said penalty and …

§ 1. If any person or persons shall be discovered hunting in the woods with a gun, in the night time, by fire light, such person or persons so offending shall, upon conviction, by indictment or presentment in any court of record in this state, be fined by such court 20 current money, to be applied to the use of the county wherein the offence was committed until all costs accruing upon the presentment be paid.

An Act to prevent the pernicious practice of hunting deer in the night time by fire light. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in general assembly met, That from and immediately after the passing of this act, any person or persons who shall hunt with a gun by fire light or kill any deer so hunting by fire light in the night time without his or their own enclosures, every such person or persons being thereof convicted, upon the oath of one or more credible witnesses, before any justice of the …

Fraudulent or Malicious Mischief. § 23. Punishment for deer-hunting by fire-light. Any person or persons who shall hunt with a gun by fire-light, or kill any deer so hunting by fire-light, in the night-time, without his or her own enclosures, any such person or persons being convicted, upon the oath of one or more credible witnesses, before any justice of the peace for the county where such offence shall be committed, shall for every such offence, forfeit and pay not exceeding the sum of five pounds; one half thereof shall be paid to the informer or informers, and the other …

Fire-Hunting § 1. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to hunt with fire in the night-time ; and every person convicted thereof, shall forfeit and pay for every such offense, the sum of fifty dollars ; and half to go to the use of the informer, and the other half to go to the use of the county : Provided, that this act shall be construed only to embrace persons hunting deer with a gun and fire at night.

. . . [I]f any person shall hunt by fire light in the night time, with a gun or other firearms beyond his own enclosure, such person shall on conviction, be fined in a sum not exceeding twenty five dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding one month, at the discretion of the court.

An Act for the Better Preservation of the Breed of Deer, and Preventing unlawful Hunting, § 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That whosoever shall hereafter use any fire-hunting or the killing of any deer by such means on any patented land, every person present at such fire hunting shall forfeit and pay twenty shillings for every such offense; and if any Indian be found fire-hunting as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for the owner of such land, or his or her overseer, to take away the gun of such Indian, and the same …

§ 1. That form and after the first day of May next, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons, by day or night to navigate or paddle any open skiff, canoe or open boat of any description, on board of which open skiff, canoe or open boat aforesaid may be any offensive weapon, gun, musket, fowling piece or pistol, . . . within fifty yards of any blind for shooting fowl, with intent to shoot or molest any wild fowl or fowls within the region aforesaid. § 2. That the discovering or finding of any offensive weapon, …

If any person, except from the land, shall shoot at or kill wild fowl during the night within this state, … he may be convicted thereof before a justice; and on conviction, shall surrender his gun…

. . . [I]t shall not be lawful for any person or persons to hunt with a gun or other fire arms, by fire light in the night time at any place within the County of St. Johns in this State, except within his own enclosure such person shall on conviction be fined in a sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding one month at the discretion of the Court.

Hunting, General Provisions, § 21. That it shall not be lawful for any non-resident of this State to use a gun, set a trap or decoy, or to employ any other device for killing or taking deer, turkeys, ducks or other game, not to set a trap, seine, or net, or draw or use the same, or any other contrivance for taking or killing fish, within the territorial limits of this State.

[T]he true intent and meaning of the 95th section of the 34th chapter of the Revised Code was and is hereby declared to be to prevent fire hunting for deer with a gun or guns in the night time, and nothing more.

Laws of Plymouth Colony. It is enacted by the Court that no Indians that are servants to the English shall be permitted to use guns for fowling or other exercise; as being judged that it may prove prejudicial in time to the English; and therefore that no one shall be permitted so to do on pain of forfeiting every such gun so used to the use of the Colony.

An Act for the Protection of Certain Birds and Game. (25.) § III. And it shall also be unlawful for any person at any time after the passage of this act, by the aid or use of any swivel, punt gun, big gun (so called), or any gun other than the common shoulder gun or by the aid or use of any punt boat, or sneak boat used for carrying such gun to catch, kill, wound, or destroy, or to pursue after, with intent to catch, kill, wound or destroy, upon any of the waters, bays, rivers, marshes, mud flats, …

It shall be unlawful for any person not being a citizen of this State, to catch, take or kill, by himself or by his agent, or as the agent for or in the employment of any other person, whether such person be or be not a citizen of this State, any fish, wild goose . . . upon any of the waters of this state . . . or to enter upon such waters, land or marsh for such unlawful purpose, and any person offending against the provisions of this Section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall …

Unlawful Hunting: Hunting on another’s land, or in the streets of a city or town, or along a public road, prohibited; penalty; how recoverable, § 5. If any person shall hunt, shoot, fowl or range with or without dogs, on the lands of another, without the consent of the owner or tenant of such lands, or shoot along any public road, or in the streets of any town or village, in any of the counties of this commonwealth, on the lands comprehended in the survey of any proprietor, he shall be deemed guilty of a trespass, and shall be fined …