To amend sections 1533.05, 1533.07, 1533.121, 1533.73, and 1533.731 and to repeal sections 1531.021 and 1531.022 of the Revised Code to eliminate the special requirements governing Sunday hunting, and to revise the law governing the disposition of deer killed by motor vehicles.

Section 1. That sections 1533.05, 1533.07, 1533.121, 1533.73, and 1533.731 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 1533.05.  (A) As used in this section and section 1533.051 of the Revised Code, "raptor" means a live migratory bird of the family Falconidae or of the family Accipitridae other than a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).

(B) The chief of the division of wildlife may authorize the taking, possession, and transportation of raptors for use in the sport of falconry by rules adopted pursuant to section 1531.08 of the Revised Code. The rules shall be consistent with federal regulations governing raptors and may authorize the taking of game by the use of raptors, including taking with a trained raptor and a dog.

The chief, by rules adopted pursuant to section 1531.08 of the Revised Code, may do all of the following:

(1) Notwithstanding any other rule governing the taking of quail, authorize a person engaged in the sport of falconry to permit the person's raptor to take quail;

(2) Authorize a person engaged in the sport of falconry to permit the person's raptor to take game on Sunday within legal seasons;

(3) Authorize special falconry seasons;

(4)(3) Authorize a person engaged in the sport of falconry to possess and to permit the person's raptor to take European starlings, English sparrows, and common pigeons, other than homing pigeons, at any time.

(C) No person shall take, possess, or transport a raptor for use in the sport of falconry or shall practice falconry without a permit to do so issued by the chief. The duration of the permit shall be consistent with applicable federal requirements. The chief may require a separate permit for the taking of raptors.

The fees for permits shall be set by the chief in amounts sufficient to cover the expenses of the division of wildlife in exercising its authority under this section and may vary according to class and type of permit. Moneys received from the sale of permits shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the fund established in section 1533.15 of the Revised Code.

An applicant for a permit shall present a valid hunting license issued to the applicant for the current license year under section 1533.13 of the Revised Code and shall maintain a valid and current hunting license thereafter while taking or attempting to take game or raptors to be used for falconry purposes. A permit issued under this section is not transferable. No person shall carry a permit issued in the name of another person.

(D) Every person, while engaged in falconry on the lands of another, shall carry the permit issued to the person under this section together with a valid hunting license issued to the person for the current license year under section 1533.13 of the Revised Code and shall exhibit the permit and license to any law enforcement officer requesting to see them.

(E) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, of any rule adopted by the chief governing falconry, or of any federal regulation governing raptors, no person shall take or disturb for the purpose of falconry the nest of a wild raptor or any young raptor in the wild that is not yet capable of flight except in such situations, and under the direct supervision of a wildlife officer, where the nest otherwise would be destroyed or the raptor would not survive.

Sec. 1533.07.  No person shall catch, kill, injure, pursue, or have in the person's possession, either dead or alive, or purchase, expose for sale, transport, or ship to a point within or without the state, or receive or deliver for transportation any bird other than a game bird, or have in the person's possession any part of the plumage, skin, or body of any bird other than a game bird, except as permitted in Chapter 1531. and this chapter of the Revised Code, or disturb or destroy the eggs, nest, or young of such a bird.

This section does not prohibit the lawful taking, killing, pursuing, or possession of any game bird during the open season for the bird. Hawks or owls causing damage to domestic animals or fowl may be killed by the owner of the domestic animal or fowl while the damage is occurring. Bald or golden eagles and ospreys shall not be killed or possessed at any time, except that eagles or ospreys may be possessed for educational purposes by governmental or municipal zoological parks, museums, and scientific or educational institutions. European starlings, English sparrows, and common pigeons, other than homing pigeons, may be killed at any time, except as provided in section 1531.021 of the Revised Code, and their nests or eggs may be destroyed, at any time. Blackbirds may be killed at any time, except as provided in section 1531.021 of the Revised Code, when doing damage to grain or other property or when they become a nuisance.

Each bird or any part thereof taken or had in possession contrary to this section constitutes a separate offense.

Sec. 1533.121.  Except as otherwise provided by division rule, the resident driver of every motor vehicle that has caused the death of a deer by striking the deer on a highway may take possession of the deer, provided that within twenty-four hours thereafter, he the driver reports the accident to a wildlife officer or other law enforcement officer. The officer shall investigate, and, if he the officer finds the death has been caused as alleged, he the officer shall give a certificate for legal ownership of the deer to the person entitling the person to the ownership of the carcass to be possessed and consumed by the driver and the immediate family of the driver of the vehicle or by giving the carcass. If the deer is unclaimed, the certificate for legal ownership may be given to a private or public institution or charity or to another person.

