Hunting season has begun

Sep­tem­ber has finally arrived and with it came the start of the hunt­ing season.

Teal, early goose, dove, and squir­rel all opened at the first of the month even though it didn’t feel like hunt­ing sea­son. The open­ers arrived with very hot and humid con­di­tions mak­ing it hard for some to get excited about hunt­ing in shorts and tank tops. For­tu­nately, a nice cool snap with lots of rain arrived this past week­end mak­ing it feel more like hunt­ing weather.

The sea­sons opened with large pop­u­la­tions of local geese and doves hang­ing around the area. How­ever, due to the warm weather, very lit­tle of the teal migra­tion had started yet, so teal hunt­ing suc­cess locally was spotty at best. Most of the goose and dove suc­cess was found in chopped corn fields, newly baled hay fields, and small water­ing holes. Con­tinue to con­cen­trate on these areas as the early sea­sons progress.

Squir­rel hunt­ing opened with a lot of suc­cess but often­times try­ing to find those small crit­ters amongst all those leaves can be chal­leng­ing and frus­trat­ing. Squir­rel hunt­ing will con­tinue to improve and get eas­ier as the leaves start to turn and fall. For now, con­cen­trate your hunt­ing efforts along edges of corn fields and mast trees. Early morn­ings are usu­ally the eas­i­est to find them out and about eat­ing their break­fast, but evening hunts can be suc­cess­ful as well.

The last week­end of Sep­tem­ber will offer the two day youth water­fowl sea­son. It is ear­lier than usual this year, and although I am con­cerned about the amount of ducks being around here that early in the fall, it is still a great time to take the kids out. The youth sea­son offers a won­der­ful oppor­tu­nity for the kids to enjoy the sport with­out the pres­sure of hav­ing to com­pete with the adults. It is a favorite week­end in our house­hold and I know my boys are espe­cially excited for this year.

Also open­ing the last week­end of this month is the much antic­i­pated white tailed deer archery sea­son. This sea­son is quickly becom­ing the most pop­u­lar hunt­ing sea­son in Ohio. Hunters once again are going to enjoy very lib­eral bag lim­its and a healthy deer pop­u­la­tion. Hunters in Zone C can bag up to six deer this sea­son while hunters in Zone B can bag up to four. Scout­ing should already be under­way and deer stands should already be erected. There is still plenty of time to get the stands hung, but the time to get after it is now if you haven’t already done so.

If you are deer hunt­ing this fall, make sure you fol­low all the laws and that you have the proper per­mits. In addi­tion to your Ohio annual hunt­ing license, you must pur­chase an either-sex deer per­mit or an antler­less deer per­mit to hunt deer in Ohio. The either-sex deer per­mit is valid Sept. 29, 2012 through Feb. 3, 2013. Antler­less deer per­mits may only be pur­chased until Novem­ber 25, 2012. Antler­less deer per­mits will no longer be valid for the first week of deer gun sea­son (Nov. 26, 2012-Dec. 2, 2012) in Zone C.

The either-sex deer per­mit is good for an antlered or antler­less deer and is valid statewide. No more than one antlered deer may be taken per license year. These per­mits may be used dur­ing any of the deer hunt­ing sea­sons, for con­trolled hunts or in des­ig­nated Urban Units. These per­mits may be pur­chased indi­vid­u­ally through­out the entire deer sea­son. Refer to the Deer Per­mit Use and Bag Lim­its per Zone sec­tion to deter­mine the num­ber of either-sex deer per­mits you can use in each deer hunt­ing zone.

Hunters are not required to buy a Deer Per­mit before pur­chas­ing any Antler­less Deer Per­mits. Antler­less Deer Per­mits may be used to take antler­less deer ONLY. These per­mits may be pur­chased until Nov. 25, 2012. Antler­less deer per­mits will no longer be valid for the first week of deer gun sea­son (Nov. 26, 2012-Dec. 2, 2012).

Antler­less deer per­mits are valid statewide between Sept. 29, 2012 and Nov. 25, 2012. These per­mits are also valid at Ohio Divi­sion of Wildlife con­trolled hunts, dur­ing the early muz­zle­loader sea­son, dur­ing youth deer gun sea­son, and within des­ig­nated Urban Deer Units. Refer to the Deer Per­mit Use and Bag Lim­its per Zone sec­tion to deter­mine the num­ber of antler­less deer per­mits you can use in each deer hunt­ing zone.

If you are con­cerned about what an antler­less deer is, an antler­less deer is any deer with­out antlers and deer with antlers less than 3 inches in length. Antlered deer are deer with at least one antler 3 inches or longer in length.

Archery sea­son hours are 1/2 hour before sun­rise to 1/2 hour after sun­set except dur­ing deer gun season.

Every per­son who kills a deer must imme­di­ately fill out the tem­po­rary tag with the date and time the deer was killed. Attach the com­pleted tem­po­rary tag to the deer at the place where it fell.

Licenses and per­mits will need to be pro­tected from the ele­ments. You may choose to pur­chase a reusable license/tag pro­tec­tive holder if avail­able at the license ven­dor or many office sup­ply stores or make your own. Attach a piece of string, wire, etc. to your tem­po­rary tag and pro­tec­tive holder before you hunt.

Carry a pen or pen­cil and a watch with you to fill out your tem­po­rary tag. The tem­po­rary tag must remain on the deer until it is per­ma­nently tagged. Once a tem­po­rary tag is detached from the per­mit, it is ille­gal to hunt or pur­sue deer with a hunt­ing device with­out pur­chas­ing an addi­tional valid deer permit.

For mul­ti­ple deer per­mit hold­ers, the first deer taken in the day must have been tem­porar­ily tagged before hunt­ing or pur­su­ing another deer. Hunters with deer per­mits must use the tem­po­rary tag from the permit.

Landown­ers and ten­ants who take a deer on their land and any other per­son not required to pur­chase a deer per­mit must make and attach their own tag with their name, address, and date and time killed. This tag must be attached to the dead deer imme­di­ately in the field at the place where it fell.

Until next time, Good Hunt­ing and Good Fishing!

Posted by Rob Hamilton on Sep 12 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.