Except as provided by division rule, the clerks and other agents authorized to issue hunting and fishing licenses, deer and wild turkey permits, and fur taker permits shall issue them in consecutive order of their numbers as stamped on the upper left corner of each license or permit with the date and exact time of day of issuance plainly written thereon and shall keep a record of the licenses and permits issued, together with the names and addresses of the persons to whom the licenses and permits were issued. No license or permit sold in conformity with sections 1533.10, 1533.11, 1533.111 and 1533.32 of the Revised Code shall show any date and hour of issuance prior to the actual date and hour when the license or permit was issued to the applicant, and any violation of this requirement is an offense by both the purchaser of the falsely dated license or permit and the clerk or agent who issued it. A falsely dated license or permit immediately is void, and in any hearing before any court having jurisdiction, it shall be construed that no license or permit was issued.

The clerks and other agents shall transmit with their reports to the director of natural resources, or another person authorized to receive them, all the moneys received as license and permit fees and may include the amounts paid to the clerks and other agents as their fees.

Moneys received as fees under sections 1533.10 and 1533.111 of the Revised Code shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the wildlife fund, which shall be exclusively for the use of the department of natural resources in the education of hunters and trappers, for the purchase, management, preservation, propagation, protection, and stocking of wild birds and wild quadrupeds, for establishing and purchasing or otherwise acquiring title to lands for game preservation, propagation, and protection, and for public hunting grounds under rules to be adopted by the chief of the division of wildlife. The chief may employ on such lands one or more game management agents and wildlife officers at such salary and with such duties as the chief prescribes for improving habitat for wild birds and wild quadrupeds and for all phases of game management, propagation, and protection, including the necessary biological investigations, for printing summarized game laws and the division of wildlife lawbook, and for printing such educational leaflets, pamphlets, and books and promoting such educational, survey, and research activities pertaining to the management, preservation, propagation, and protection of wild animals as are approved by the chief and as provided in this chapter and Chapter 1531. of the Revised Code.

The department shall not spend more than thirty-five per cent of this fund for administration and enforcement.

No moneys derived from hunting licenses, deer or wild turkey permits, and fur taker permits shall be spent for other than hunting and trapping purposes, as defined in this section and sections 1533.11 and 1533.111 of the Revised Code.

The wildlife fund shall be reimbursed, as provided in this section, for the cost of hunting and fishing licenses, permits, and stamps required to be issued free of charge pursuant to rules adopted under division (B) of section 1533.12 of the Revised Code. The chief shall compile data on the number, type, and amount of fees that would have been collected for the licenses, permits, and stamps if they were not issued free of charge. The chief shall certify the amount of foregone revenue for the previous fiscal year for the free licenses, permits, and stamps to the director of budget and management. Beginning with the amount for fiscal year 1992, the director shall transfer the lesser of one million dollars per year or the amount so certified from the general revenue fund to the wildlife fund, by intrastate transfer voucher.

No person, on any lands acquired and set aside for wild animal management, preservation, propagation, and protection or public hunting grounds having plainly marked boundaries, or with knowledge that such lands are so acquired and set aside, shall take, hunt or trap, kill, or pursue any wild animal on such lands, except as provided by law or division rules. No person shall enter upon such lands or lands held by the state for purposes of reforestation with intent to cut growing timber on any such lands or otherwise commit waste thereon. Hunting may be engaged in on lands set aside for purposes of reforestation as provided by division rules and approved by the division of forestry.

Effective Date: 02-25-1998.