(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, 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.

(H) A person may hunt game birds, other than wild turkeys, in a licensed commercial bird shooting preserve without obtaining a hunting license otherwise required by section 1533.10 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.191, HB 420, §1, eff. 3/27/2013.

Effective Date: 08-14-2002 .