Wildlife Act Regulation (B.C. Reg. 190/84)

Wildlife Act

B.C. Reg. 190/84

O.C. 1109/84 Deposited June 15, 1984

This consolidation is current to March 31, 2026.

Division 1 — Interpretation

Definitions and interpretation

1(1) In this regulation:

"Act"

means the Wildlife Act;

"antlerless animal"

means a member of the deer family bearing no visible bony antlers and, for the purposes of this definition, the small skin or hair covered protuberances on male fawns and calves are not antlers;

"bait"

means any thing, including meat, cereal, cultivated crops, a restrained animal or any manufactured product or material, that may attract wildlife, but does not include a decoy;

"bearded turkey"

means a turkey with a tuft of hair-like feathers that grow larger with age, and are found on the chest of the turkey;

"brow palm", in relation to an antler of a moose,

means the lateral branch that is separated from a main palm by the deepest antler bay, and for the purposes of this definition the deepest antler bay is the antler bay whose vertex is the shortest distance from the antler base when measured along the surface of the antler;

"brow tine"

means the first lateral branch, of an antler of deer, elk, moose or caribou, that projects forward and occurs in the lower one third of the antler;

"buck" or "bull" with reference to deer, moose or elk

means one bearing visible bony antlers, but does not include a calf;

"buck" or "bull" with reference to caribou

means a male bearing visible bony antlers, but does not include a calf;

"calf" in reference to a moose, elk or caribou

means one that is less than 12 months of age;

"compound crossbow"

means a crossbow on which the bow string passes through a series of pulleys;

"cougar kitten"

means a spotted cougar, or a cougar less than one year of age, as determined by the regional manager or designate;

"decoy"

means a material or manufactured product that simulates the appearance or has the form of wildlife;

"feral pig"

has the same meaning as in section 3.2 (1) of the Designation and Exemption Regulation, B.C. Reg. 168/90;

"full curl bighorn ram mountain sheep"

means any male bighorn mountain sheep,

(a) the head of which, when viewed squarely from the side, has at least one horn tip extending upwards beyond a straight line drawn through the centre of the nostril and the lowest hindmost portion of the horn base, or

(b) the skull and horns of which are presented for examination, and which, when viewed squarely from the side with both horns in alignment, have at least one horn tip extending upwards beyond a straight line drawn through the lowest hindmost portion of the horn base and the lowermost edge of the eye socket;

"full curl thinhorn ram mountain sheep"

means any thinhorn ram mountain sheep that has attained the age of 8 years as evidenced by true horn annuli as determined by the regional manager or designate, or whose horn tip, when viewed squarely from the side at right angles to the sagittal plane of the skull, extends dorsally beyond the nose bridge plane;

"horizontal plane"

means the surface intersecting the ventral posteriormost portion of the base of the left and right horns, the ventral portion of the most complete eye-socket retained with the skull and that is at right angles to the sagittal plane;

"infrared optics"

means an optical device with the capacity to detect infrared radiation;

"kid"

means a mountain goat with horns that are less than 100 mm in length;

"lateral plane"

means the surface intersecting the ventral anteriormost portion of the most complete eye-socket retained with the skull and that is at right angles to the sagittal and horizontal planes;

"licence year"

means the period April 1 to March 31 next following;

"management unit" or "M.U."

means an area designated as a management unit by B.C. Reg. 64/96, the Management Unit Regulation;

"mature bighorn ram mountain sheep"

means any bighorn ram mountain sheep whose horn tip, when viewed squarely from the side at right angles to the sagittal plane of the skull, extends dorsally beyond the nose bridge plane;

"migratory game bird"

means a migratory game bird as defined in the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 (Canada);

"non-toxic shot"

means shotgun pellets consisting of, by weight, not more than one percent lead;

"nose bridge plane"

means a plane perpendicular to the sagittal plane that includes the anterior and posterior points of the suture joining the left and right nasal bones where they meet the dorsal surface of those bones;

"plane"

means a surface such that the straight line that joins any 2 of its points lies wholly in that surface;

"possession limit"

means the maximum number of a species or type of wildlife which a person may have in the person's possession while hunting or returning from hunting, except for migratory game birds where the possession limit applies at all times;

"power boat"

means a boat, canoe or yacht powered by electric, gasoline, oil, steam or other mechanical means, but does not include a boat powered manually nor a boat with an outboard motor provided the motor is tilted or otherwise disengaged so as not to be ready for immediate use;

"sagittal plane"

means the surface by which the skull is divided equally into left and right sides;

"spike bull"

means a bull elk having antlers that are composed of a main beam from which there are no bony projections greater than 2.5 cm in length;

