Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
Methods.
It shall be unlawful to hunt or take migratory game
birds:
(1) With a trap, snare, net,
crossbow and arrow, rifle, pistol, swivel gun, punt gun, machine gun, pumpkin
ball, or rifled slug, fish hook, poison, drug, explosive, or stupefying
substance.
(2) With a shotgun of
any description originally capable of holding more than three shells, unless
the magazine has been cut off, altered, or plugged with a one piece filler
incapable of removal without disassembling the gun, so as to reduce the
capacity of the said gun to not more than three shells in the magazine and
chamber combined.
(3) From or by
means, aid, or use of a sinkbox, motor-driven conveyance, motor vehicle, or
aircraft of any kind.
(4) From any
motorboat, or other craft having a motor attached, or any sailboat, unless the
motor has been completely shut off and/or the sails furled, and the craft has
come to rest. A craft under power may be used to retrieve dead or crippled
birds provided that crippled birds are not shot from such craft when under
power.
(5) By the use or aid of
livestock as a blind or means of concealment.
(6) By the use or aid of live birds as
decoys. No person shall take migratory waterfowl on an area where tame or
captive live ducks or geese are present unless such birds are and have been for
a period of ten consecutive days prior to such taking, confined within an
enclosure which substantially reduces the audibility of their calls and totally
conceals such birds from the sight of wild migratory waterfowl.
(7) While in possession of or by the use or
aid of recorded bird calls or sounds, or recorded or electrically amplified
imitations of bird calls or sounds.
(8) By means or aid of any motor-driven land,
water or air conveyance or any sailboat used for the purpose of or resulting in
the concentrating, driving, rallying, or stirring up of waterfowl or
coots.
(9) By the aid of baiting or
on or over any baited area.
(10)
While in possession of, or with any shot other than non-toxic shot, or with any
shells containing shot other than non-toxic shot, except:
(a) Mourning doves;
(b) Eurasian collared-doves;
(c) Woodcock.
(B) Blinds on public hunting areas.
It shall be unlawful to:
(1) Construct or place a permanent blind on a
wildlife area or any other state or federal property under agreement with the
division of wildlife unless approved by the chief of the division of
wildlife;
(2) Fail to immediately
remove any portable blind placed or constructed on a public hunting area upon
completion of the day's hunt.
(C) Decoys on wildlife areas or in waters of
the state.
It shall be unlawful to:
(1) Place or set any decoys on a wildlife
area or in waters of the state which are left unattended before or after legal
shooting hours;
(2) Fail to
immediately remove decoys placed or set on a wildlife area or in waters of the
state upon completion of the day's hunt.
(D) Possession and wanton waste.
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
(1) Possess a wounded migratory game bird
that is not immediately killed and made part of a daily bag limit;
(2) Kill or cripple any migratory game bird
without making a reasonable effort to retrieve the bird and retain it in their
actual custody at the place where taken or between that place and either:
(a) Their automobile or principal means of
land transportation, or
(b) Their
personal abode or temporary or transient place of lodging, or
(c) A migratory bird preservation facility,
or
(d) A post office, or
(e) A common carrier facility.
(3) To possess any dressed
migratory game bird, except mourning doves and Eurasian collared-doves, which
does not have the head or one fully feathered wing attached at any place other
than at the personal abode of the possessor or a migratory bird preservation
facility;
(4) Possess any
freshly-killed migratory game bird during the closed season.
(E) Plumage and skins.
It shall be unlawful for any person to buy, sell, or barter any
feathers or others parts of any migratory game bird, except as provided for
under 1533.71 of the revised code.
(1)
Any person, without a permit, may possess and transport the plumage and skins
of lawfully taken migratory game birds for their own use.
(2) Any person, without a permit, may
possess, dispose of, and transport for the making of fishing flies, bed pillows
and mattresses, and for similar commercial uses, but not for millinery or
ornamental use, feathers of wild ducks and wild geese lawfully
killed.
(F) Nests and
eggs.
It shall be unlawful for any person to disturb, destroy, or
possess the nest or eggs of a migratory game bird unless that person has been
issued a permit to do so by the chief of the division of wildlife or the
chief's designee.
(G)
Falconry.
It shall be unlawful:
(1) For any person to hunt or take a
migratory game bird with a raptor, except a licensed falconer during the open
season;
(2) For a licensed falconer
to exceed the daily bag limit of an aggregate of three migratory game birds of
any species while hunting with a raptor.
(H) Licensing.
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
(1) Hunt any migratory game bird or migratory
waterfowl without first having been harvest information program (HIP) certified
for Ohio.
(2) Hunt ducks, geese or
brant on the lands of another without first obtaining an annual wetland habitat
stamp endorsement. This paragraph does not apply to persons under eighteen
years of age nor to persons exempted from procuring a hunting license under
section 1533.10 or division (A) of
section 1533.12 of the Revised
Code.
(3) Hunt ducks, geese and
brant without possessing a current valid federal migratory bird stamp that is
validated by the person's signature written on the stamp in ink or
a federal electronic duck stamp or E-stamp. This
paragraph does not apply to persons under sixteen years of age.
(4) Fail to carry, and exhibit to any
wildlife officer requesting, their HIP certification, wetland habitat stamp
endorsement, and federal migratory bird stamp or receipt for a federal
electronic duck stamp or E-stamp, when such license, stamp or certification is
required by this rule.
(I) Ohio river bordering the state of West
Virginia.
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
(1) Take any migratory game bird contrary to
regulations of the state of West Virginia on or over the main body of the Ohio
river where it forms the border between Ohio and West Virginia, excluding
embayment areas and tributaries;
(2) Possess any migratory game bird that was
taken on or over the main body of the Ohio river where it forms the border
between Ohio and West Virginia contrary to the regulations of the state of West
Virginia, excluding embayment areas and tributaries.
(3) Embayment areas and tributaries are
determined by a straight line between opposite points where the tributary or
embayment connects with the main body of the Ohio river.
(J) Provisions of this rule, rule
1501:31-7-05, and rule
1501:31-7-06 of the
Administrative Code do not apply to employees of the division of wildlife or
persons authorized by the chief of the division of wildlife while conducting
activities as part of a management program for migratory game birds that has
been approved by the chief of the division of wildlife.
(K) All definitions set forth in section
1531.01 of the Revised Code and
rule 1501:31-1-02 of the
Administrative Code apply to this rule.
