thevpra.org – Working to Educate Citizens About Hunting Laws in Virginia

Right to Retrieve (RTR)

Virginia Code §18.2-136 (“Right to Retrieve”) legally allows hunters to enter private property without the landowner’s permission only to retrieve their hunting dogs or falconry birds (falcons, hawks, or owls) that have wandered across a property line.

• They may not carry firearms or bows and may not hunt while on the prohibited land.

• Vehicles may be used to retrieve animals only with the landowner’s permission.

• Anyone entering such land under this rule who willfully refuses to identify themselves when asked by the landowner or agent commits a Class 4 misdemeanor
  

• It prevents hunters from being charged with trespassing in situations they cannot reasonably control

Intentional Trespass

Virginia Code §18.2-132.1 (“Intentional Trespass”) makes it a crime to intentionally release hunting dogs onto someone else’s properly posted land to hunt without the landowner’s permission.

• A first offense is a Class 3 misdemeanor.

• A second or later offense within three years is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and the court must revoke the person’s hunting or trapping license for one year.

• Simply finding hunting dogs on another person’s land is not enough by itself to prove the person intentionally released them there.

These laws already provide punitive consequences for intentional trespass and license revocation for habitual offenders