Tenn. Code Ann. § 70-1-101 (2026)

• (a) As used in this title, unless the context otherwise indicates, the definitions and rules of construction in this section shall govern the construction of this title, and proclamations and rules and regulations made or adopted by the commission:
  • (1) "Agency" means the wildlife resources agency;
  • (2) "Angling" means any effort made to take, kill, injure, capture, or catch any fish and every act of assistance in any effort;
  • (3) "Bag limit" means the maximum number of wildlife other than fish that may be taken, caught, killed, or possessed, by any person for any particular period of time, as provided by rule and regulation adopted by the commission;
  • (4) "Big game" means deer, bear, wild turkey, and all species of large mammals that may be introduced or transplanted into this state for hunting;
  • (5) "Bullfrog" means jumbo frog (rana catesbiana);
  • (6) "Carcass" means the dead body of any wildlife or a portion of any such dead body;
  • (7) "Chumming" means placing fish, parts of fish, or other material upon which fish might feed, in the waters of this state for the purpose of attracting fish to a particular area in order that they may be taken, but "chumming" does not include angling;
  • (8) "Commission" means the Tennessee fish and wildlife commission, and "commissioner" means a member of the fish and wildlife commission;
  • (9) "Creel limit" means the maximum number of fish that may be taken, caught, killed, or possessed, by any person for any particular period of time, as provided by rule and regulation adopted by the commission;
  • (10) "Executive director" means the executive director of the wildlife resources agency;
  • (11) "Falconry" means hunting by means of a trained raptor;
  • (12) "Fish" means all species of trout, salmon, walleye, northern pike, bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish, perch, sunfish, drum, carp, sucker, shad, minnow, and such other species of fish that are presently found in the state or may be introduced or transplanted into this state for consumptive or nonconsumptive use;
  • (13) "Fishing" means any effort made to take, kill, injure, capture, or catch any fish and every act of assistance in any effort;
  • (14) "Fur bearer" means beaver, raccoon, skunk, groundhog, coyote, gray fox, red fox, mink, muskrat, otter, weasel, bobcat, and opossum, and all subspecies or variations of the foregoing, and any other animals that may be declared by the commission under regulation to be a fur bearer;
  • (15) "Game birds" means all species of grouse, pheasant, woodcock, wilson snipe, crow, quail, waterfowl, gallinules, rails, mourning dove, and all species of birds that may be introduced into this state for hunting;
  • (16) "Harvest tag" means the certificate that is required either by law or rule or regulation of the commission to be secured to the carcass of wildlife as evidence of legal taking and ownership;
  • (17) "Hours" means the hours of the day or night when wildlife may be taken lawfully;
  • (18) "Hunting" means chasing, driving, flushing, attracting, pursuing, worrying, following after or on the trail of, searching for, trapping, shooting at, stalking, or lying in wait for, any wildlife, whether or not such wildlife is then or subsequently captured, killed, taken, or wounded and every act of assistance to any other person, but "hunting" does not include stalking, attracting, searching for, or lying in wait for, wildlife by an unarmed person solely for the purpose of watching wildlife or taking pictures of wildlife;
  • (19) "Motor vehicle" means any self-propelled vehicle, and any vehicle propelled or drawn by a self-propelled vehicle, wherever operated, but does not include any vessel;
  • (20) "Nongame birds" means all species of birds not classified as game birds;
  • (21) "Nongame mammal" means all species of wild mammals not classified as big game, small game, or fur bearers. Domestic dogs and cats when running at large and apparently unclaimed and not under human control, whether licensed or unlicensed, shall come within this subdivision (a)(21) for control and regulation by law or commission rule or regulation not inconsistent with Tennessee Anti-Rabies Law, complied in title 68, chapter 8, to the extent such dogs and cats are endangering or harassing wildlife;
  • (22) "Nonresident" means any person who is not a resident;
  • (23) "Person" means an individual, association, partnership, or corporation;
  • (24) "Personally attended rod or line" means a rod or line that is used for fishing or angling, and that is under the personal control of a person who is in proximity to such rod or line;
  • (25) "Possession" means both actual and constructive possession, and any control of the object or objects referred to;
  • (26) "Possession limit" means the maximum limit in number or amount of wildlife that may be lawfully in the possession of any one (1) person;
