O.C.G.A.
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.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, with or without dogs, any wildlife upon any public road in this state. It shall also be unlawful for any person while hunting to discharge any weapon from or across any public road in this state. (b) Any person who violates the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50.00 and not more
than $1,000.00 and, in the discretion of the sentencing court, imprisonment for not more than 12 months; provided, however, that such fine shall not be subject to suspension, stay, or probation except that if the court finds that payment of such fine would impose great economic hardship upon the defendant, the court may order such fine paid in installments.
History
(Ga. L. 1955, p. 483, § 60; Ga. L. 1968, p. 497, § 17; Code 1933, § 45-509, enacted by Ga. L. 1977, p. 396, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 816, § 43; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2391, § 2.)
Annotations
Cross references. - Discharge of gun or pistol near public highway or street, § 16-11-103. JUDICIAL DECISIONS Sufficient evidence. - When defendants turned their truck around and went back to shoot a deer in a field, they were ‘‘pursuing’’ the deer upon a public highway from a motor vehicle; therefore, the evidence was sufficient to support their guilty verdict. Passmore v. State, 253 Ga. App. 901, 561 S.E.2d 123 (2001). Conviction for separate offenses. - Where defendants hunted from a motor
vehicle on a public road at night using a light exceeding six volts, it was not error to convict them of the three separate crimes of hunting at night, hunting on a public road and hunting from a motor vehicle. Sanford v. State, 169 Ga. App. 769, 315 S.E.2d 281 (1984). Cited in Manley v. State, 187 Ga. App. 773, 371 S.E.2d 438 (1988).
RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 35A Am. Jur. 2d, Fish, Game, and Wildlife Conservation, § 53.
C.J.S. - 38 C.J.S., Game; Conservation and Preservation of Wildlife, §§ 55, 56.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
6
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1984–2025 · leading case:
Sanford v. State, 315 S.E.2d 281 (Ga. Ct. App. 1984).
Sanford v. State, 315 S.E.2d 281 (Ga. Ct. App. 1984).
· cites it 12× “Count III alleged that appellants had hunted game animals at night with a light exceeding six volts, in violation of OCGA § 27-3-2 (Code Ann § 45-502).”
Chapman v. State, 467 S.E.2d 497 (Ga. 1996).
· cites it 4× “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…”
Manley v. State, 371 S.E.2d 438 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988).
· cites it 4× “Defendants Marvin Daniel Manley and Larry Daniel Manley appeal their convictions of the offenses of hunting at night (OCGA § 27-3-2), hunting from a motor vehicle (OCGA § 27-3-13) and hunting upon a public road (OCGA § 27-3-10). Held: 1. Defendants’ second enumeration of error…”
Shirley v. State, 334 S.E.2d 154 (Ga. 1985).
· cites it 4× “*724 Defendant was arrested by Department of Natural Resources conservation rangers who had observed a high-powered beam of light being directed from a vehicle proceeding along a public road onto a soybean field at approximately 4:30 a.”
Passmore v. State, 561 S.E.2d 123 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001).
· cites it 2× “It shall also be unlawful for any person while hunting to discharge any weapon from or across any public road in this state.”
Timothy Sullens v. State (Ga. Ct. App. 2025).
· cites it 2× “” And OCGA § 27-3-10 (a) criminalizes hunting while on a public road and discharging a weapon while hunting from a public road, while OCGA § 27-3-48 (a) criminalizes hunting deer at night.”
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.