September 6, 1929

The Game and Fish Department has received requests and petitions from many parts of the State asking that the ringneck pheasant season be opened for only a limited number of days. Most of these requests came from persons laboring under the impression that the Governor could declare an open season under Section 5640 Mason’s Minnesota Statutes 1919. 

In an opinion handed down by the Attorney General he states that this law, referred to above as Section 5640, applies to the case wherein the Commissioner, after due investigation, finds that additional protection must be provided in order that any species of wild game are in danger of depletion and cannot be in any way associated with an order calling for the opening of a season on any particular of wild animals or game birds for which an open season has not been provided by law. A law, similar to that which is in operation in South Dakota, would enable the Game and Fish Comissioner of Minnesota to open or close the season in accordance with that common sense rule “to permit people to enjoy the natural resources of the State of Minnesota to the fullest extent, keeping in mind that we have sufficient machinery now through the Governor’s Executive Order to prevent undue depletion.”