W. Va. Code § 20-2-12

This is the official text of W. Va. Code § 20-2-12, part of West Virginia’s Va. Code — part of the compiled statutory law of West Virginia, published by the state as "Va. Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§20-2-12. Transportation of wildlife out of state; penalties.

Official statutory text

(a) A person may not transport or have in his or her possession with the intention of transporting beyond the limits of the state any species of wildlife or any part thereof killed, taken, captured or caught within this state, except as provided in this section.

(1) A person legally entitled to hunt and fish in this state may take with him or her personally, when leaving the state, any wildlife that he or she has lawfully taken or killed, not exceeding, during the open season, the number that any person may lawfully possess.

(2) Licensed resident hunters and trappers and resident and nonresident fur dealers may transport beyond the limits of the state pelts of game and fur-bearing animals, fur-bearer parts, including carcasses for the making of lures and baits, carcass parts, including glands, skulls, claws, and bones, and fur-bearer urine taken during the legal season.

(3) A person may transport the hide, head, antlers and feet of a legally killed deer and the hide, head, skull, organs and feet of a legally killed black bear beyond the limits of the state.

(4) A person legally entitled to possess an animal according to §20-2-4 of this code may transport that animal, including the parts or urine of that animal, beyond the limits of the state.

(b) The director may promulgate rules in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code dealing with the transportation and tagging of wildlife, parts, urine and skins.

(c) A person who violates this section by transporting or possessing with the intention of transporting beyond the limits of this state deer or wild boar shall be considered to have committed a separate offense for each animal so transported or possessed. This section does not apply to captive cervids regulated pursuant to §19-2H-1 et seq. of this code.

(d) A person violating this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $20 nor more than $300 or be confined in jail not less than 10 nor more than 60 days, or both.

(e) This section does not apply to persons legally entitled to propagate and sell wild animals, wild birds, fish, amphibians and other forms of aquatic life beyond the limits of the state.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.