Deer gun season is about to get underway

Ohio’s week-long deer-gun sea­son begins statewide Mon­day, Nov. 26 and runs through Sun­day, Dec. 2, accord­ing to the ODNR Divi­sion of Wildlife. The sea­son again includes an extra week­end of gun hunt­ing Dec. 15–16.

Deer can be hunted with a muz­zle­loader, hand­gun or shot­gun from one half-hour before sun­rise to sun­set dur­ing the gun sea­son. ODNR Divi­sion of Wildlife antic­i­pates 80,000–85,000 deer will be checked and tagged dur­ing the week-long hunt. Approx­i­mately 420,000 hunters are expected to par­tic­i­pate in this year’s sea­son, includ­ing many out-of-state hunters.

The white-tailed deer is Ohio’s most pop­u­lar game ani­mal, fre­quently pur­sued by gen­er­a­tions of hunters. Ohio ranks eighth nation­ally in annual hunting-related sales and 10th in the num­ber of jobs asso­ci­ated with hunting-related indus­tries. Hunt­ing has an $859 mil­lion eco­nomic impact each year in Ohio through the sale of equip­ment, fuel, food, lodg­ing and more.

Hunters may take only one antlered deer, regard­less of zone, hunt­ing method or sea­son. A deer per­mit is required in addi­tion to a valid Ohio hunt­ing license. Hunters must pur­chase an addi­tional per­mit to hunt more than one deer.

Ohio is divided into three deer hunt­ing zones. One deer may be har­vested in Zone A (six coun­ties) and two deer in Zone B (44 coun­ties). Three deer may be har­vested in Zone C (38 coun­ties). Those hunt­ing in urban units and at Divi­sion of Wildlife-authorized con­trolled hunts will have a six-deer bag limit, and those deer do not count against the hunter’s zone bag limit.

Antler­less deer per­mits can be used for the entire sea­son in urban deer units or Divi­sion of Wildlife autho­rized con­trolled hunts. Antler­less deer per­mits will not be sold after Nov. 25, and these per­mits are not valid after that date unless used in an urban deer unit or a Divi­sion of Wildlife autho­rized con­trolled hunt.

Hunters are also encour­aged to donate any extra veni­son to orga­ni­za­tions assist­ing Ohioans in need. ODNR Divi­sion of Wildlife is col­lab­o­rat­ing with Farm­ers and Hunters Feed­ing the Hun­gry (FHFH) to help pay for the pro­cess­ing of donated veni­son. Hunters who donate deer are not required to pay the pro­cess­ing cost as long as the deer are taken to a par­tic­i­pat­ing proces­sor. To see which coun­ties are involved in this pro­gram, go to www.fhfh.org.

More infor­ma­tion can be found in the 2012–13 Ohio Hunt­ing and Trap­ping Reg­u­la­tions and at www.wildohio.com.

• Hunters and other indi­vid­u­als seek­ing infor­ma­tion about white-tailed deer-gun hunt­ing sea­sons or want­ing to report state wildlife law vio­la­tions may take advan­tage of extended call cen­ter hours.

The 800-WILDLIFE (945‑3543) gen­eral hunt­ing infor­ma­tion hot­line will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, Nov. 17–18, for the 10th annual youth deer-gun sea­son. Staff will also be avail­able to answer calls prior to and dur­ing the deer-gun sea­son, Nov. 26-Dec. 2 and Dec. 15–16.

The deer-gun sea­son is when many of Ohio’s hunters have last-minute ques­tions, and ODNR Divi­sion of Wildlife staff is ready and avail­able to assist them. Spe­cial call cen­ter hours prior to and dur­ing the state’s deer-gun sea­son include: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, Nov. 17–18; 8 a.m.-7 p.m., Fri­day, Nov. 23 to Sun­day, Dec. 2; 8 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, Dec. 15–16. The hot­line will be closed Thanks­giv­ing Day.

Ohioans are encour­aged to help enforce state wildlife laws by report­ing vio­la­tions to the division’s Turn-in-a-Poacher (TIP) hot­line by call­ing 800-POACHER (762‑2437).

Estab­lished in 1982, the TIP pro­gram allows indi­vid­u­als to anony­mously call toll-free to report wildlife vio­la­tions. The 800-POACHER hot­line is open for calls 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Tips con­cern­ing wildlife vio­la­tions can also be sub­mit­ted at www.wildohio.com. Tip­sters may be eli­gi­ble to receive a cash award.

• Ohio’s annual furbearer hunt­ing and trap­ping sea­sons is under­way for cer­tain species. Good furbearer pop­u­la­tions are expected this year, accord­ing to the Divi­sion of Wildlife due to last year’s mild winter.

Fox, rac­coon, opos­sum, skunk and weasel hunt­ing and trap­ping sea­sons are open through Jan. 31, 2013. Mink and muskrat trap­ping sea­sons are open through Feb. 28, 2013. How­ever, rac­coon, opos­sum, skunk, weasel, mink and muskrat trap­ping sea­sons will remain open through March 15, 2013, only in Erie, Ottawa and San­dusky coun­ties as well as Lucas County east of the Maumee River.

Coy­ote hunt­ing and trap­ping has no closed sea­son with an unre­stricted bag limit. Spe­cial hunt­ing reg­u­la­tions for coy­otes apply dur­ing the statewide deer-gun sea­son, Nov. 26-Dec. 2 and Dec. 15–16, and deer-muzzleloader sea­son, Jan. 5–8, 2013.

Beaver and river otter trap­ping sea­sons are open Dec. 26 through Feb. 28, 2013, and beaver trap­ping is open statewide.

For the eighth year, 43 coun­ties will be open for river otter trap­ping. River otters were rein­tro­duced into Ohio from 1986–1993 and have increased their range in the state. River otters were removed from Ohio’s Endan­gered Species List in 2002.

There will be no daily bag lim­its or restric­tions on hours for hunt­ing and trap­ping furbear­ers, with the excep­tion of river otters. River otter bag lim­its are depen­dent on the county where it was trapped.

A fur taker per­mit is required in addi­tion to a valid Ohio hunt­ing license to hunt or trap furbear­ing ani­mals, except for coy­otes, which may be hunted or trapped year-round with­out a fur taker per­mit. A spe­cial ODNR Divi­sion of Wildlife per­mit is required to trap beaver and river otter on state pub­lic hunt­ing areas.

River otters that are acci­den­tally cap­tured, either in excess of bag lim­its or in closed coun­ties, must be released unharmed. River otters that can­not be released must be turned over to ODNR Divi­sion of Wildlife.

Beaver trap­pers in par­tic­u­lar are advised to watch for river otter sign and mod­ify set place­ments where nec­es­sary. The Ohio State Trap­pers Asso­ci­a­tion and ODNR Divi­sion of Wildlife have pub­lished a guide on how to rec­og­nize river otter sign and use avoid­ance tech­niques while trap­ping for beaver in areas closed to river otter trapping.

A copy of the pub­li­ca­tion can be ordered by call­ing 800-WILDLIFE.

Ohio is among the nation’s lead­ing pro­duc­ers of raw furs. Last year, 22,195 fur taker per­mits were sold in the state. The state cur­rently has 65 licensed fur deal­ers. Addi­tional hunt­ing and trap­ping infor­ma­tion is avail­able in the 2012–2013 Ohio Hunt­ing Reg­u­la­tions, at www.wildohio.com or by call­ing 800-WILDLIFE.

Until next time, Good Hunt­ing and Good Fishing!

Posted by Rob Hamilton on Nov 20 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.