O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 16-11-108 (2019)

Misuse of firearm or archery tackle while hunting

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section GA-LEGlegis.ga.gov (official) JustiaJustia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) Any person who while hunting wildlife uses a firearm or archery tackle in a manner to endanger the bodily safety of another person by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his act or omission will cause harm to or endanger the safety of another person and the disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, however, if such conduct results in serious bodily harm to another person, the person engaging in such conduct shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000.00 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years, or both. (b) Whenever a person is charged with violating subsection (a) of this Code section, the arresting law enforcement officer shall take the hunting license of the person so charged. The hunting license shall be attached to the court’s copy of the citation, warrant, accusation, or indictment and shall be forwarded to the court having jurisdiction of the offense. A copy of the citation, warrant, accusation, or indictment

shall be forwarded, within 15 days of its issuance, to the Game and Fish Division of the Department of Natural Resources. (c) In order to obtain a temporary hunting license, a person charged with violating subsection (a) of this Code section must present to the director of the Game and Fish Division of the Department of Natural Resources a certificate of satisfactory completion, after the date of the incident for which the person was charged and regardless of the person’s age or date of birth, of a hunter education course prescribed by the Board of Natural Resources. A temporary hunting license issued under such circumstances shall be valid until the next March 31 or until suspended or revoked under any provision of this title or of Title 27. The director of the Game and Fish Division of the Department of Natural Resources may renew the temporary hunting license during the pendency of charges. (d)(1) If the person is convicted of violating subsection (a) of this Code section, the court shall, within 15 days of such conviction, forward the person’s hunting license and a copy of the record of the disposition of the case to the Game and Fish Division of the Department of Natural Resources. At this time, the court shall also require the person to surrender any temporary hunting licenses issued pursuant to the provisions of subsection (c) of this Code section. (2) If the person is not convicted of violating subsection (a) of this Code section, the court shall return the hunting license to the person.

History

(Code 1981, § 16-11-108, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 292, § 1.)

Annotations

Cross references. - Required hunter education courses, § 27-2-5. JUDICIAL DECISIONS Offense as predicate to felony-murder conviction. - Offense of misuse of a firearm while hunting can serve as the predicate felony to a felony murder conviction. Chapman v. State, 266 Ga. 356, 467 S.E.2d 497 (1996). Evidence of motive and intent. - Trial court’s admission of evidence of writing on defendant’s bedroom wall for the purpose of showing defendant’s motive for killing defendant’s brother in a case where defendant shot and killed the brother while the two were out hunting and claimed it was an accident was at most harmless error since the offense on which defendant was convicted, felony murder by misusing a firearm while hunting, and its underlying predicate offense of consciously disregarding a substantial and

unjustifiable risk, did not require a motive or intent. Furthermore, the offense of felony murder by misuse of a firearm could be used to serve as the predicate offense for a felony murder conviction. Hames v. State, 278 Ga. 182, 598 S.E.2d 459 (2004). Evidence sufficient to sustain conviction. - Sufficient evidence supported convictions of aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and felony misuse of a firearm while hunting, and negated the defense of accident after the victim who was shot by defendant while hunting waved to signal defendant before the gun was fired and since the defendant was hunting while on medication that could have caused mental and physical impairment; the jury also could have considered defendant’s actions after the shooting in

removing the victim’s orange vest, hiding two guns, failing to aid the victim, and failing to alert paramedics of the victim’s

location. Wilson v. State, 279 Ga. App. 136, 630 S.E.2d 640 (2006).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Fingerprinting required for violators. - Violation of the misdemeanor provisions of O.C.G.A. § 16-11-108 includes as an element the misuse of firearms or archery tackle; fingerprinting per-

sons charged with this offense is mandatory, since it necessarily involves the use of firearms or dangerous weapons. 1989 Op. Att’y Gen. 89-52.

