I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 741
To clarify hunting prohibitions and provide for wildlife habitat under the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 12, 1997
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself, Mr. TANNER, and Mr. STEARNS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Re-
sources
A BILL
To clarify hunting prohibitions and provide for wildlife
habitat under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Migratory Bird Treaty
Reform Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Migratory Bird Treaty Act was enacted
in 1918 to implement the 1916 Convention for the
Protection of Migratory Birds between the United
States and Great Britain (for Canada). The Act was
later amended to reflect similar agreements with
Mexico, Japan, and the former Soviet Union.
(2) Pursuant to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,
as amended, the Secretary of the Interior is author-
ized to promulgate regulations specifying when, how,
and whether migratory birds may be hunted.
(3) Contained within these regulations are pro-
hibitions on certain methods of hunting migratory
birds to better manage and conserve this resource.
These prohibitions, many of which were rec-
ommended by sportsmen, have been in place for over
60 years and have received broad acceptance among
the hunting community with one principal exception
relating to the application and interpretation of the
prohibitions on the hunting of migratory birds by
the aid of baiting, or on or over any baited area.
(4) The prohibitions regarding the hunting of
migratory birds by the aid of bait, or on or over
bait, have been fraught with interpretive difficulties
on the part of law enforcement, the hunting commu-
nity, and courts of law. Hunters who desire to com-
ply with applicable regulations have been subject to
citation for violations of the regulations due to the
lack of clarity, inconsistent interpretations, and en-
forcement. The baiting regulations have been the
subject of multiple congressional hearings and a law
enforcement advisory commission.
(5) Restrictions on the hunting of migratory
birds by the aid of baiting, or on or over any baited
area, must be clarified in a manner that recognizes
the national and international importance of protect-
ing the migratory bird resource while ensuring con-
sistency and appropriate enforcement including the
principles of ‘‘fair chase’’. No baiting restrictions
should act as a detriment to the benefits of habitat
management including wildlife food crops.
SEC. 3. CLARIFYING HUNTING PROHIBITIONS.
Section 3 of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16
U.S.C. 704) is amended as follows:
(1) By inserting ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘SEC. 3.’’.
(2) By adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b) No person shall take migratory game birds—
‘‘(1) with a trap, snare, net, rifle, pistol, swivel
gun, shotgun larger than 10 gauge, punt gun, bat-
tery gun, machine gun, fish hook, poison, drug, ex-
plosive, or stupefying substance;
‘‘(2) with a shotgun of any description capable
of holding more than 3 shells, unless it is plugged
with a one-piece filler, incapable of removal without
disassembling the gun, so that its total capacity does
not exceed 3 shells;
‘‘(3) from or by means, aid, or use of a sinkbox
or any other type of low floating device, having a de-
pression affording a hunter a means of concealment
beneath the surface of the water;
‘‘(4) from or by means, aid or use of any motor
vehicle, motor-driven land conveyance, or aircraft of
any kind, except that paraplegics and persons miss-
ing 1 or both legs may take from any stationary
motor vehicle or stationary motor-driven land con-
veyance;
‘‘(5)(A) except as provided in subparagraph
(B), from or by means of any motorboat or other
craft having a motor attached, or any sailboat, un-
less the motor has been completely shut off and/or
the sails furled, and its progress therefrom has
ceased; and
‘‘(B) a craft under power may be used to re-
trieve dead or crippled birds (except that crippled
birds may not be shot from such craft under power
except in the seaduck area, as provided by regula-
tions issued by the Secretary of the Interior);
‘‘(6) 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 any migratory bird;
‘‘(7) by the use or aid of live birds as decoys,
including on any area where tame or captive live
ducks or geese are present, unless such birds are
and have been for a period of 10 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;
‘‘(8) by the use or aid of recorded or electrically
amplified bird calls or sounds, or recorded or elec-
trically amplified imitations of bird calls or sounds;
and
‘‘(9) while possessing shot (either in shotshells
or loose shot for muzzle-loading) other than steel
shot, bismuth-tin shot, or such other shot as may be
approved as nontoxic by the Secretary of the Inte-
rior; this paragraph applies only to the taking of
Anatidae (ducks, geese, including brant, and swans),
coots (Fulica americana) and any species that make
up aggregate bag limits during concurrent seasons
‘‘(A) The term ‘baiting’ means the intentional
placing, exposing, depositing, distributing, or scat-
tering of shelled, shucked, or unshucked corn, wheat
or other grain, salt, or other feed that constitutes
for such birds an attraction, on or over any areas
where hunters are attempting to take migratory
game birds.
‘‘(B) The term ‘baited area’ means any area
where shelled, shucked, or unshucked corn, wheat or
other grain, salt, or other feed whatsoever capable of
attracting migratory game birds is intentionally
placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered;
such an area shall remain a baited area for 10 days
following complete removal of all such corn, wheat or
other grain, salt, or other feed.
‘‘(C)(i) The term ‘normal agricultural oper-
ations’ includes the growing of crops where harvest-
ing does not take place, planting for erosion control,
top sowing of crops, and distribution or scattering of
grains if such operations are normal in a region, ex-
cept that the term shall not include the distributing
or scattering of grain or other feed once it has been
removed from or stored on a field where grown un-
less it is for a normal agricultural operation for feed
for farm animals in the region.
‘‘(ii) Any other activity may be considered to be
a normal agricultural operation only if the Secretary
of the Interior, after meaningful consultation with
the director of appropriate cooperative State re-
search, education, and extension services, State fish
and wildlife agencies, and State extension agricul-
tural offices—
‘‘(I) determines that the activity is normal
within the specific regional area in which it oc-
curs; and
‘‘(II) publishes the determination annually
in the Federal Register in conjunction with
other migratory bird hunting regulations, after
public review and comment.
‘‘(D) The terms ‘attraction’ and ‘attracting’
mean that the bait was a major contributing factor
in luring the migratory birds to within a reasonable
shotgun range given other such factors as the geo-
graphic location of the hunting venue, the physical
characteristics of the hunting area, and the hunting
methods used by the hunters.’’.
SEC. 4. ACQUISITION OF MIGRATORY BIRD REFUGES.
Section 6 of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16
U.S.C. 707) is amended as follows:
(1) By redesignating subsection ‘‘(c)’’ as sub-
section ‘‘(d)’’.
(2) By inserting after subsection (b), the follow-
ing:
‘‘(c) All fines and penalties assessed and recovered
under this provision shall be deposited into the migratory
bird conservation fund established under section 4 of the
Act of March 16, 1934 (16 U.S.C. 718d).’’.
SEC. 5. PENALTIES.
Section 6(c) of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16
U.S.C. 707(c)) is amended as follows:
(1) By striking ‘‘All guns,’’ and inserting ‘‘(1)
Except as provided in paragraph (2), all guns’’.
(2) By adding the following at the end:
‘‘(2) In lieu of seizing any personal property, (except
for machine guns and shotguns restricted under section
3(b)2) the Secretary of the Interior shall permit the owner
or operator of the personal property to post bond or other
surety pending the disposition of any proceeding under
this Act.’’.
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