Wednesday, August 10, 2011

it is illigal to hunt the circuit

Illegal To Hunt With Circuit Judge

In the April 2011 issue of GUNS Magazine, author Holt Bodinson talks about his ability to shoot a limit of doves with the Rossi Circuit Judge. The “Circuit Judge” is a .45 Long Colt/.410 shotshell revolver-type rifle. If you look at the pictures in the article, it shows the 5-shot cylinder fitted with a removable plastic “plug” so the hunter can “comply with the game laws.”

We have reviewed the article with folks in the Migratory Bird Management program. It appears that the plug can be removed without disassembling the gun. Disassembling is a key component to our regulations in 20.21(b) on what hunting methods are illegal. Since you can remove the plug without disassembling the firearm, the Migratory Bird Management Office has advised us that this gun should be deemed as illegal to use to take migratory birds.

Our regulations state that no persons shall take migratory game birds:

20.21(b) With a shotgun of any description capable of holding more than three shells, unless it is plugged with a 1-piece filler, incapable of removal without disassembling the gun, so its total capacity does not exceed three shells.

However, this restriction does not apply during:

(1) A light-goose-only season (greater and lesser snow geese and Ross’ geese) when all other waterfowl and crane hunting seasons, excluding falconry, are closed.

(2) A Canada goose only season when all other waterfowl and crane hunting seasons, excluding falconry, are closed in the Atlantic, Central and Mississippi Flyway portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, as set forth below:

(i) During the period of September 1 to September 15, when approved in the annual regulatory schedule in subpart K of this part; and (ii) During the period of September 16 to September 30, when approved in the annual regulatory schedule in subpart K of this part.

No comments:

Post a Comment