Sec. 1533.73.  (A) Except as otherwise provided in this division or by division rule, licensed commercial bird shooting preserves may be established in any county of the state, but no such preserve shall be less than eighty acres or more than six hundred forty acres in area. A commercial bird shooting preserve shall be in one continuous block of land, except that the block of land may be intersected by highways or roads. No commercial bird shooting preserve shall be located within fifteen hundred feet of any other such preserve.

A licensed commercial bird shooting preserve operated by a municipal corporation on lands located within its corporate limits is not subject to this division.

(B) The boundaries of each licensed commercial bird shooting preserve shall be clearly defined by posting, at intervals of not more than two hundred feet, with signs prescribed by the division of wildlife.

(C) Mallard or black ducks and other game birds upon which there is an open season in this state, which the chief of the division may approve for such use, and that have been legally acquired or propagated under the authority of a propagating license issued under section 1533.71 of the Revised Code and marked and banded as provided in division (D) of this section may be released and harvested by shooting within the confines of any licensed commercial bird shooting preserve between sunrise and sunset, without regard to sex, daily bag limit, or open season, and including Sundays, by licensed hunters authorized by the holder of the commercial bird shooting preserve license to hunt on those lands.

(D) All game birds released on a licensed commercial bird shooting preserve shall first be banded with a leg band that shall bear upon it a symbol identifying the commercial bird shooting preserve. No game birds shall be possessed or transported outside the licensed area unless each such bird is tagged with a suitable tag or seal supplied by the division.

(E) The holder of a commercial bird shooting preserve license shall raise, or purchase, and release on the licensed commercial bird shooting preserve at least five hundred pheasants annually. With the approval of the chief, the license holder may raise, or purchase, and release, in lieu of pheasants, a like number of other game birds. No person shall fail to release the required number of game birds on a licensed commercial bird shooting preserve as required by this division.

(F) The holder of a commercial bird shooting preserve license is not liable for any damage to or destruction of growing crops on land adjacent to the preserve caused by game birds released on the preserve.

(G) No holder of a commercial bird shooting preserve license shall violate this chapter or Chapter 1531. of the Revised Code or any division rule.

Sec. 1533.731.  (A) No wild animal hunting preserve shall be less than eighty acres in area. Each such preserve shall be in one continuous block of land, except that the block of land may be intersected by highways or roads. No wild animal hunting preserve shall be located within three thousand feet of another such preserve or of a commercial bird shooting preserve licensed under section 1533.72 of the Revised Code.

The boundaries of each wild animal hunting preserve shall be clearly defined by posting, at intervals of not more than two hundred feet, with signs prescribed by the division of wildlife. Each wild animal hunting preserve shall be surrounded by a fence at least six feet in height that is constructed of a woven wire mesh, or such other enclosure approved by the chief of the division of wildlife.

(B)(1) Except as provided in divisions (B)(2) and (3) of this section, game and nonnative wildlife that have been approved by the chief for such use, that have been legally acquired or propagated under the authority of a propagating license issued under section 1533.71 of the Revised Code, and that are marked and tagged as provided in division (C) of this section may be released and hunted within the confines of the licensed wild animal hunting preserve between sunrise and sunset, without regard to sex, bag limit, or open season, and including Sundays, by licensed hunters authorized by the holder of the wild animal hunting preserve license to hunt on those lands. The chief shall establish, by rule, the allowable methods of taking game and nonnative wildlife in a wild animal hunting preserve.

(2) No game or nonnative wildlife on the federal endangered species list established in accordance with the "Endangered Species Act of 1973," 87 Stat. 884, 16 U.S.C.A. 1531, as amended, or the state endangered species list established in rules adopted under section 1531.25 of the Revised Code, no bears native to North America, and no large carnivores of the family Felidae shall be released for hunting or hunted in any wild animal hunting preserve in this state.

(3) No person shall release for hunting or hunt within a wild animal hunting preserve any game or nonnative wildlife not listed in the application for a license for that preserve.

(C) All game and nonnative wildlife released on a wild animal hunting preserve shall be identified with a tag that shall bear upon it a symbol identifying the preserve.

(D) For the purposes of division (B) of section 1533.02 of the Revised Code, the owner or operator of a wild animal hunting preserve shall furnish each person who takes any game or nonnative wildlife from the preserve a certificate bearing a description of the animal, the date the animal was taken, and the name of the preserve.

(E) The chief shall adopt rules under section 1531.10 of the Revised Code that provide for the safety of the public and for the protection of the game and nonnative wildlife to be hunted in a wild animal hunting preserve prior to their release in the preserve.

(F) No holder of a wild animal hunting preserve license shall violate Chapter 1531. or this chapter of the Revised Code or any division rule.

(G) This section does not authorize the hunting of game birds in a licensed wild animal hunting preserve.

Section 2. That existing sections 1533.05, 1533.07, 1533.121, 1533.73, and 1533.731 and sections 1531.021 and 1531.022 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.