Ohio Deer Hunters Prepare for Statewide Muzzleloader Season, December 27-30
December 17, 2008
COLUMBUS, OH - Ohio’s popular muzzleloader deer season is set to open statewide December 27-30, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. Last year, hunters checked 21,473 white-tailed deer during the statewide hunt.
A total of 178,838 deer have been harvested so far this season when combining the adult and youth gun seasons, early muzzleloader season and the first six weeks of the archery season. That compares to a total of 167,965 killed last year during the same time period. Hunters took a total of 232,854 deer during all of last year’s hunting seasons.
Prior to the start of the hunting season, Ohio’s deer population was estimated at 700,000. The Division of Wildlife expects as many as 265,000 hunters will hunt deer during the muzzleloader season.
Ohio deer hunters must possess the proper permits. Regardless of zone, method of taking or season, hunters may take only one antlered deer during the 2008-2009 deer hunting season.
Legal hunting hours during the statewide muzzleloader deer season are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Deer must be checked by 8 p.m. on the day after harvest, except those killed on December 30, which must be brought to a deer check station by 8 p.m. that day.
Ohio’s small game, furbearer and waterfowl seasons also will be open during the muzzleloader season. During those overlapping four days, small game hunters and deer hunters must visibly wear a coat, jacket, vest or coveralls that are either solid hunter orange or camouflage hunter orange in color.
Hunters have been encouraged to kill more does this season and donate extra venison to organizations assisting Ohioans in need. The Division is collaborating with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry to help pay for the processing of donated venison. Hunters who give their deer to a food bank are not required to pay the processing cost as long as the deer are taken to a participating processor and funding for the effort lasts. Counties being served by this program can be found online at www.fhfh.org
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The white-tailed deer is the most popular game animal in Ohio, frequently pursued by generations of hunters. Ohio ranks 6th nationally in annual hunting-related sales and 4th in the number of jobs associated with the hunting-related industry. Each year, hunting has a $1.5 billion economic impact in Ohio. Hunting related retail sales in Ohio total more than $700 million.
Additional hunting regulations and maps of deer zones are contained in the 2008-2009 OhioHunting Regulations. This free publication is available where hunting licenses are sold and from the Division of Wildlife by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE or on the Internet at wildohio.com.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR web site at www.ohiodnr.com.
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Coyotes Added To Mentored Youth Hunting Program of Pennsylvania
December 15, 2008
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced that coyotes will become legal game under the Mentored Youth Hunting Program (MYHP) effective Saturday, Dec. 20.
The addition, which was given final approval by the Board of Game Commissioners at its Oct. 24 meeting, is slated to be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the Commonwealth’s official compendium of regulatory actions, which is the final step required for the change to take effect.
Roe noted that the logic behind the MYHP is simple and clear: create expanded youth hunting opportunities without compromising safety afield.
“This program paves the way for youngsters to nurture their interest in hunting early and allows them to take a more active role in actual hunting while afield with mentoring adults,” Roe said. “The program accommodates hands-on use of sporting arms and can promote a better understanding and interest in hunting and wildlife conservation that will help assure hunting’s future, as well as reinforce the principles of hunting safely through the close supervision provided by dedicated mentors.”
When first introduced in the 2006-07 license year, the species identified as legal game were woodchucks (groundhogs), squirrels and spring gobbler. In the 2007-08 license year, the Board approved the addition of antlered deer.
According to the agency’s annual Game-Take Surveys, participation in the MYHP has increased in terms of adult mentors and youths. In 2006, the first year of the program, 43,780 youths were mentored by 32,913 adults. That year, the mentored youths harvested 52,788 squirrels and 36,351 woodchucks. In 2007, the number of mentored youth grew to 58,883, and there were 51,141 adult mentors. That year, mentored youths harvested 61,160 squirrels, 52,114 groundhogs, 5,199 antlered deer and 3,496 spring gobblers.
Under the program, a mentor is defined as a properly licensed individual at least 21 years of age, who will serve as a guide to a youth while engaged in hunting or related activities, such as scouting, learning firearms or hunter safety and wildlife identification. A mentored youth is identified as an unlicensed individual less than 12 years of age who is accompanied by a mentor while engaged in hunting or related activities.
