Permit to operate a game preserve

It is the authorisation the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources issues to operate a game preserve, which Article 2(x) defines as the farm used mainly for sport hunting purposes and in which its owner, person in charge or administrator, by introducing game animals produced in captivity or producing them by seminatural methods or practices, including the improvement of the natural habitation, offers hunters those hunting resources for pay. It is a business permit, distinct from the sport hunting licence each hunter needs.

The Act does not put the list of requirements in its text: Article 7(a) says the Secretary shall establish them by regulation. What the text does say is who is disqualified. Article 17 applies to the preserve permit in the same words as to the hunting licence: a conviction for aggravated assault is no bar if more than ten years have passed since the last sentence served, or fifteen for felonies; nor is it a bar if one year has passed since a sentence for simple assault or breach of the peace, or more than a year since serving a sentence for violating this Act. Someone who within ten years has breached wildlife law more than once may be denied for up to ten years, and on a second repeat may be denied permanently.

• Obtaining the permit to operate the preserve from the Secretary: establishing or operating a game preserve without a permit is one of the illegal acts listed in Article 6(ll).Verified against the official source
• Meeting the requirements the Secretary establishes by regulation, which is where Article 7(a) places them, and not in the text of the Act.Verified against the official source
• Registering in the name of the owner, administrator or person in charge the hunting weapons the clients will use; if the weapon is also a firearm it must be in the Electronic Register of the 2020 Weapons Act of Puerto Rico (Article 7(b)).Verified against the official source
• Not exceeding the number of hunting weapons the Secretary sets for each preserve (Article 7(b)).Verified against the official source
• Filing monthly reports with the Department on hunting activity and statistics on the use of wildlife resources or of any other species authorised in the permit (Article 7(f)).Verified against the official source
• Paying the annual fees the Secretary sets by regulation, which go into the Special Fund for Wildlife Management (Article 15(a)).Verified against the official source
• Using only the game animals the Secretary designates by regulation for preserves, excluding species that may be harmful (Articles 7(c) and 6(n)).Verified against the official source
• Not allowing hunting in the preserve without the corresponding licence or permit from the Secretary (Article 6(m)).Verified against the official source

• The permit itself, which must be returned by mail or in person within five days of notification if the Secretary suspends or revokes it (Article 7(e)).
• The registration of each of the preserve’s hunting weapons in the name of the owner, administrator or person in charge, and the record under the 2020 Weapons Act if the weapon is also a firearm (Articles 7(b) and 11).
• The monthly reports on hunting activity and resource-use statistics required by Article 7(f).
• The Secretary’s written authorisation to buy a hunting weapon, which the gunsmith must see alongside the permit before handing it over (Article 11(d)).

1. 1

   Step 1: The permit expires on 30 June, not on its anniversary

   Article 15 says the Secretary may issue and renew permits to operate game preserves and that such a permit shall expire on 30 June of the second year of validity. It is a fixed calendar date, not a twenty-four-month term counted from issue: if the permit is issued in March, the second 30 June arrives before two full years are up. The fees, by contrast, are annual under Article 15(a), and the Secretary sets them by regulation.

2. 2

   Step 2: What counts as a game preserve

   The Article 2(x) definition has two pieces worth reading slowly. The first is where the animals come from: the owner, person in charge or administrator introduces game animals produced in captivity, or produces them by seminatural methods or practices, which includes improving the natural habitation. The second is the pay: they offer hunters those hunting resources for pay. A farm where people hunt what lives there, without charge, does not fit that definition; one where bred animals are introduced and a fee is charged to hunt them does.

3. 3

   Step 3: The weapons go in the preserve’s name, not the client’s

   Article 7(b) inverts what many people assume. The owner, administrator or person in charge of the preserve must register in their own name the hunting weapons the clients will use. If that hunting weapon is also a firearm, it must be registered in the Electronic Register created under the 2020 Weapons Act of Puerto Rico. The Secretary sets how many hunting weapons may be registered per preserve. And there is an express territorial limit: clients may not use, carry or transport those weapons, whether on their person or in a vehicle, outside the preserve’s limits. Seen from the hunter’s side, Article 19(d) says the same thing in reverse: a hunter may not lend their weapons, except that in preserves they may use the weapon provided by the owner, administrator or person in charge.

4. 4

   Step 4: The permit comes before the weapons

   Article 11 sets the order. Subsection (c) says the Secretary shall not proceed to register a hunting weapon if the applicant has not previously obtained the corresponding hunting licence or the permit to operate a game preserve, as the case may be. Subsection (d) closes the door from the other side: no hunting-weapon dealer or gunsmith shall hand a hunting weapon to a buyer until the buyer shows they hold the licence or the preserve permit and obtained the Secretary’s written authorisation for that purchase. Buying first and filing later does not work at either counter.

