Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 13 - DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Subtitle 5 - FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE
Part 2 - WILDLIFE
Chapter 122 - RULES REGULATING GAME BIRD HUNTING, FIELD TRIALS, AND COMMERCIAL SHOOTING PRESERVES
Subchapter 2 - PUBLIC HUNTING AREAS
Section 13-122-12 - Conditions and restrictions

Universal Citation: HI Admin Rules 13-122-12

Current through January, 2025

(a) With respect to hunting licenses, permits, and check stations, the following conditions and restrictions shall apply:

(1) Hunters shall carry their valid hunting license, as well as required permits or tags on their person at all times while in the hunting area;

(2) Hunting permits, stamps, and tags are not transferable and are valid only for the dates indicated and for the person to whom issued;

(3) Where there are established check stations, each hunter and hunter assistant shall check in before hunting and check out after hunting;

(4) By signing a hunting license, stamp, tag, or permit, the person agrees to comply with all the terms and conditions of the applicable license, stamp, tag, or permit, as well as applicable laws and regulations; and consents to be subject to inspection for appropriate license, permit, stamp and/or tag, hunting equipment, and type and amount of game, by a duly authorized representative of the department; and

(5) A person shall be issued a hunter education certificate after completion of the hunter education program and reaching at least 10 years of age.

(b) With respect to firearms and archery equipment, the following conditions and restrictions shall apply:

(1) No person shall possess or discharge any firearm or archery equipment within any public hunting area without having a valid Hawaii state hunting license in their possession;

(2) Legal game bird means of take include shotguns, archery equipment, and crossbows with a disabled hunting permit;

(3) No person shall possess any arrows equipped with explosive heads or heads containing drugs or poison;

(4) While hunting, each hunter shall be limited to carrying on their person only one legal firearm or archery device that is consistent with the hunt. However, a hunter may, when assisting another hunter, carry that hunter's unloaded firearm or archery device. In addition, each hunter is required to make their firearm or archery equipment, cartridges or muzzleloader firing components, game, and license available for inspection, upon the request of a duly authorized representative of the department. Refusal to permit said inspection shall be considered a game law violation and may result in the revocation of hunting privileges by the department, after notice and hearing;

(5) A firearm that utilizes cartridges shall be considered unloaded if no ammunition is in the chamber or an attached magazine. A muzzle loading firearm is considered unloaded if the ignition component (primer, percussion cap, or priming powder) is removed from the ignition system and for flintlocks the powder is removed from the pan, the frizzen is up and the cock (hammer) is down. "Cartridge firing" and "muzzleloading" firearms must be unloaded as described above to enter any safety zone or to transport the firearm in a vehicle within the hunting area. However, when crossing or entering a public highway or exiting a public hunting area, all cartridges and muzzleloader firing components must be removed from the firearm, including powder and projectile(s);

(6) A bow shall be considered loaded if an arrow is nocked on the bowstring; and

(7) Only the firearms or archery equipment authorized for the particular hunt are to be in the hunter's possession while in the hunting area.

(c) With respect to motorized vehicles, the following conditions and restrictions shall apply:

(1) When required, only four-wheel drive vehicles will be permitted in public hunting areas;

(2) No person shall use any aircraft to herd or drive game birds, or land any aircraft for the purpose of hunting, or discharge any means of take from any aircraft into a public hunting area except as provided for by the department;

(3) No person shall operate any motorized vehicle (including, but not limited to motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles) in any hunting area except on roads which have been constructed, maintained, and opened for vehicular use. However, vehicles may be parked within twenty feet of maintained roads; and

(4) No person shall have or carry any loaded firearm or loaded archery equipment on horseback, in any vehicle, boat, or any other carrier or discharge any firearm or archery device from any carrier, except for disabled hunters with a valid permit to do so. It is also illegal for any hunter to discharge any firearm or archery device into a public hunting area from outside the hunting area.

(d) With respect to safety zones and closed areas, no person shall hunt, possess a loaded firearm or archery device or discharge any firearm or archery equipment into, within or across a designated safety zone or closed area.

(e) With respect to the disposition of game, the following conditions and restrictions shall apply:

(1) No person shall sell or attempt to sell any game bird or the carcass thereof, taken within any public hunting area;

(2) No person shall remove any live game bird from any public hunting area at any time, except with a collection permit; and

(3) The fully feathered head of any game bird, taken from any public hunting area, shall remain attached to the bird as evidence of sex and species while in the hunting area.

(f) The following general restrictions shall also apply:

(1) No person shall use a dog, electronic call, or live decoys during the Spring Turkey Hunt;

(2) With the exception of Spring Turkey Hunting or designated archery areas, no person shall hunt, serve as a guide, accompany, or assist a hunter in any hunting area, where firearms are permitted, without wearing an exterior garment (shirt, vest, jacket, or coat) made of commercially manufactured, blaze-orange material or solid blaze-orange mesh material with a maximum mesh size of one-eighth inch. (All types of camouflage orange are prohibited for these garments). When carrying game or wearing a back pack, the blaze orange on the upper torso must be visible from both front and back;

(3) Persons found to be in violation of any provision of this chapter may have their hunting privileges revoked by the department, after notice and hearing. The department may reinstate revoked hunting privileges upon subsequent completion of a state-approved hunter education course. Any equipment, article, instrument, aircraft, vehicle, vessel, business record, or natural resource used or taken in violation of the provisions of this chapter may be seized and subject to forfeiture as provided by section 199-7 and chapter 712A, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(4) No person shall be in possession of an open or unsealed vessel or container of any intoxicating substance or use any such substance, while they are within a public hunting area; and

(5) Unless prohibited, non-hunters and hunter assistants may accompany hunters in the field. Non-hunters and hunter assistants must also wear the appropriate blaze-orange outer garment and are prohibited from carrying any loaded firearm, archery equipment, or live ammunition.

(g) The following conditions and restrictions shall apply to the use of hunting dogs:

(1) Dogs shall be under control at all times and physically restrained except when hunting and actively in pursuit of game; and

(2) The dog's owner or handler shall at all times accompany any hunting dog and the dog's owner shall be held strictly liable for all actions, injuries, or damages caused by the owner's dog.

(3) The dog shall be under voice control at all times and physically restrained in all safety zones and closed areas.

(4) Dog identification must be on the dog at all times, including while in a public hunting area and actively in pursuit of game.

(h) The following additional condition shall apply to game bird hunting on the island of Hawaii:

(1) The use of dogs shall be allowed for game bird hunting in the Kipuka Ainahou Nene Wildlife Sanctuary, except during the spring turkey season.

(i) The following additional condition and restriction shall apply to game bird hunting on the island of Maui:

(1) Hunters, staying at the Polipoli State Park on hunting days, shall indicate their overnight stay on the check-in sheet at the hunter checking station; and

(2) Only four-wheel drive vehicles will be permitted on the Kahakuloa Game Management Area access road.

(j) The following additional conditions and restrictions shall apply to game bird hunting on the island of Lanai:

(1) Hunter assistants are required to have a valid hunting license and a special hunter assistant certificate in their possession;

(2) Each hunter and hunter assistant shall check in before hunting and check out after hunting.

(k) The following additional conditions and restrictions shall apply to game bird hunting on the island of Kauai:

(1) No person, except authorized employees of the department or its lessees, shall use a motor vehicle in the Mokihana Ridge area; and

(2) No person shall enter the Kekaha Game Management Area, except that hunters with valid hunting licenses may enter during legal hunting days and authorized employees of the department and its lessees or permittees, may enter at any time.

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