Appendix A. Legal Designations

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In addition to the conservation status designations (endangered, threatened, etc.) identified in the Introduction (page 2), Wisconsin law provides legal definitions for several groups of vertebrate animals. Terms such as "game animal," "panfish," "fur-bearer," and "migratory game bird" often come up in resource management and outdoor recreation discussions. Some of these terms have specific legal meanings. Definitions for these terms, as they appear in the state statutes and administrative rules, are listed here for reference purposes. The statutes and administrative rules rarely include scientific names and often group species together under a single term (e.g., "fox" would include both red and gray foxes).

Definitions Applied to:
Fishes || Birds || Mammals || More Than One Vertebrate Group


Definitions Applied to Fishes

"Bait" means any species of frog, crayfish or minnow used for fishing purposes. (§ 29.509(1), Wis. Stats.).

"Farm-raised fish" means a fish that is kept on a fish farm for propagation purposes or reared on a fish farm and that has not been introduced, stocked or planted into waters outside a fish farm or that has not escaped from a fish farm. (§ 29.001(25), Wis. Stats.).

"Game fish" includes all varieties of fish except rough fish and minnows. (§ 29.001(41), Wis. Stats.).

"Minnow" includes a sucker not listed as endangered or threatened under s. 29.604(3), central mudminnow, tadpole madtom, stonecat, banded killifish, blackstripe topminnow, brook silverside, brook stickleback, ninespine stickleback, trout-perch, darter, log perch, sculpin. "Minnow" includes any minnow family cyprinid that is not listed as endangered or threatened under s. 29.604(3) and that is not a goldfish, grass carp, common carp or rudd. "Minnow" does not include any sucker, darter, sculpin or minnow species that is designated detrimental under s. 29.424. (§ 29.001(54), Wis. Stats.).

"Panfish" means the following fish species: yellow perch, bluegill, black crappie, white crappie, pumpkinseed, green sunfish, warmouth and orangespotted sunfish. (§ NR 20.03(29), Wis. Admin. Code).

"Rough fish" includes suckers, not listed as endangered or threatened under s. 29.604(3), common carp, goldfish, freshwater drum, burbot, bowfin, garfish, sea lamprey, alewife, gizzard shad, rainbow smelt and mooneye. (§ 29.001(74), Wis. Stats.).


Definitions Applied to Birds

"Eyas" means a young raptor not yet capable of flight. (§ NR 18.01(3), Wis. Admin. Code).

"Game birds" includes wild geese, brant, wild ducks, wild swan, rails, coots, gallinules, snipe, woodcock, plovers, sandpipers, ruffed grouse, prairie chicken, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasants, Hungarian partridge, Chukar partridge, bobwhite, quail, crows and wild turkey. (§ 29.001(39), Wis. Stats.).

"Migratory game birds" means any bird which is migratory and on which an open season has been prescribed in this chapter [NR 10, Wis. Admin. Code] and belonging to one of the following families: (a) Anatidae (wild ducks, geese and brant), (b) Rallidae (rails, coots and gallinules), (c) Scolopacidae (woodcock and Wilson's snipe (jacksnipe)). (§ NR 10.001(15), Wis. Admin. Code).

"Raptor" means a live, migratory bird of the order Falconiformes or the order Strigiformes, other than a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) or golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). (§ NR 18.01(10), Wis. Admin. Code).

"Upland game birds" are pheasants, quail, Hungarian (gray) partridge, grouse and wild turkey. (§ NR 1.14, Wis. Admin. Code).

"Waterfowl" means any migratory bird of the family Anatidae (wild ducks, geese, brant and swans). (§ NR 10.001(30), Wis. Admin. Code ; § NR 16.001(7), Wis. Admin. Code).


Definitions Applied to Mammals

"Big game mammals" in Wisconsin are white-tailed deer and black bear. (§ NR 1.15, Wis. Admin. Code).

"Fur-bearing animals" includes otter, beaver, mink, muskrat, marten, fisher, skunk, raccoon, fox, weasel, opossum, badger, wolf, coyote, bobcat, cougar and lynx. (§ 29.001(30), Wis. Stats.).

"Fur-bearers" are muskrat, mink, weasel, beaver, otter, skunk, raccoon, fox, coyote, bobcat and opossum. (§ NR 1.16, Wis. Admin. Code).

"Game animals" includes deer, moose, elk, bear, rabbits, squirrels, fox and raccoon. (§ 29.001(36), Wis. Stats.).

"Small game mammals" include rabbits, hares and squirrels. (§ NR 1.13, Wis. Admin. Code).


Definitions Applied to More than One Vertebrate Group

"Game" includes all varieties of wild mammals or birds. (§ 29.001(33), Wis. Stats.).

"Nongame species" means any species of wild animal not classified as a game fish, game animal, game bird or fur-bearing animal. (§ 29.001(60), Wis. Stats.).

"Protected wild animals" means those animals for which a closed season, bag limit, size limit or possession limit has been provided by statute or administrative rule, and includes: (a) Nongame species unless specifically designated as unprotected by the department [DNR]; (b) Game fish, game animals, game birds and fur-bearing animals during closed seasons; (c) endangered and threatened species listed in ch. NR 27. (§ NR 19.001(14), Wis. Admin. Code).

"Unprotected wild animals" means those animals for which no closed season, bag limit, size limit of possession limit has been established by statute or administrative rule. ((§ NR 19.001(17), Wis. Admin. Code).

"Wild animal" means any mammal, bird, fish, or other creature of a wild nature endowed with sensation and the power of voluntary motion. (§ 29.001(90), Wis. Stats.; § NR 16.001(8), Wis. Admin. Code; § NR 19.001(19), Wis. Admin. Code).

"Wildlife" means birds and mammals, which have inhabited and were propagated in a natural environment. (§ NR 1.18(1)(c), Wis. Admin. Code).

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Last Revised: Wednesday January 25 2006