Texas Administrative Code › Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION › Part 2 - TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT › Chapter 65 - WILDLIFE › Subchapter N - MIGRATORY GAME BIRD PROCLAMATION › Section 65.310 - Means and Methods

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
Migratory birds may be taken by any method except those
					 prohibited in this section. Except as provided in this subchapter, no person
					 shall take migratory game birds:
(1)
				  with a trap, snare, net, any type of rifle or pistol (including airguns),
				  swivel gun, shotgun larger than 10 gauge, punt gun, battery gun, machinegun,
				  fish hook, poison, drug, explosive, or stupefying substance;
(2) with a shotgun of any description capable
				  of holding more than three shells, unless it is plugged with a one-piece
				  filler, incapable of removal without disassembling the gun, so its total
				  capacity does not exceed three shells;
(3) from or by means, aid, or use of a
				  sinkbox or any other type of low-floating device, having a depression affording
				  the 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 missing one or both legs may take from any
				  stationary motor vehicle or stationary motor-driven land conveyance;
(5) from or by means of 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 its progress therefrom has
				  ceased. A craft under power may be used to retrieve dead or crippled birds;
				  however, crippled birds may not be shot from such craft under power;
(6) by the use or aid of live birds as
				  decoys;
(7) 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 electrically
				  amplified imitations of bird calls or sounds;
(9) 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;
(10) by the aid of baiting,
				  or on or over any baited area, where a person knows or reasonably should know
				  that the area is or has been baited. No person may place or direct the
				  placement of bait on or adjacent to an area for the purpose of causing,
				  inducing, or allowing any person to take or attempt to take any migratory game
				  bird by the aid of baiting on or over the baited area. However, provided a land
				  or area is not otherwise baited, nothing in this paragraph prohibits:
(A) the taking of any migratory game bird,
				  including waterfowl, coots, and cranes on or over:
(i) standing crops or flooded standing crops
				  (including aquatics);
(ii)
				  standing, flooded, or manipulated natural vegetation;
(iii) flooded harvested croplands;
				  or
(iv) lands or areas where seeds
				  or grains have been scattered solely as the result of a normal agricultural
				  planting, harvesting, post-harvest manipulation or normal soil stabilization
				  practice;
(v) from a blind or other
				  place of concealment camouflaged with natural vegetation;
(vi) from a blind or other place of
				  concealment camouflaged with vegetation from agricultural crops, as long as
				  such camouflaging does not result in the exposing, depositing, distributing or
				  scattering of grain or other feed; or
(vii) on or over standing or flooded standing
				  agricultural crops where grain is inadvertently scattered solely as a result of
				  a hunter entering or exiting a hunting area, placing decoys, or retrieving
				  downed birds; or