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ODNR Proposals released

beaston

Junior Member
[h=3]NEW: Ohio isn't playing around with new deer-hunting proposals[/h]


Some serious proposed deer-hunting rule changes were presented today by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and to the state's outdoors writers this afternoon.

And such significant impacts will involve more than simply the legal use of antlerless-only permits but also the number of deer a hunter can be shoot as well as the type of permitted hunting implements.

Under rules presented – and (again) just proposed for now – the use of antlerless-only tags will be prohibited in 27 counties. And some of these counties exist in the state's traditionally deer-rich southeast Ohio area, too.

Meanwhile another 15 counties will not only see an allowance of one antlerless-only tag but where hunters will still have the opportunity to kill up to four deer. In almost every one of these cases the county is either urban or suburban is scope. Among them include Lake, Cuyahoga, Trumbull, Franklin, Lucas, and Hamilton.

Draw a circle around the state's most populated cities and you'll locate these 15 counties.

Even so this all is a significant step toward the Wildlife Division's on-going efforts for a comprehensive county-by-county deer management strategy. It also is an approach that eventually may morph into a 22 to 27 zone system made up of adjacent like-harvest or deer-management-goal-oriented counties.

“Many of our counties are at or near our long-term goals while other counties are close,” said Wildlife Division chief Scott Zody during the hour-long teleconference. “Our goal right now, quite frankly, is to stabilize the herd rather than either grow or reduce the herd.”

The newly drawn proposed map showing in which counties hunters can buy and use antlerless-only tags as well as season allowances has the most checkerboard look in history.

Only in five counties can hunters shoot just two deer and all animals must be tagged with an either-sex permit. These counties are Darke, Hancock, Auglaize, Fayette, and Madison.

Entirely new is that a number of traditionally go-to deer-hunting counties will fall into a category whereby the use of antlerless-only tags are forbidden. That is, if the proposal eventually passes muster with the eight-member Ohio Wildlife Council, which has the final say in such matters.

Among the 27 counties where antlerless-only tags would be ineligible are Guernsey, Noble, Muskingum, Coshocton, Harrison, Washington, Meigs, Jefferson, and Geauga in Northeast Ohio.

And though deer hunters operating in any of these counties can still shoot up to three animals each and everyone of them will require tagging with a $24 either-sex permit instead of a $15 antlerless-only permit.

“We aren't going to say 'don't shoot a doe' in these counties,” Zody said. 'We're just not going to give them the added incentive of using a less-expensive antlerless-only permit.”

Counties such as Lake, Trumbull, Cuyahoga, Lucas and Trumbull will have a four deer bag limit and one of which can be tagged with the antlerless-only permit. In these counties their respective deer herds are still above target objectives and a little sweetener is needed to entice hunters to kill a doe early in the season and before the general firearms hunt, the state officials said.

As for the future use of antlerless-only permits, the Wildlife Division's crystal ball does not address whether that system has a termination point.

“A lot depend on where we go from here but I don't think you'll see them go away entirely,” Zody said..

Critical, however, will be on-going studies and discussions that could lead to modifying the sales and uses of antlerless-only permits.

Such strategies as permit quotas, applying for them rather than over-the-counter sales and such were employed in the past and may come about again, Wildlife officials said.

“We didn't get here by accident but by sound deer management practices, but we don't want to overshoot the runway,” Zody said.

Another significant change calls for allowing the use of rifles chambered for a rather long laundry list of so-called straight-walled cartridges. These cartridges include: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55; .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnumn, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson. .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70 Springfield, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, and 500 S&W.

Several of these calibers are permitted now but in handgun only form. Others – such as the .45-70 - .45-90, and the .45-110 are popular with the Cowboy Action shooting set.

“We want to emphasize that these are not high-powered calibers and no one is going to be allowed deer hunting carrying an AK-47,” Zody said. “We want to stress this point.”

Zody said this portion of the new deer-hunting proposals have been several years in the making and advanced by any number of Ohio sportsmen and gun rights groups. These organizations were tasked with studying the issue as well as securing a favorable nod from Ohio's agricultural community.

“The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation actually endorsed the idea,” Zody said.

