Rule 1501:31-7-02 | Migratory game birds; general provisions.
(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.
Last updated July 2, 2024 at 9:40 AM
Supplemental Information
Amplifies: 1531.02, 1531.06, 1531.08, 1531.10, 1533.02, 1533.112, 1533.16
Five Year Review Date: 6/30/2029
Prior Effective Dates: 8/31/1973, 9/22/1977, 9/6/1978, 6/1/1979, 7/11/1980, 6/1/1982, 4/20/1987, 7/31/1990, 6/7/1993, 5/16/1994, 8/15/1995, 8/10/1997, 6/11/2007, 7/1/2010, 7/1/2020, 7/1/2022, 6/30/2023, 2/1/2024