Section 30-02-02-10 - Restrictions for taking of raptors from the wild1. Any licensee interested in obtaining a raptor for falconry purposes must submit a written request to the department indicating the species intended to be taken. The licensee must obtain a permit from the department prior to actual taking, regardless of potential means or source of acquisition. The licensee shall have the permit in the licensee's immediate possession while conducting trapping activities. The time period for the year of take is May fifteenth to January thirty-first.a. For a nestling, the request must be submitted to the department before May first of the year of take.b. For passage birds, the request must be submitted to the department after August first of the year of take.c. An apprentice may capture one wild raptor per calendar year.d. Master or general class licensees may capture up to two wild raptors per calendar year.e. Take will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis. If requests for a limited number of species arrive simultaneously, a random draw will occur.2. Only the following species may be permitted to be taken from the wild: sharp-shinned hawk (accipiter striatus), Cooper's hawk (accipiter cooperii), northern goshawk (accipiter gentilis), red-tailed hawk (buteo jamaicensis), American kestrel (falco sparverius), merlin (falco columbarius), gyrfalcon (falco rusticolus), or prairie falcon (falco mexicanus).3. Raptors may be taken from the wild only during the following time periods, except that a marked raptor may be retrapped at any time:a. May fifteenth through July fifteenth; andb. September first through January thirty-first.4. Any raptor trapped over one year of age must be released, except American kestrels may be taken when over one year of age and only by apprentice licensees.5. Eyas raptors may only be taken by resident general or master class licensees. At least one young must be left in the nest or aerie from which a nestling is taken.6. Any bird captured unintentionally must be released immediately.7. Any bird injured by a licensee's trapping efforts must be reported to the department staff. The bird will not count against the licensee's allowed take or possession limit but will be deducted from the state's total take for the year.8. Wild raptors may never be placed on a raptor propagation permit.9. Wild raptors may be transferred to a nonresident licensee only after the bird has been used in falconry for at least two years.10. Licensees, prior to trapping a wild raptor on public land, must contact the managing agency for special use permit requirements.11. A raptor may not be taken at any time or in any manner that violates any law of the state, tribe, or territory on whose land the licensee is trapping.12. If a licensee gifts a bird taken from the wild to another licensee in the same year it is captured, the bird will count as one of the raptors allowed to be taken from the wild that year by the person who captured it. It will not count as a capture by the recipient, though it will always be considered a wild bird.13. Raptors removed from the wild for falconry are always considered "wild" raptors, no matter how long such a bird is held in captivity or whether it is transferred to another licensee or license type.14. Licensees may not acquire raptors from wildlife rehabilitators for use in falconry. If assisting a permitted migratory bird rehabilitator to condition raptors in preparation for their release to the wild, the licensee must meet the department's wildlife rehabilitation rules and facilities standards.15. A licensee that captures a bird marked for scientific purposes (e.g., marked with a federal bird banding laboratory aluminum band, has any other band, research marking, or has a transmitter attached) must release the bird immediately. Licensees must report the band number and all other relevant information to the federal bird banding laboratory at 1-800-327-2263 and may try to contact the researcher to inform the researcher of the location of the bird.16. Nonresident falconers may take only passage raptors from the wild and only with written authorization from the department director, and only if in possession of a current North Dakota nonresident hunting license for small game.a. The nonresident take of wild raptors shall be allowed only in even-numbered calendar years and the total take shall be a single raptor.b. A request by a nonresident to take a wild raptor will not be accepted by the department until after September first of the same calendar year in which a raptor is to be taken.c. Nonresident licensees requesting to take a raptor from the wild must have a valid falconry license from a state that allows nonresident take of wild raptors for falconry purposes. A copy of the licensee's state regulations pertaining to allowance of nonresident take of wild raptors must accompany any request to take a raptor from the wild, along with photocopy proof of the falconry license.d. The fee for a nonresident permit to take a wild raptor is five hundred dollars.N.D. Admin Code 30-02-02-10
Amended effective April 1, 1986; January 1, 2000; January 1, 2013.General Authority: NDCC 20.1-14-03
Law Implemented: NDCC 20.1-14-03; 50 CFR 21.29