  • (27) "Public hunting area" means a specific land or water area, or both, not intensively managed that is established for the protection of wildlife species and public use by both consumptive and nonconsumptive users;
  • (28) "Public road" means the traveled portion of, and the shoulders on each side of, any road or highway maintained for public travel by a county, city, city and county, the state, or the United States government, and includes all bridges, culverts, overpasses, fills, and other structures within the limits of the right-of-way of any such road or highway;
  • (29) "Raptor" means all birds found in the wild that are members of the order of falconiformes, strigiformes, and specifically, but not by way of limitation, means falcons, hawks, owls, and eagles, except the golden and bald eagle;
  • (30) "Refuge" means a specific land or water area, or both, that is established for the protection of one (1) or more species of wildlife with no, or limited forms of, consumptive uses, and limited nonconsumptive use to the degree compatible with desired wildlife protection;
  • (31) "Resident" means any person who resides in this state for a period of ninety (90) consecutive days with the genuine intent of making this state that person's place of permanent abode, and who, when absent, intends to return to this state. For the purposes of this subdivision (a)(31), the following are deemed residents of this state:
    • (A) Members of the armed services of the United States or any nation allied with the United States, who are on active duty in this state under permanent orders;
    • (B) Personnel in the diplomatic service of any nation recognized by the United States, who are assigned to duty in this state; and
    • (C) Students who are attending and have been enrolled at least six (6) months in any school, college, or university in this state;
  • (32) "Sell" includes the offering or possessing for sale, bartering, exchanging or trading;
  • (33) "Small game" means fur bearers, game birds, swamp rabbits, bullfrogs, cottontail rabbits, fox squirrels, gray squirrels, red squirrels, and all species of small mammals and birds that may be introduced into this state for hunting;
  • (34) "Snagging" means fishing, without the use of either bait or artificial lure or any other device designed to attract fish, by snatching with hooks, gang hooks, or similar devices;
  • (35) "State fishing area" means a body of water where environmental conditions are such that relatively high fish production is possible and where fishing is the principal public use of the water;
  • (36) "Transport" means to carry or convey from one place to another, and includes an offer to transport, or receipt or possession for transportation;
  • (37) "Trapping" means taking, killing, and capturing wildlife by the use of any trap, snare, deadfall, or other device commonly used to capture wildlife, and the shooting or killing of wildlife lawfully trapped, and includes all lesser acts such as placing, setting, or staking such traps, snares, deadfalls, and other devices, whether or not such acts result in taking of wildlife, and every attempt to take and every act of assistance to any other person in taking or attempting to take wildlife with traps, snares, deadfalls, or other devices;
  • (38) "Waters of the state" means any waters within the territorial limits of the state of Tennessee;
  • (39) "Wild bird" means all game birds, nongame birds, and raptors;
  • (40) "Wildlife" means wild vertebrates, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish;
  • (41) "Wildlife management area" means a specific land or water area, or both, that is established for the intensive management of both habitat and wildlife species for optimum enhancement and use by both consumptive and nonconsumptive users; and
  • (42) "Zoological institution" or "zoo" means an institution operated wholly or in part by a political subdivision of the state to display wildlife to the public. For the purposes of § 70-4-403(1), permitted permanent and temporary exhibitors are regarded as zoos.

• (b) Whenever in this title, or proclamation and rules and regulations adopted under this title, the doing of an act between certain dates or from one date to another is allowed or prohibited, the period of time indicated includes both dates specified. The first date specified designates the first day of the period, and the second date designates the last day of the period.

• (c) Every provision relating to any fish or wildlife shall be deemed to apply to any part of the fish or wildlife with the same force and effect as it applies to the whole of any fish or wildlife.

Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 203,s 1, eff. 7/1/2017.

Acts 1974, ch. 481, § 3; 1975, ch. 185, §§ 1, 2; 1981, ch. 514, § 2; 1982, ch. 738, § 1; T.C.A., § 51-122; Acts 1985, ch. 148, § 1; 2005, ch. 92, § 1; 2011, ch. 283, § 1; 2012, ch. 993, § 11.