Behavior and Actions of Hunters

(a) The method of taking wild birds and wild quadrupeds by hunting shall be restricted to firearms, high velocity air guns using a single ball or pellet type projectile, and compound, long, or recurved bow. In designated areas, by special permit, the commissioner may allow the use of modified versions of air guns or archery implements to achieve wildlife management objectives. No arrow or projectile which is coated with or contains any drugs, poison or known tranquilizing substance may be used or possessed while engaged in archery hunting. (b) Use of crossbows is prohibited, except during the January bow and arrow season on private land in deer management zones described pursuant to section 26-86a-6(b) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies or except that a person who has a permanent physical disability to the degree that he or she cannot operate a long, recurve or compound bow may obtain a permit to take deer or turkey with a crossbow. A person applying for a crossbow permit under the disability provision of this section shall show proof that he or she has successfully completed the Connecticut conservation education/firearms safety advanced bowhunter education course or its equivalent and present a certificate from a licensed physician that he or she is so disabled. Upon satisfactory proof of disability, the commissioner may issue such a permit under this section which shall be carried at all times while hunting. Such permit shall not be a replacement for and is valid only with any license or permit required for archery hunting under the provisions of chapter 490 of the Connecticut General Statutes or regulations promulgated thereunder. Any crossbow and bolt combination to be used for hunting as permitted under this subsection shall meet the following specifications: (1) The draw weight of the crossbow shall be not less than 125 pounds nor more than 200 pounds; (2) The crossbow shall have a permanent fixed rifle type stock, and a functional and/or fully operational mechanical safety device; (3) The bolt (arrow) length shall be not less than eighteen inches, excluding the broadhead; (4) The bolt weight shall be not less than 450 grains, including the broadhead; (5) the broad head shall have two or more blades with a width not less than seven-eighths of an inch at the widest point. In addition, any crossbow in a drawn and cocked position shall be considered a loaded weapon, whether or not a bolt is loaded on the crossbow. (c) There shall be no hunting from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, except that raccoon and opossum hunting is permitted after sunset on state-owned lands which are open to hunting and on privately owned lands where landowners do not object, and provided the open season for hunting migratory game birds shall be governed by the provisions of Section 26-66-4, and provided further that on the third Saturday in October, hunting shall commence at 7:00 a.m. e.d.t. (eastern daylight time) except for waterfowl, turkey and archery deer hunting. (d) There shall be no hunting with firearms, discharging of firearms or carrying of loaded firearms within five hundred feet of any building occupied by people or domestic animals or used for storage of flammable or combustible materials, unless written permission of owner of such buildings is obtained and carried while hunting to allow closer shooting distances, except that the above referred to distance shall be not less than two hundred fifty feet unless written permission of owner of such buildings is obtained and carried while hunting to allow closer shooting distances when waterfowl is hunted in tidal water areas from land shooting positions or from floating blinds anchored adjacent to land or from rock formations. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to landowners, their spouses or lineal descendants when hunting within five hundred feet of buildings owned by them or, when hunting waterfowl, within two hundred fifty feet of such buildings, but shall apply when said persons are hunting within said distances of buildings not so-owned. (e) No hunting weapon shall be discharged toward any person, building or domestic animal when the same is within range or from or across the traveled portion of any public roadway. (f) Domestic animals, agricultural crops, signs, fences, installations and facilities of utility companies and other property shall not be damaged. (g) No dogs shall be trained, run or exercised or be permitted to run at large during the period from June first to the opening of the upland hunting season on any land posted by the Department or its agents against such activity. (h) Hunting, trapping, fishing and/or trespassing is prohibited on any wildlife refuge, closed area or safety zone posted by the Department or its agents against such activity. (i) Hunting is prohibited from the traveled portion of a public road or on any road adjacent to any premises used for the breeding, rearing, or holding in captivity of wildlife, or premises used for zoological purposes, or posted by the Department or its agents against such activity. (j) No animals, except a dog or bird of prey where permitted by law or regulation shall be used in hunting or pursuing any wild bird or wild quadruped. Permits to use of birds of prey may be issued at the discretion of the commissioner to those persons who are engaged in federal, state or university cooperative research programs for the reestablishment of wild populations of raptors. (k) No motor vehicle shall be operated or parked upon any public or private road, parking area, lane, passageway, right-of-way, field or lot posted by the Department or its agents against such activity. (l) Discarding of bottles, glass, cans, paper, junk, litter or trash is prohibited on lands and waters open to hunting or otherwise under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Protection. (m) Vehicles using department-controlled parking areas shall be parked only in authorized places. (n) At department-controlled boat launching sites, no boat shall be moored or anchored in a manner that will obstruct or interfere with the launching of other boats, and no boat shall be left unattended in the water or beached on shore unless such boat has, in an exposed area, the name and address of the owner of such boat painted or branded thereon or in any legible manner attached thereto. Any boat anchored, moored, beached or stored in violation of this subsection, and not removed within forty-eight hours after notice has been served on the owner thereof, shall be subject to impoundment at the expense of the owner, and such owner shall be subject to the penalties provided for violations of the provisions of this subsection. For the purpose of this subsection, notice shall be considered to have been served on the owner when a warning card has been affixed to his boat by a representative of the Department. (o) At department-controlled boat launching areas on inland lakes and ponds, unattended boats left moored, anchored, beached or stored after December fifteenth and before March first shall be subject to impoundment at the expense of the owner and such owner shall be subject to the penalties provided for violations of the provisions of this subsection. (p) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c), no person shall hunt raccoons or opossums from 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise by the use of a rifle, revolver, or pistol that uses centerfire ammunition or rim fire ammunition having a cartridge case longer than that of a .22 caliber long rifle cartridge case and the projectile of which is heavier than 20 grains or by use of shotgun shells larger or heavier than number two shot. No person shall take or attempt to take raccoons or opossums by the use of a light from a motor vehicle. (q) Rifles and handguns using centerfire ammunition or rim fire ammunition having a cartridge case longer than that of a .22 rim fire long rifle cartridge case and the projectile of which is heavier than 20 grains and shotgun ammunition of loads larger or heavier than number two shot shall not be possessed or used for the purposes of hunting as defined in section 26-1 of the Connecticut General Statutes on any private land during the private land shotgun/rifle deer season as specified in section 26-86a-6(d) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies. This provision relating to rifle and shotgun ammunition shall not apply to persons holding valid private land shotgun and/or rifle deer permits. Waterfowlers hunting from a boat, blind or stationary position may only use the ammunition specified in section 26-66-4(t) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies. (r) No person shall hunt, pursue, wound or kill any wildlife from September 1 through the last day of February without wearing above the waist at least a total of four hundred square inches of fluorescent orange clothing visible from all sides. This provision does not apply to: (1) archery deer hunting during the open season for hunting deer with bow and arrow; (2) archery deer hunting during the private land muzzleloader or shotgun/rifle deer seasons while hunting from an elevated tree stand more than 10 feet from the ground in zones designated by the commissioner; (3) archery and firearms turkey hunting; (4) waterfowl hunting from blinds or boats or from a stationary position; (5) crow hunting from a blind or a stationary position; (6) hunting raccoon and opossum from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise; (7) deer hunting by a landowner on his own property; or (8) archery hunting on state lands designated by the commissioner and listed in his applicable annual Connecticut Hunting and Trapping Guide as open to bowhunting only while hunting from an elevated stand more than ten feet from the ground.