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Oregon

Hunting

Hunting

Definitions

Abbreviations Key

ALW = Any Legal Weapon

Ave = Avenue

ATV = All terrain vehicle

BLM = Bureau of Land Management

Blvd = Boulevard

Co = County

Cos = Counties

Cr = Creek

Dr = Drive

ELS= Electronic Licensing System

FR = Forest Road

HIP = Harvest Information Program

Hwy = Highway

I = Interstate Highway

ID = Identification

Lk = Lake

Ln = Lane

Mi = Mile

Mt = Mount

Mtn = Mountain

NAR = National Antelope Refuge

NP = National Park

NF = National Forest

NWR = National Wildlife Refuge

ODA = Oregon Dept. of Agriculture

ODF = Oregon Dept. of Forestry

ODFW = Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife

R = Range

RHA = Regulated Hunt Area

Rd = Road

Rvr = River

S = Section

Sq Mi = Square Miles

T = Township

UCAP = Upland Coop. Access Program

USFS = U.S. Forest Service

USFWS = U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

WA = Wildlife Area

WMU = Wildlife Management Unit

“Adult Hunting License” is a resident or non-resident hunting license, resident combination angler’s and hunting license, disabled veteran’s angling and hunting license, pioneer’s angling and hunting license, or senior citizen’s angling and hunting license.

“Agricultural Lands” are lands not less than 10 acres in extent that have been cultivated and planted or irrigated to domestic crops that are currently in use. Isolated home gardens, aban­doned farmsteads, logged lands, range lands and tree farms are not included in this definition.

“Antler Point” is a point at least 1 inch in length measured from tip of point to nearest edge of beam. This definition applies only to the 3-point elk and spike only elk bag limits.

“Antlerless Deer” means doe (female deer) or deer fawn (young of the year).

“Antlerless Elk” means cow (female elk) or elk calf (young of the year).

“Bait” for hunting game mammals means any substance placed to attract an animal by its sense of smell or taste, including, but not limited to, food items or minerals (such as salt). Applying a scent or attractant to one’s body or clothing while worn is not baiting.

“Broadhead” see Unbarbed Broadhead.

“Buck deer” means a male deer with at least one visible antler.

“Buck Pronghorn” means a male pronghorn antelope with visible horns and a dark cheek patch below the ear.

“Bull elk” for the purposes of a bag limit definition, means a male elk with at least one visible antler.

“Carcass” means the skinned or unskinned body, with or without entrails, of a game bird or game mammal.

“Cervid” means any member of the family Cervidae (deer), including gametes or hybrids.

“Closed Season” is any time and place when it is not authorized to take a specific species, sex, or size of wildlife.

“Commercial Cervid Attractant” means a marketed product that contains or is derived from cervid urine and is designed for use in luring, attracting or enticing a cervid.

“Controlled Hunt” is a season where the number or distribution of hunters is limited through a public drawing or other means.

“Doe or fawn pronghorn”, for the purpose of pronghorn bag limits, means a female pronghorn without a dark cheek patch below the ear, or a pronghorn fawn (young of the year) of either sex.

“Drone” means an unmanned flying machine; an unmanned water-based vehicle; or any other vehicle that is able to operate in the air, in or under the water or on land, either remotely or autonomously, and without a human occupant.

“ELS” is an online licensing system available on personal devices, at all locations that sell Oregon’s Hunting and Angling licenses. Licenses and tags are electronic or can be printed on plain paper at time of purchase.

“Furbearers” are beaver, bobcat, fisher, marten, mink, muskrat, otter, rac­coon, red fox and gray fox.

“Game Mammals” are pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, black bear, cougar, deer, elk, moose, Rocky Mtn goat and western gray squirrel.

“General Season” is any season open to the holder of a valid hunting license and appropriate game mammal tag without restriction as to the number of participants.

“Hunt” means to take or attempt to take any wildlife by means involving the use of a weap­on or with the as­sis­tance of any mammal or bird. In­for­ma­tion­al Note: As per ORS 161.405 “Attempt” de­scribed: A person is guilty of an attempt to commit a crime when the person intentionally engages in conduct which con­sti­tutes a substantial step toward com­mis­sion of the crime.

“Immediate Family” means a landowner’s spouse, domestic partner, children, father, moth­er, brother, sister, step-children and grandchildren. For the purpose of Landowner Preference, “immediate family” also includes brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

“Inedible” means unfit for human con­sump­tion.

“Landowner” means a person who holds title in trust or in fee simple to 40 or more contiguous acres of land provided that a recorded deed or contract of ownership shall be on file in the county in which the land is located; and/or a corporation or Limited Liability Company (LLC) holding title in fee simple to 40 or more contiguous acres of land provided that the corporation or LLC shall be registered with the State of Oregon; and/or a partnership holding title in fee simple to 40 or more contiguous acres of land. Persons who hold title as part of a time share are not eligible for landowner preference.