5. 5

   Step 5: In a preserve you hunt all year, with one exception

   This is the substantive difference from hunting in season. Article 7(c) says the Secretary shall establish by regulation which game animals may be used in preserves, and that species which may be harmful must be excluded; and it adds that the game animals used in preserves may be hunted all year round, except animals covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty, for which the Secretary shall set the seasons. Article 19(e) confirms it from the hunter’s duties: abstain from hunting outside the seasons, except in game preserves.

6. 6

   Step 6: Monthly reports, not annual ones

   Article 7(f) imposes a continuing obligation that is easy to overlook when setting up the business: the owner, administrator or person in charge of a game preserve must file monthly reports with the Department on hunting activity and statistics on the use of wildlife resources or of any other species authorised in the permit. The Act does not publish the format or the cut-off date of each report; that sits on the Department’s side.

7. 7

   Step 7: Breeding animals to supply the preserve has its own permit

   Article 7(g) empowers the Secretary to grant permits to breed animals to supply game preserves, and says the fees charged for that permit shall go into the Fund created by this Act. That permit fits with an exception in Article 6(e): the general ban on buying and selling fauna, its young, nests or parts does not include exotic species produced in captivity in game preserves nor those produced by breeders the Secretary authorises by regulation for the purpose of supplying preserves.

8. 8

   Step 8: If your permit is suspended: five days, and the weapons at once

   Article 7(d) lets the Secretary suspend or revoke the authorisation when in their judgement the provisions of the permit, the Act or its regulations have been violated, and the suspension shall last for the period the Secretary sets by regulation. Article 7(e) sets the procedure: the Secretary must notify in writing, stating the reasons; the affected person shall return the permit by mail or in person within five days of notification and shall immediately hand the registered firearms to the Commissioner of the Police Bureau. They may also request an administrative hearing to oppose it, and Article 20 sends that step to Act 38-2017, the uniform administrative procedure act.

9. 9

   Step 9: The three things that are illegal around a preserve

   Article 6 lists them together. Subsection (ll): establishing or operating game preserves without obtaining a permit from the Secretary. Subsection (m): hunting in game preserves without having obtained the corresponding licence or permit from the Secretary, which means having the preserve in order does not excuse the client from being in order. Subsection (n): hunting in preserves any species of wild fauna the Secretary has not designated as a game animal by regulation. All three fall under the penalties of Article 22, whose general tier is a misdemeanour with a fine of one hundred to five hundred dollars per specimen, or up to six months in jail, or both.

10. 10

    Step 10: Renewal depends on a clean record

    Article 15(b) conditions renewal on two fronts: the Department shall renew permits provided the applicant has not infringed any condition of the permit, of the Act or of the wildlife regulations, and provided the conditions of the original permit have remained unaltered. The second matters as much as the first: if what was declared when applying has changed — the land, the operation, who manages it — renewal stops being automatic.

Before the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, who issues and renews the permit to operate game preserves (Article 15), sets its requirements (Article 7(a)) and its annual fees (Article 15(a)) by regulation, receives the monthly reports (Article 7(f)) and registers the preserve’s hunting weapons (Article 7(b)). Firearms are handed to the Commissioner of the Police Bureau if the permit is suspended or revoked (Article 7(e)), and the administrative hearing is requested under Act 38-2017 (Article 20).

• Counting the permit’s validity from the date it was issued: it expires on 30 June of the second year.
• Assuming the fees cover the permit’s term: Article 15(a) calls them annual.
• Letting each client bring and register their own weapon: the preserve’s weapons are registered in the name of the owner, administrator or person in charge.
• Allowing a client to leave the preserve with the weapon: the Act forbids using, carrying or transporting it outside the limits, on the person or in a vehicle.
• Buying the weapons before holding the permit: the Secretary will not register them and the gunsmith will not hand them over without the permit and the written authorisation.
• Believing the preserve’s permit covers the hunter: Article 6(m) requires whoever hunts in the preserve to hold their own licence or permit.
• Introducing any species: only those the Secretary designates by regulation, and species that may be harmful are excluded.
• Forgetting the monthly reports of Article 7(f).
• Trusting that renewal is automatic: it falls away if there was a breach or if the original permit’s conditions changed.
• Keeping a suspended permit while awaiting the hearing: there are five days to return it and firearms are handed to the Police immediately.
• Thinking that requesting the administrative hearing stops that handover: Article 7(e) orders it together with the return of the permit.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA)

  DRNA

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov