Got Plug? - A look at Ohio’s gun plug hunting regulation.

I have been hunting Upland birds since I was 12. It is an American heritage, and although some may have a political aversion to it, I respect and cherish my freedom to do what my ancestors did hundreds of years ago.  

With this activity, safety rules as well as state laws, need to be followed.  I am given season dates, a daily limit, and I have to keep no more than three shotgun shells in my gun at all times or alter my gun with a special plug if it holds more than that.  

I learned about this “gun plug” regulation in hunter’s safety class when I was young; and from my uncle and father who both followed this rule religiously.  Before this last week, I never stopped to ask myself why? Why is it even necessary? 

I started to ask around and some of my fellow hunters simply didn’t know. There was just speculation.  

One hunter I know said it is a safety issue trying to prevent accidental shootings. I didn’t necessarily agree since standard safe gun handling and safe hunting procedures need to be followed whether you have zero rounds in the chamber or 30 in a magazine.   

Another person told me it was to limit bird injuries when trying to get off that last shot. This sort of makes sense, but Ohio also follows this gun plug rule for deer.  Could that be the same logic? If I shoot and miss a deer twice, and hit it on the third shot and wound it, why make me reload? A bird can vanish within seconds, and if you injure it you’ll never find it. If you wound a deer it can easily (in most situations) be tracked down. 

This bothered me because if you are going to let me hunt deer and tell me what I can hunt it with, why limit how I can do it? If you tell me when I can hunt and that I can take 15 dove a day with a shotgun, why am I restricted on how many shots I put into the air?

So I did some research and learned that the origin of this rule had nothing to do with the above reasons at its adoption.   

In the early 1900‘s many American’s hunted for food all year round. These hunters were very good, much sharper than even our best hunters today and they had no bag limits or hunting season. They were also part of a huge leap in firearms technology. The Winchester 97 pump shotgun and the Browning A-5 semi-automatic shotgun were both capable of firing 5 shots or more in rapid succession. 

This created a concern from the Governments of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico over the dwindling migratory bird population and so the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA) was passed. This was a monumental act that was focused on waterfowl conservation.  

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act gave the department of the Interior the authority to make federal laws it saw fit to uphold the integrity of the Act. One of these was the 3 shot limit. This was a federal law under the MBTA and would limit the number of shots allowed on birds to try and reduce how many were taken.  

Previous to this, the United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries (founded in 1871) was simply a study group that explored wildlife habitats and made recommendations to congress. The dust bowls of the 30’s in combination with hunters taking large numbers of birds forced congress to act to protect the bird population.  

Congress responded in 1940 and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was born. The FWS had an objective of maintaining wildlife habitat and "working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."

The creation of this department fostered a chain reaction of state legislatures designing their own departments of wildlife. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was founded in 1949 and works closely with the FWS to set hunting seasons and limits and ensure healthy animal populations.

The three shot (gun plug) rule was adopted by many states under a framework set forth by the FWS and is part of our culture in hunting today. The primary purpose behind the gun plug rule was to limit the number of birds taken, which seems like an obvious answer for a non-hunter, but this practice has been regulated by bag limits and enforced by game check systems and game wardens from state and federal agencies since the 1940’s.  

So we are back to our original question; what is its current purpose?   

I contacted the ODNR and found that all migratory bird regulations for the 3 shot rule are still regulated by the FWS and that original Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.  The FWS sets up a framework for all of these rules, meaning that the logic behind keeping it in tact is still questionable.  But what about the adaptation of the plug rule for deer gun season here in Ohio. 

Jamey Graham, a wildlife communications specialist for the ODNR, was kind enough to tell me the reasons behind the adaptation of the gun plug for deer season in Ohio as well as provide some data.  Since deer gun season involves a slug that can travel hundreds of yards, there may be some safety impacts.  

From 1989 -1998 there were on average 15 hunting related incidents per year involving the act of deer hunting during gun season.  These are injuries or fatalities during the course of hunting and do not count accidental injuries while not in the act of hunting.  

In 1999, the 3 shot rule was enacted based on research done by two ODNR officers trying to limit the number of incidents.  Ohio has averaged around 11 incidents per year since that regulation was added.  

Without being able to drill down on the granular data and try to determine the specifics of each incident, a high level look at the data indicates there may be something to it. 

The notion of limiting shells is one many states have taken.  This theory limits accidents by trying to prevent long or rushed shots.  Limiting the capacity of the gun reduces the hunters ability to follow up with hasty shots.   These follow-up shots are never as accurate as the first and can stray hundreds of yards.  This rule also helps curb possible property damage claims as well.  The ODNR feels that limiting the gun to three shots does limit hunting related incidents during deer season.  

As for bird hunting, this safety logic doesn't play out the same way.  Since it stems from an act written almost 100 years ago to try and limit the number of birds shot and had nothing to do with accidents, it will remain hard to justify and probably hard to change.  

And so my next piece of writing will be to the Federal Wildlife Service.