Legal definitions linked to hunting

Below is a list of terms and expressions used in legal texts associated with hunting: 

Adult female moose:

A female moose over one year of age.

Aircraft:

Any device that can support itself in the atmosphere through air reactions, including a drone.

Antlerless deer:

A white-tailed deer doe or buck without antlers, or with antlers measuring less than 7 cm (i.e. including calves).

Building:

A construction intended to house people, shelter animals or store items.

Calf:

A male or female moose or white-tailed deer under one year of age.

Certificate appropriate to the weapon used:

Means that a hunter’s certificate bearing Code F authorizes hunting with a firearm (including an air gun), and that a hunter’s certificate bearing Code A or Code B authorizes hunting with a bow or crossbow. You cannot hunt with a crossbow if your hunter’s certificate bears Code F.

Immediate family:

Grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, spouse, children, grandchildren and the spouse’s children and grandchildren.

Firearm:

Authorized rifles (including airguns), shotguns or muzzle-loading firearms, depending on the species. 

To hunt:

To pursue, chase, worry, stalk, mutilate, call, track, lie in wait for or search for an animal or attempt to do so, while in possession of a weapon, or to shoot, kill or capture an animal, or attempt to do so.

Loaded crossbow:

A crossbow of which the string is drawn and attached to the firing mechanism with an arrow on its bolt.

Moose:

Includes a male or female moose, or a calf.

Moose with antlers:

A moose with antlers measuring at least 10 cm.

Muzzle-loading firearm:

The terms muzzle-loading shotgun and muzzle-loading rifle are defined differently for moose, white-tailed deer and bear hunting. Please see the “Authorized weapons and ammunition” table for additional information.

Non-resident’s hunting licence:

A hunting licence for a non-resident, issued between April 1 and March 31.

Non-toxic shot:

Includes steel, bismuth and pewter shot, tungsten matrix shot, tungsten-bronze-iron shot, tungsten-iron shot, tungsten-iron-nickel-copper shot, tungsten-nickel-iron shot and tungsten-polymer shot.

Public road:

Any road the maintenance of which is entrusted to a municipality, a government or one of its agencies, on which one or more roadways open to public vehicular traffic, but excluding roads under the administration of or maintained by the Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs or the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation.

Resident:

Any person who is domiciled in Québec and who has lived there for at least 183 days during the year preceding his or her hunting activities or application for a licence or hunter’s certificate, or that meets the conditions determined by the government’s regulations.

Spouse:

A common-law spouse who has lived with another person in a conjugal relationship for at least a year, and a person united with another person by marriage.

To trap:

To capture or attempt to capture a fur-bearing animal by means of a trap or to install a trap.

Young person or student:

A person who is at least 12 years of age and under 18 years of age, or a student between 18 and 24 years of age bearing a student card.