The regulations require the mentor-to-mentored youth ratio be one-to-one, and that the pair possesses only one sporting arm when hunting. While moving, the sporting arm must be carried by the mentor until the pair reaches a stationary hunting location, when the youth may take possession of the sporting arm and be within arm’s length of the mentor at all times.
Those youths participating in the MYHP are required to follow the same antler restrictions as a junior license holder, which is one antler of three or more inches in length or one antler with at least two points. The program also requires that both the mentor and the youth must abide by any fluorescent orange regulations, and that the mentored youth must tag and report any antlered deer or spring gobbler taken by making and attaching a tag that contains his or her name, address, date, WMU, township, and county where it was taken, as well as the number of antlers, if it was a deer harvested. The youth must submit a harvest report card, which is available on page 33 of the 2008-09 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations, within five days for any antlered deer or spring gobbler he or she takes.
For more information on the program, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on “Mentored Youth FAQs” in “Quick Clicks” box in the upper right corner of the homepage. Information also is included on page 15 of the 2008-09 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations, and a sample harvest tag can be found on page 33 of the Digest.
To continue hunting once a youth reaches the age of 12, they will need to and pass a basic Hunter-Trapper Education course and purchase either a junior hunting license or a junior combination license. For a listing of HTE courses, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on the “Hunter Education” icon in the center of the homepage.
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Deer Hunters Have an Extra Weekend to Hunt with Guns in Ohio
December 6, 2008
COLUMBUS, OH - Ohio’s popular deer-gun season will run an additional weekend, Saturday and Sunday, December 20-21, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.
The extra days were added beginning in 2006 in response to comments received from hunters for more weekend time to hunt.
“These two additional weekend days give deer hunters another chance at filling their deer tag while helping us in meeting our deer management goals,” said David M. Graham, chief of the Division of Wildlife.
So far this season, hunters have taken 51,620 deer during the first six weeks of the statewide archery season, which began September 27 and continues through February 1. The special youth season, held November 22-23, resulted in young hunters bagging 9,852 deer. Hunters checked 33,034 deer during the opening day of the statewide deer-gun season, December 1. Another 568 deer were taken during the early muzzleloader deer season held in October on the Shawnee, Salt Fork and Wolf Creek state wildlife areas.
The white-tailed deer is the most popular game animal in Ohio, frequently pursued by generations of hunters. Ohio ranks 6th nationally in annual hunting-related sales and 4th in the number of jobs associated with the hunting-related industry. Each year, hunting has a $1.5 billion economic impact in Ohio. Hunting related retail sales in Ohio total more than $700 million.
Venison is delicious and nutritious meat, low in fat and cholesterol. It is the number one wild game served by hunters in Ohio. Deer hunters also contribute thousands of pounds of venison to organizations that help feed less-fortunate Ohioans through special programs.
Ohio is divided into three deer hunting zones. A limit of one deer may be taken in Zone A (20 counties). Hunters may take a second deer in Zone B (30 counties). A total of three deer may be harvested in eastern and southeastern Ohio’s Zone C (38 counties). Antlerless deer permits are not valid for this extra weekend of the deer-gun season except within the designated urban deer zones located around Columbus, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati or at Division of Wildlife controlled hunts.
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. Hunter orange is required. Only deer, coyote and waterfowl can be hunted during the extra deer-gun weekend.
Hunters are encouraged to kill more does this season and donate any extra venison to organizations assisting Ohioans in need. The Division is collaborating with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry to help pay for the processing of donated venison. Hunters who give their deer to a food bank are not required to pay the processing cost as long as the deer are taken to a participating processor and funding for the effort lasts. Counties being served by this program can be found online at www.fhfh.org.
Additional hunting regulations and maps of the state’s deer zones are contained in the 2008-2009Ohio Hunting Regulations. This free publication is available wherever hunting licenses are sold, online at wildohio.com or by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE.
Ohio hunters and birdwatchers are reminded that they will need to be aware of one another as the pursue deer and birds on this shared weekend. Hunters need to remember that there may be other people in the woods-hunters and non-hunters. Birders are also reminded that hunters are allowed to hunt wherever they have written permission to hunt. And, while hunters are required to wear hunter orange in the field, birders should also give consideration to wearing a hunter orange vest or hat during the deer-gun weekend.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR web site at www.ohiodnr.com.