"three quarter curl bighorn ram mountain sheep"

means any male bighorn mountain sheep,

(a) the head of which, when viewed squarely from the side, has at least one horn tip extending beyond a straight line drawn through the back of the eye opening and at right angles to a line drawn between the centre of the nostril and the lowest hindmost portion of the horn base, or

(b) the skull and horns of which are presented for examination, and which, when viewed squarely from the side with both horns in alignment, has at least one horn tip extending beyond a straight line drawn through the back edge of the eye socket and at right angles to a line drawn through the lowest hindmost portion of the horn base and the lowermost edge of the eye socket;

"tine" or "point"

means the branch of an antler which is longer than its breadth and is at least 2.5 cm (1 inch) in length, and for the purpose of determining the length of a tine

(a) the breadth of the tine is measured (if extending from a palmation of an antler, then in the plane of the palm) at a location at least 2.5 cm (1 inch) from the tip of the tine, and

(b) the length of the tine is measured from its tip end, following the midline of the profile of the tine, and following the natural curvature of the tine, to the midpoint of the straight line along which the breadth is measured;

"vehicle"

means a wheeled or tracked device in, on or by which a person or thing is or may be transported or drawn on a highway;

"wireless camera"

means a camera that obtains an image by means of a remote or infrared sensor and that is capable of sending an image remotely to an electronic device.

(2) Repealed. [B.C. Reg. 195/99, s. 2.]

(3) Unless specifically stated, this regulation does not apply to fur bearing animals taken by trapping during an open season for trapping, by a person who holds, or is exempted from holding, a trapping licence.

(4) Repealed. [B.C. Reg. 166/2001, s. 3.]

(5) A map referred to in this regulation is in Schedule 9 unless the area shown on the map is referred to as described in the Limited Entry Hunting Regulation.

(6) In this regulation, unless another period of time is specified, a bag limit in respect of

(a) mammals or turkeys is for one licence year, and

(b) any other birds is for one day.

Serial numbers inclusive

2 All dates and all references to descriptions by means of serial numbers in this regulation are inclusive, unless otherwise indicated.

Province divided into regions

3 For the purpose of this regulation, the Province of British Columbia is divided into the following regions:

(a) Region 1 — Vancouver Island, comprised of Management Units 1-1 to 1-15 (including a part of the mainland coast in the vicinity of Knight and Seymour Inlets);

(b) Region 2 — Lower Mainland, comprised of Management Units 2-1 to 2-19;

(c) Region 3 — Thompson-Nicola, comprised of Management Units 3-12 to 3-20 and 3-26 to 3-46;

(d) Region 4 — Kootenay, comprised of Management Units 4-1 to 4-9 and 4-14 to 4-40;

(e) Region 5 — Cariboo, comprised of Management Units 5-1 to 5-16;

(f) Region 6 — Skeena, comprised of Management Units 6-1 to 6-30 including Haida Gwaii;

(g) Region 7 — Omineca-Peace, comprised of Management Units 7-l to 7-58;

(h) Region 8 — Okanagan, comprised of Management Units 8-1 to 8-15 and 8-21 to 8-26.

Division 2 — Open Seasons

Open seasons

4 The open seasons for the hunting of each species and type of game animal, subject to section 6, are those set forth in Parts 1 and 2 of each Schedule.

When open seasons not in effect

5 An open season declared by this regulation shall cease to be in effect in any area

(a) while the area is subject to a closure order issued by the Forest Service of the Ministry of Forests and Range, or

(b) if hunting is prohibited by an order of the minister under section 40 of the Act.

Restrictions on open seasons

6 (1) Where an open season is marked in Part 1 of a Schedule by a double asterisk, the restrictions set out in Part 2 of that Schedule apply.

(2) A person who hunts, takes or kills game and fails to comply with a restriction under subsection (1) commits an offence.

(3) A person who lawfully possesses raptors under a permit for the purpose of falconry may use a raptor to hunt small game during a bow only season as set out in Part 2 of each Schedule.

Division 3 — Bag and Possession Limits

Restrictions on bag limits

7 Where a bag limit is marked in Part 1 of a Schedule by a triple asterisk, the restrictions set out in Part 3 of that Schedule apply.

No bag limit

8 The abbreviation "NBL" in Part 1 of each Schedule means "no bag limit".

Examples of bag and possession limits

9 (1) An entry such as "2 (1)" in Part 1 of a Schedule means, in the case of ungulates, that the bag limit is 2 animals of that species in the aggregate, one of which may be antlerless.

(2) An entry such as "10 (20)" in Part 1 of a Schedule means, in the case of all game birds except turkeys, that the bag limit is 10 birds a day, while the possession limit is 20.