Starved Rock Pool

STARVED ROCK POOL REGULATIONS 

Location: Those lands and waters owned or controlled by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) from the Starved Rock Dam upstream to river mile 235. 

All regulations found in the Illinois Wildlife Code, Federal Regulations and Administrative Orders will apply unless area regulations are more restrictive.

1. Definitions:

• Blind Site - A position within 10 feet of a numbered stake where a blind must be constructed. Sites shall be located and marked by the Department. Stakes must remain in place and numbers must remain on stakes.
  
• Blind Builder - A person who has been assigned to a blind site as a result of the drawing.
• Blind Partner - Person(s) chosen by the builder to assist in construction and maintenance of the blind and to share its blind claiming and hunting privileges.
• Drawing - Procedure by which blind sites are assigned.
• Blind Registration Card - A card issued by the Department of Natural Resources after the blind passes inspection and then posted inside each blind by the blind builder. The card lists names and addresses of the blind builder and partners.

• Blind sites shall be determined by the DNR and marked by numbered stakes. After this, it is the blind builder's responsibility to see that the blind site's number is visible and remains in place and on the original stake.
• All blinds shall be allocated for a one (1) year period by a public drawing. Time and place for the drawing will be publicly announced by the DNR.
• Registrants for a drawing must be at least 16 years of age and possess a current or preceding year's Illinois hunting license, and a current or preceding year's Illinois Migratory Waterfowl Stamp.   Applicants must be present for the registration and drawing to be eligible for allocation of a duck blind site.
• No more than 3 persons shall be registered for assignment to any one blind site. Blind builders shall submit partner's names on the registration form as directed within 30 days after the date of the drawing.  Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of blind.  No additions or reassignment of names shall be permitted after this.
• No person shall be allowed to be a blind builder or partner on more than one waterfowl management area in Illinois.
• Blinds must be constructed within 10 feet of numbered stakes, must be at least 4' x 8', but no higher than 14 feet from the water surface at normal pool level to the top of the shooting box, sturdy enough to withstand daily usage, and must be maintained in good condition by blind builders throughout the season. Minimum inside dimensions of the boat hide shall be 18' x 6', and must include an enclosed entrance. Blinds and boat hides may not be locked.
• Blinds built over water must be of platform construction with the platform constructed above normal water conditions. They may be floating blinds. The use of any metal, with the exception of fasteners less than twelve (12) inches in length, will be prohibited in the construction of waterfowl blinds.
• Blinds must include a dog hide that is on the same level as the blind. The dog hide can either be incorporated into the blind by providing a hole at floor level that measures at least 20 inches high by 20 inches wide or by providing a separate compartment that is attached to the blind. Hides attached to the blind should have a minimum floor space that measures 2 feet by 2 feet and should be at least 2.5 feet high with 2 openings. One opening should be between the blind and the dog hide, should measure at least 20 inches by 20 inches, and should be constructed at the same level as the blind floor. The water access opening should be at least 20 inches wide and 20 inches high. Hides either within the blind or attached should have a reinforced ramp to water level that is at least 15 inches wide with cleats every 12 inches. Openings in the blind must be capable of being closed when not in use.
• Blinds must be completed, including final brushing, 3 weeks in advance of opening date of regular duck season. After this time, the DNR will inspect all blinds and blind sites and issue blind registration cards to those blinds meeting specifications listed here. Blind builders must post the blind registration card in the blind prior to the first day of regular duck season.
• No person shall perform any weed and/or brush control around any blind without prior approval of a DNR representative.
• Sites on which blinds have not been built, as well as sites on which blinds of an unsatisfactory quality have been built, will be reassigned to alternates pre-selected during the drawing. All reassigned blinds must be complete, including final brushing, 7 days in advance of the opening date of the regular duck season.
  
• Blinds may be removed beginning November 15. Hunting from boat blinds is permitted within ten (10) feet of marked blind sites beginning November 15 for those blinds removed on or after November 15.
• Staked blind locations that have not had a blind built may be hunted the entire season from a boat blind anchored within 10 feet of the numbered blind stake. Blinds 10, 11 & 12 are considered boat blinds only.
• All blinds must be removed in their entirety no later than ten (10) days after the close of the Central Zone duck season. Failure to remove the blind in its entirety will result in the blind builder and partners for that blind not to be allowed a blind builder or partner the following year. Hunting from boat blinds within ten (10) feet of numbered blind stakes is allowed until the end of the regular Central Zone Canada goose season.

• Hunting hours each day shall be the statewide hunting hours.
• No blind or boat hide shall be locked for any reason.  Blind builders or partners must occupy their blinds ½ hour before shooting time each day in order to claim their blind for that day.  Blinds not legally claimed will be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis.
• No person shall claim or attempt to claim a blind which is legally occupied and/or harass in any manner the occupants of a blind which is legally occupied.  Attempts to claim blinds by any manner other than actual occupation shall be considered in violation of this Part and shall be cause for arrest.  The insertion of a boat into the boat hide and/or the spreading of decoys before a blind shall not be considered legal occupation of a blind.  All hunting will be from registered blinds only.
• No more than 4 persons shall occupy a blind at any one time.  All hunting parties shall hunt over a spread of at least 12 decoys.  The decoys shall be staked, placed, or floated; be individually visible; be at least 8 inches long; and not be within a boat, blind or container.
• No person shall move, for the purpose of waterfowl hunting, from one blind to another unless said person has signed out of the first blind and into the next blind at the sign in sheet.
• All hunters shall sign in, sign out and report all requested information on the hunter sign in sheets posted at the boat ramp.
  

• No person under 16 years of age may hunt or attempt to hunt waterfowl on this area unless accompanied by an adult.
• No person shall hunt, possess, or attempt to possess any wildlife other than waterfowl or coot while on this area for the purpose of hunting.
• Site is open for early (September) Canada Goose season & Teal season. Rules pertaining to legal blind occupation during regular waterfowl season shall apply. No other extended waterfowl seasons allowed.  
• All hunters must leave the area within one hour after the close of legal shooting hours.
• Hunters only in blind.  Non-hunters are not allowed in the field.
  

• For any person to consume any alcoholic beverage or illegal drugs or to be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs while on the area for the purpose of hunting.
• To buy, sell, or commercialize hunting rights either directly or indirectly.
• To enter any designated waterfowl refuge during waterfowl season unless given specific permission from an authorized Department of Natural Resources representative in charge of the area.
• To use wheeled or tracked off-road vehicles of any type, or hovercraft, or any air-propelled craft.
• To use the area during times when the Site Superintendent or his authorized representative determine and state that weather, water, equipment or other conditions necessitate closing the area.
• To hunt in any area not specifically designated as being open to hunting.
• To take or attempt to take fish within the designated waterfowl area or waterfowl refuge during the waterfowl season.  While attempting to take migratory waterfowl or coots to have in possession any shotgun shells not approved as non-toxic by federal regulations.
• To possess any shotgun shell loaded with a shot size larger than steel "T" OR "BBB" in other kinds of non-toxic shot while attempting to take waterfowl in Illinois.