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2008 West Virginia Buck Season Fact Sheet
November 18, 2008
The West Virginia buck season is November 24 – December 6. It is open in all counties except Logan, Mingo, McDowell and Wyoming.- Approximately 320,000 licensed hunters will be in West Virginia’s woods during this season.
- Hunters should review the 2008-2009 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Summary for detailed instructions concerning bag limits and season dates. The regulations are online at www.wvdnr.gov
- A list of deer checking stations in West Virginia can be found online at www.wvdnr.gov/hunting/check_stations.asp
- The bag limit during the two week buck season is two (one on the base license and one on an RG [resident] or RRG [nonresident] stamp). A hunter may take no more than three antlered deer per calendar year in all archery and firearms seasons combined.
- The last day to purchase an additional deer gun tag (Class RG/RRG Stamp) is November 23. Class RG and Class RRG additional buck stamps can only be used to take an additional antlered deer in buck season. Unused Class RG and Class RRG stamps may not be used in antlerless or muzzleloader seasons.
- A concurrent antlerless deer season will be available in all or portions of 44 counties on private land only during the entire two-week buck season and beginning November 26 through the remainder of the buck season on specified public land. This is not a “hunter’s choice” season, because hunters must have purchased the proper antlerless deer license (Class N for residents and Class NN for nonresidents) to participate. Hunters may take only one deer per day; therefore, a buck and an antlerless deer may not be taken on the same day. Class N and Class NN antlerless stamps are no longer county specific. See the 2008-2009 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Summary for county and public lands specific regulations.
- All deer must be field tagged and checked in within 72 hours of the time of kill or within 24 hours of the close of the season, whichever comes first. Additional deer may not be taken until all previously taken deer have been checked. Only one deer may be taken per day during the buck season.
- Deer hunting in West Virginia generates a total annual economic impact of $233 million, much of it in the rural areas of the state that depend upon the deer seasons for a large portion of their annual income.
- In 2007, deer hunters in West Virginia harvested 67,213 bucks during the two-week buck season, an increase of 1.7 percent from the previous year.
- Based upon scouting reports and mast production, DNR is looking for the buck kill to be slightly higher than last year. Poor weather conditions last year during the first week of buck season resulted in a large number of antlered deer carrying over to this hunting period, meaning more and bigger bucks will be harvested. Hunters who have done their pre-season scouting and have located food sources for deer will have the best chance of success.
- Sunday hunting is legal in the following 14 counties on private land only: Boone, Brooke, Clay, Hancock, Jefferson, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Marshall, Mingo, Ohio, Wayne, Wetzel and Wyoming. The only Sunday that is open in these counties during the buck season is November 30. Hunters are reminded that deer gun seasons are closed in Logan, Mingo, McDowell and Wyoming counties.
- Hunters are required to wear at least 400 square inches of blaze orange (about the size of a vest) as an outer garment for visibility and safety. Blaze orange camouflage patterns are legal as long as 400 square inches of blaze orange are displayed on the garment. A blaze orange hat is not required, but the hunter must have blaze orange visible from both the front and the back.
- Hunting licenses may be purchased online at any time and printed out on a home computer printer. Go to the goWILD! Web site at www.wvhunt.com, fill out the application, and purchase it over a secure server with a credit card.
- Hunters who wish to donate deer meat or dollars to the Hunters Helping the Hungry program, which distributes deer meat through the Mountaineer Food Bank and the Huntington Food Bank, should call (304) 558-2771 or visit the DNR Web site at www.wvdnr.gov to find a participating meat processor.
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Hunters Should Harvest Female Deer in High-Density Areas
November 17, 2008
Frankfort, Ky. – As the first week of modern gun deer season winds down, many hunters have already taken their antlered deer for the year. If you are hunting in a high-density area like Zone 1, you shouldn’t stop there. Harvesting plenty of female deer in high-density areas is essential to maintaining a quality deer herd – and a quality hunting experience.
“Female deer are the drivers of herd growth,” said Tina Brunjes, big game program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “When you have too many deer, you want to stop growth. Even if you don’t have too many, you want to control growth. The way you do that is through does.”
