Wildlife Council approves 2012-13 waterfowl hunting season dates

The 2012–13 water­fowl hunt­ing sea­son dates have been approved by the Ohio Wildlife Coun­cil, accord­ing to the Ohio Depart­ment of Nat­ural Resources’ (ODNR) Divi­sion of Wildlife.

The Lake Erie Marsh Zone encom­passes por­tions of Lucas, Wood, Ottawa, San­dusky and Erie coun­ties. The duck hunt­ing sea­son in the Lake Erie Marsh Zone is Oct. 13–28 fol­lowed by a sec­ond seg­ment that opens Nov. 10-Dec. 23.

The duck hunt­ing sea­son in the North Zone is Oct. 13–28, fol­lowed by a sec­ond seg­ment that opens Nov. 24 and runs through Jan. 6, 2013. In the South Zone, duck sea­son is open Oct. 20–28, fol­lowed by a sec­ond seg­ment that opens Dec. 8 and runs through Jan. 27, 2013.

The daily bag limit for ducks is six, which may not include more than four mal­lards (no more than one may be female), three wood ducks, one black duck, two red­heads, four scaup, one can­vas­back, two pin­tails and one mot­tled duck. The daily bag limit for mer­gansers is five of which no more than two may be hooded mer­gansers. The daily bag limit for coots is 15. Pos­ses­sion lim­its after the first day are twice the daily bag limit.

In the Lake Erie Canada Goose Zone, the goose sea­son is Oct. 13–28 fol­lowed by a sec­ond seg­ment that opens Nov. 10 and runs through Jan. 10, 2013. The goose sea­son for the remain­der of the North Zone is Oct. 13–28, with a sec­ond seg­ment that runs from Nov. 24 through Jan. 6, 2013, and a third seg­ment from Jan. 12–29, 2013. In the South Zone, goose sea­son is Oct. 20-Nov. 11 fol­lowed by a sec­ond seg­ment that opens Dec. 8 and runs through Jan. 31, 2013.

The daily bag limit for Canada geese is three, raised from two. Light geese (snows, Ross’ and blues) have a daily bag limit of 10, white-fronted geese have a daily bag limit of one and brant have a daily bag limit of one. The pos­ses­sion limit for brant and geese is twice the daily bag limit after the first day.

Hunters 15 years of age and younger will have the oppor­tu­nity to enjoy spe­cial statewide youth water­fowl sea­sons. Young hunters in the Lake Erie Marsh Zone and North Zone can hunt Sept. 29–30. The dates for South Zone youth hunters are Nov. 23–24.

Licensed fal­con­ers can hunt ducks, geese, mer­gansers and coots statewide from Feb. 8, 2013, through March 10, 2013, in the Lake Erie Marsh, North and South Zones when­ever those zones are open to duck hunting.

Har­vest Infor­ma­tion Pro­gram cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is required of all water­fowl hunters prior to hunt­ing. Migra­tory game bird hunters must call 877-HIPOHIO (447‑6446) and answer a few sur­vey ques­tions to com­plete the HIP cer­ti­fi­ca­tion require­ment. Once the sur­vey has been com­pleted, hunters will be pro­vided a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion num­ber to write on their Ohio hunt­ing license.

Water­fowl hunters age 18 and older will also need a state wet­land habi­tat stamp which may be pur­chased at any hunt­ing license agent or at wildohio.com. In addi­tion, all water­fowl hunters age 16 and older must pos­sess a signed fed­eral duck stamp which can be pur­chased at most post offices.

Copies of this season’s water­fowl hunt­ing reg­u­la­tions, which include maps of the zones (Pub­li­ca­tion 5295, Water­fowl Hunt­ing Sea­sons), will be avail­able online at wildohio.com or avail­able at all license agent out­lets by late September.

Posted by Rob Hamilton on Aug 22 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.