There were some judges in Alabama who once thought hunting was a privilege like some individuals on this forum. That was back in 1974.
Notice that they tried to educate us that hunting was only a privilege in their opinion involving a rule of the DCNR:
Title 8, Section 59, Code of Alabama 1940 is a positive declaration that, until reduced to possession, title to all game and non-game fish is vested in the State. The right of any individual, partnership or corporation to reduce fish from their natural free state to one of private ownership is a privilege, as opposed to a vested right, granted by the State and subject to conditions, regulations and limitations placed on that privilege by the Legislature. The title to, and property in, the fish within the waters of the State are vested in the State of Alabama and held in trust for the people of the State. The State owns the fish, not in a private or proprietary capacity, but in its sovereign capacity and as a trustee for the people of the State. People v. Monterrey Fish Products Co., 195 Cal. 548, 234 P. 398.
The people of Alabama later decided to give those judges their own education. We agreed to amend our
Constitution of Alabama 1901 to expressly recognize and protect hunting and fishing as rights endowed by our Creator. (see Section 1 and Amendment 597, Sportsperson's Bill of Rights) I remember voting for that amendment.
Our government holds wildlife and fish in a trust that we created through our legislature. That trust is responsible for the protection, conservation and increase of
our wildlife. We still own the wildlife of this state and have the God-given right to hunt that wildlife and to reduce a reasonable amount of it to our own personal possession. We agreed with each other to limit our own personal use for the purpose of conservation and perpetuation of the various species to keep from depeleting the populations to levels where we would no longer have the species.
When you place your money in a trust with the bank, the bank holds your money in trust for you. The bank may hold title to your money to use for purposes in the best interest of the trust, but you still own your money. The trust may have conditions that were agreed to by both sides, but the bank cannot dictate added conditions you have not agreed to in the creation of that trust. The same principle applies to the trust we created for the conservation of our wildlife.