“Muzzleloader” is any single barreled (shotguns may be double barreled) long gun meant to be fired from the shoulder and loaded from the muzzle with open or peep sights. This includes: in-line percussion; sidelock, under-hammer, top-hammer and mule ear percussion; sidelock flintlock and wheelock ignition systems. Matchlock ignition systems are not allowed.

“Nonresident” any person other than a resident.

“One deer” means a buck, doe, or fawn deer.

“One elk” means a bull, cow, or calf elk.

“Possession” means holding any wildlife or parts there­of in custody and any person who counsels, aids, or abets another person holding such wildlife is deemed equally in possession.

“Predatory Animals” (as defined in ORS 610.002) means coyotes, rabbits, rodents and feral swine which are or may be destructive to agricultural crops.

“Protected Mammals and Birds” are any game mammal, game bird, furbearer, Threatened or Endangered species, fisher, ringtail cat, fringed myotis, Townsend’s big-eared bat, pallid bat, silver-haired bat, western small-footed myotis, long-eared myotis, long-legged myotis, yuma myotis, pika, pygmy rabbit, white-tailed jackrabbit, white-tailed antelope squirrel, Washington ground squirrel, northern flying squirrel, chickaree (pine squirrel), golden-mantled ground squirrel, chipmunks, white-footed vole, all marine mammals and all nongame birds except European starling, house sparrow, Eurasian collared dove, and rock pigeon.

“Pursue” means the act of trailing, tracking, or chasing wildlife in an attempt to locate, capture, catch, tree, or kill any game mammal, game bird or furbearer.

”Resident” is any person who has; (a) has physically resided in Oregon for not less than six consecutive months immediately prior to making application for a license, tag, or permit; (b) Members of the uniformed services of the United States who: (i) Are permanently assigned to active duty in this state, and their spouse and dependent children, (ii) Reside in this state while assigned to duty at any base, station, shore establishment or other facility in this state, (iii) Reside in this state while serving as members of the crew of a ship that has an Oregon port or shore establishment as its home port or permanent station. (c) Aliens attending school in Oregon under a foreign student exchange program. (d) except for persons who qualify as a resident in (b) or (c), a “Resident” does not include a person who merely owns real property or pays property taxes in this state, or who claims resident privileges in another state or country for any purpose.

“Sabot” is a carrier, bushing or device in which a projectile of a smaller caliber is centered so as to permit firing the projectile within a larger caliber weapon. Cloth, paper or felt patches used with round balls are not considered a sabot.

“Shotgun” is a smooth bore firearm, designed for firing birdshot and intended to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel length of 18 inches or more and with an overall length of 26 inches or more. Exception: Shotguns equipped with rifled slug barrels are considered shotguns when used for hunting pronghorn antelope, black bear, cougar, deer, or elk when centerfire rifles or shotguns are legal weapons.

“Spike elk” for the purposes of a bag limit definition, means a bull elk with at least one visible unbranched antler (a brow tine is not considered an antler branch under spike only elk regulations).

“Tag” is a document (printed or electronic) authorizing the taking of a designated kind of mammal at a specified time and place.

“Take” means to kill or obtain possession or control of any wildlife.

“Three (3) point plus (+) elk” for the purposes of a bag limit definition, means a bull elk having 3 points or more on 1 antler including the brow tine.

“Traditional Bow” is a long bow or recurve bow only, no compound bows are allowed during “traditional” bow/archery hunts.

“Unbarbed Broadhead” is a fixed position arrowhead where the rear edge of the blade(s) forms an angle with the arrow shaft to which it is attached of 90° or greater. Broadheads with moveable blades that fold/collapse when withdrawn are considered unbarbed. Both of the dashed lines (Figure 1) designate an unbarbed broadhead. Blades with rear edges that form an angle of less than 90 degrees in the direction of the arrow tip (Figure 2, for example) are not legal.

“Unprotected Mammals and Birds” means European starling, house sparrow, Eurasian collared dove, rock pigeon and any mammal species for which there are no closed seasons or bag limits. However, all hunting regulations and licensing laws still apply. Common unprotected mammals include coyote, badger, gophers, moles, mountain beaver, marmots, porcupine, skunks, cottontails, black-tailed jackrabbit, rats, mice, opossum, nutria and weasels.

“Visible Antler” means a velvet or hardened antler that is visible above the hairline on the skullcap and is capable of being shed.

“Waste” means to allow any edible portion of any game mammal (except cougar) or game bird to be rendered unfit for human consumption, or, to fail to retrieve edible portions except internal organs of such game mammals or game birds from the field. Entrails, including the heart and liver, are not considered edible. “Edible portion” of game mammals means 1) the meat of the front quarters as far down as the knees, 2) meat of the hindquarters as far down as the hocks, the meat along the backbone including the 3) loins (back-strap), and 4) tenderloins, for elk it also includes 5) the meat of the neck. See figure below.

“Weapon” means any device used to take or at­tempt to take wildlife.

“Wildlife” means fish, wild birds, am­phib­i­ans, reptiles, wild mammals and feral swine.

“Wildlife Unit” means a geographic area described in the section, Wildlife Management Unit Boundary Descriptions.