One female deer can quickly increase a deer population, since a doe gives birth to an average of two fawns a year. That’s why harvesting bucks doesn’t help thin the deer herd, while taking enough female deer can keep a deer population in balance with available habitat.
“If you’ve got fewer deer, they’ll be in better condition,” said David Yancy, a biologist in Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s big game program. Yancy said ideal deer densities are less than 30 deer a square mile.
“If you think of habitat like a pie, then cutting the pie into 25 pieces instead of 45 means everyone gets more,” he said. “At 25 per square mile, deer have fewer ticks, less intestinal parasites, higher weight and better fat reserves to get through the winter.”
While mountainous habitat in the eastern part of Kentucky can’t support 25 deer a square mile, that is the department’s target deer density for other regions of the state. Counties with ideal deer populations are classified as Zone 2 for deer hunting, and make up 34 percent of Kentucky.
“Our big buck producers – Ohio, Butler, Muhlenberg, Hopkins, Grayson, Breckinridge – are all 25 deer per square mile counties,” said Yancy. “These areas have good habitat, but implicit in this is good deer numbers.”
However, 33 percent of Kentucky counties have too many deer, and fall under Zone 1 hunting regulations. Hunters may harvest unlimited antlerless deer with the proper permits in these counties. Brunjes said it’s important for Zone 1 hunters to take female deer, not only for herd health but for a quality hunt.
“By quality, I’m not just talking about big antlers,” she said. “I’m talking about improving the quality of your hunting experience. When your buck-to-doe ratio improves, you see more rutting behavior. You see deer doing what they do, not just standing in a food plot.”
Brunjes said that ideally, there should be fewer than three does for each buck in a deer herd. In areas with too many female deer, breeding season may not be as intense.
“You hear these things like ‘They’re not rutting, they’re not breeding where I am,’” said Yancy. “First of all, they are. But what that could be is there are so many females there’s no competition among bucks. If you want a good two-week period with fighting, lots of rubs, lots of scrapes, you need fewer does and more competition.”
After you bag an antlered deer this year, take a doe if you’re hunting in an area with too many deer. You can help improve the herd with your hunt.
Modern gun deer season is open statewide and continues through Nov. 17 in Zones 3-4 and Nov. 23 in Zones 1-2. For complete deer hunting regulations, pick up a copy of the 2008-09 Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide, available wherever hunting licenses are sold.
Author Hayley Lynch is an award-winning writer for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. She is an avid hunter and shotgun shooter.
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Wisconsin’s 9-Day Regular Deer Season Runs Nov.22-30
November 13, 2008
MADISON –Wisconsin’s regular nine-day gun deer season opens Saturday, Nov. 22 this year and runs through Sunday, Nov. 30. The traditional season always opens the Saturday prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Even after a pretty tough winter in parts of the state, and a harvest of more than 520,000 deer in the 2007-08 seasons, the deer herd is still a good deal larger than established population goals in much of Wisconsin. Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologists estimate that the herd numbers between 1.5 and 1.7 million animals going into the fall 2007-08 seasons, a slight decrease from last year.
Because of this, most of the deer management units across the state, with the exception of some areas in the northeast, are under either herd control or earn-a-buck structures. In deer management units designated as earn-a-buck (EAB), hunters are required to shoot an antlerless deer in order to “earn” a sticker allowing them harvest an antlered deer. In units designated as regular or herd control, hunters do not need to first shoot an antlerless deer in order to shoot a buck. A free antlerless tag will come with each archery and gun license that is valid in herd control, EAB and CWD units. Additional antlerless tags can be purchased anytime after the license is purchased for $2 each.
Gun hunters who wish to harvest an antlerless deer in a “regular” unit (white units on DMU map), must purchase a unit-specific antlerless tag in addition to their license. These antlerless tags are limited in quantity for each unit and cost $12 each for residents and $20 for non-residents. Many regular units still have antlerless tags left, while some have sold out.
Hunters could have prequalified for the buck harvest sticker by having shot an antlerless deer from an EAB or CWD unit last year, or by having registered an antlerless deer in either the early archery season or four day October antlerless deer hunt. Hunters who shot an antlerless deer during a season from one of theses units this year should have received a