16 U.S.C. § 704: Determination as to when and how migratory birds may be taken, killed, or possessed

Subject to the provisions and in order to carry out the purposes of the conventions, referred to in section 703 of this title , the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed, from time to time, having due regard to the zones of temperature and to the distribution, abundance, economic value, breeding habits, and times and lines of migratory flight of such birds, to determine when, to what extent, if at all, and by what means, it is compatible with the terms of the conventions to allow hunting, taking, capture, killing, possession, sale, purchase, shipment, transportation, carriage, or export of any such bird, or any part, nest, or egg thereof, and to adopt suitable regulations permitting and governing the same, in accordance with such determinations, which regulations shall become effective when approved by the President. take any migratory game bird by the aid of baiting, or on or over any baited area, if the person knows or reasonably should know that the area is a baited area; or 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. subject to subparagraph (B), adopt the recommendation of each respective flyway council (as defined in section 20.152 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations) for the Federal framework if the Secretary determines that the recommendation is consistent with science-based and sustainable harvest management; and allow the States to establish the closing date for the hunting season in accordance with the Federal framework. The framework closing date promulgated by the Secretary under subparagraph (A) shall not be later than January 31 of each year. Notwithstanding the Federal framework closing date under paragraph (1) and subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), the Secretary shall allow States to select 2 days for youths and 2 days for veterans (as defined in section 101 of title 38 ) and members of the Armed Forces on active duty, including members of the National Guard and Reserves on active duty (other than for training), to hunt eligible ducks, geese, swans, mergansers, coots, moorhens, and gallinules, if the Secretary determines that the addition of those days is consistent with science-based and sustainable harvest management. Such days shall be treated as separate from, and in addition to, the annual Federal framework hunting season lengths. may only include the hunting of duck, geese, swan, merganser, coot, moorhen, and gallinule species that are eligible for hunting under the applicable annual Federal framework; are not more than 14 days before or after the Federal framework hunting season for ducks, mergansers, and coots; and are otherwise consistent with the Federal framework; and the total number of days in a hunting season for any migratory bird species, including any days selected under subparagraph (A), is not more than 107 days. A State may combine the 2 days allowed for youths with the 2 days allowed for veterans and members of the Armed Forces on active duty under subparagraph (A), but in no circumstance may a State have more than a total of 4 additional days added to its regular hunting season for any purpose. The Secretary shall promulgate regulations in accordance with this subsection for the Federal framework for migratory bird hunting for the 2019–2020 hunting season and each hunting season thereafter. The term ‘normal agricultural operation’ has the meaning given the term in section 20.11 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act [ Dec. 20, 2018 ]). in which the natural disaster occurred; or immediately preceding the crop year in which the natural disaster occurred. The term ‘rice ratooning’ means the agricultural practice of harvesting rice by cutting the majority of the aboveground portion of the rice plant but leaving the roots and growing shoot apices intact to allow the plant to recover and produce a second crop yield. Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall revise part 20 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, to clarify that rice ratooning and post-disaster flooding, when carried out as part of a normal agricultural operation, do not constitute baiting. the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to the Secretary of the Interior a report that describes any changes to normal agricultural operations across the range of crops grown by agricultural producers in each region of the United States in which the official recommendations described in section 20.11(h) of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act), are provided to agricultural producers; and the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and after seeking input from the heads of State departments of fish and wildlife or the Regional Migratory Bird Flyway Councils of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, shall publicly post a report on the impact that rice ratooning and post-disaster flooding have on the behavior of migratory game birds that are hunted in the area in which rice ratooning and post-disaster flooding, respectively, have occurred.”