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. Trials. - Hunting Accident Litigation, 27 Am. Jur. Trials 261.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 13 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1990–2022 · leading case: Chapman v. State, 467 S.E.2d 497 (Ga. 1996).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Chapman v. State, 467 S.E.2d 497 (Ga. 1996). · cites it 97× “Wayne Chapman a/k/a Jimmy Slater was found guilty of the felony murder of Jason Webb with OCGA § 16-11-108 as the underlying felony; misuse of a firearm while hunting (OCGA § 16-11-108); hunting upon or discharging a weapon across a public road (OCGA § 27-3-10); two counts of…”
Henderson v. Hames, 697 S.E.2d 798 (Ga. 2010). · cites it 16× “On June 10, 2009, the habeas court granted the petition on three grounds: (1) the indictment was void because it failed to charge an essential element of the offense of misuse of a firearm while hunting, namely, that Hames “consciously disregard[ed] a substantial and…”
McIver v. State, 875 S.E.2d 810 (Ga. 2022). · cites it 8× “534, 538-539 (3) (697 SE2d 798) (2010) (construing virtually identical language in OCGA § 16-11-108, misuse of a firearm while hunting, as prescribing the mens rea of the offense, and holding Hames’ convictions void for failure of the indictment to allege that the defendant…”
Hines v. State, 578 S.E.2d 868 (Ga. 2003). · cites it 10× “Ranger Hall's testimony regarding the hunter safety courses that he teaches did not elevate the standard under OCGA § 16-11-108 (misuse of a firearm while hunting) from a reasonable person standard to a reasonable person who has taken hunter safety courses standard.”
Hames v. State, 598 S.E.2d 459 (Ga. 2004). · cites it 16× “Hames filed a motion for new trial on February 19, 2003, which the trial court denied on August 11, 2003. Hames filed a notice of appeal on September 10, 2003, and the case was docketed in this Court on November 21, 2003.”
Patterson v. State, 789 S.E.2d 175 (Ga. 2016). · cites it 4× “See OCGA § 16-11-108 (a). As for the intentional pointing of a firearm at another, see OCGA § 16-11-102, if the other person perceives the pointing and apprehends injury, the pointing is an aggravated assault, irrespective of the intent, knowledge, or negligence of the accused.”
Mainor v. State, 387 S.E.2d 882 (Ga. 1990). · cites it 8× “[OCGA § 16-11-108 (a) (Ga. L. 1989, p. 292, § 1, effective March 30, 1989.”
Dixson v. State, 721 S.E.2d 555 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 6× “534, 537-540 (3) ( 697 SE2d 798 ) (2010), our Supreme Court considered whether an indictment sufficiently charged a violation of OCGA § 16-11-108. The Hames indictment alleged that the accused acted “in violation of O.”
State v. Wilson, 732 S.E.2d 330 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “534, 537-540 (3) ( 697 SE2d 798 ) (2010) (The indictment attempted to charge the defendant with misuse of a firearm while hunting under OCGA § 16-11-108 (a), hut it failed to assert that the defendant misused the firearm “by consciously disregarding a substantial and…”
Jones v. State, 542 S.E.2d 584 (Ga. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 6× “ot Scott Dewayne Wilson without taking reasonable care to ascertain what said defendant was shooting and did thereby cause serious bodily harm to wit: a gunshot wound to the chest of Scott Dewayne Wilson by shooting while consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable…”
Lewis v. State, 427 S.E.2d 578 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 6× “Subsequently, Lewis was indicted for the felony offense of misuse of a firearm while hunting, in violation of OCGA § 16-11-108, based on the same incident.”
Patterson v. State (Ga. 2016). · cites it 2× “See OCGA § 16-11-108 (a). As for the intentional pointing of a firearm at another, see OCGA § 16-11-102, if the other person perceives the pointing and apprehends injury, the pointing is an aggravated assault, irrespective of the intent, knowledge, or negligence of the accused.”
Show all 13 citing cases →
— 16-11-108(a) — 2 cases
Chapman v. State, 467 S.E.2d 497 (Ga. 1996). “Wayne Chapman a/k/a Jimmy Slater was found guilty of the felony murder of Jason Webb with OCGA § 16-11-108 as the underlying felony; misuse of a firearm while hunting (OCGA § 16-11-108); hunting upon or discharging a weapon across a public road (OCGA § 27-3-10); two counts of…”
Hames v. State, 598 S.E.2d 459 (Ga. 2004). “Hames filed a motion for new trial on February 19, 2003, which the trial court denied on August 11, 2003. Hames filed a notice of appeal on September 10, 2003, and the case was docketed in this Court on November 21, 2003.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.