However, Zody was equally pointed by nothing that hunters utilizing rifles chambered for any of these calibers will still fall with the legal usage parameters now required of sportsmen who use shotguns. That being, a rifle cannot hold more than three rounds, including one in the chamber.

“The rifle will either have to be plugged or else use dummy cartridges in the magazine,” Zody said.

A pair of last year's “new” rules will repeat themselves this year, officials said as well.

Not going away is the mid-October, antlerless-only, muzzle-loading only deer-hunting season. The fact that while the all-seasons' kill of antlered deer was down the number of bucks shoot during the archery season was actually up by two percent, Zody said.

That point is significant, Zody says, because it was the state's archery deer hunters who repeatedly opined they would see fewer – and thus shoot fewer – antlered deer.

“Clearly that did not happen,” Zody said.

Similarly staying put for now is the shooting hour extension for the various firearms and muzzle-loading seasons.

Not only was the allowance of gun hunters to stay afield until one-half hour after sunset a safe experience it also proved successful. Fully 6,246 deer were shot during that last one-half hour of the statewide firearms deer-hunting season.

Another, more minor change, is the starting day for the statewide muzzle-loading deer-hunting season. Instead of the more common practice that kicked the season off on a Saturday this time around it will be on a Thursday; done in order to better calibrated with the calendar, Zody said.

Also, the proposed dates for the various 2014-2015 deer-hunting seasons are Archery, including crossbow - Sept. 25-Feb. 1 (2015); Antlerless-only via muzzle-loader-only – Oct. 11 and 12; Youth-only general firearms – Nov. 22-23; General firearms – Dec. 1-7; Statewide either-sex muzzle-loader-only – Jan. 2-5.


- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Sounds like someone is slamming on the brakes. Wonder why the last two press releases were by Zody and not Tonk.
 
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MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Interesting. I see a common sense use of dummy rounds in rifles to reduce to 3 total.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Interesting. I see a common sense use of dummy rounds in rifles to reduce to 3 total.

How does that get around the requirement with shotguns where it states the plug can't be capable of being removed without disassembly of the gun. Dummy rounds leave a huge hole for abuse as they can be added or removed too easily.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
How does that get around the requirement with shotguns where it states the plug can't be capable of being removed without disassembly of the gun. Dummy rounds leave a huge hole for abuse as they can be added or removed too easily.

Oh I agree. But shotguns are easy to take down and install a plug. Not so with rifles. Doable but not easy for the average hunter.

But we all must remember that "a thief is a thief" and "a poacher will always poacher" so they don't follow the rules anyway. The rules are just for us honest guys to follow.
 
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Milo

Tatonka guide.
8,184
157
Sounds like someone is slamming on the brakes. Wonder why the last two press releases were by Zody and not Tonk.

Notice that the excuse was our bucks are getting smaller but now we are not seeing as many deer so the simple statement that we shot more bucks is some kind of accomplishment. What opportunistic pricks
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
I'm not seeing much that will reduce the kill, what I'm seeing will increase the cost of hunting.

That's a product of having less deer, you didn't think they intended to make less money too did you.
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
Sounds like someone is slamming on the brakes. Wonder why the last two press releases were by Zody and not Tonk.

Bc Tonk probably said Fugg that, public relations isn't in my job description...not gonna take the shit when he's not the decision maker.
 

Milo

Tatonka guide.
8,184
157
In 2006 we killed almost 96 k antlered deer and in 2012 we shot just above 80 k. Same number of deer btw...
 
Interesting !!

I like the rifle idea

As I am all set with a pair of Marlin rifles , 44 mag and 45/70 and a 500 S&W Handie Rifle

I hope to see the rifle thing happen

John
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
I don't see how Crawford county can be more then Richland county. I see they are both 3 deer counties but Richland has no Doe permits and Crawford does. I still will not shoot does off my properties in Crawford but that is just ridiculous if you ask me.
 

LonewolfNopack

Junior Member
1,503
127
The woods
I don't see how Crawford county can be more then Richland county. I see they are both 3 deer counties but Richland has no Doe permits and Crawford does. I still will not shoot does off my properties in Crawford but that is just ridiculous if you ask me.

Don't question the DOW. They know more about the deer population on your property then you do.:smiley_depressive:
 

Bigslam51

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,778
127
Stark County
Micro management at its finest. The entire county pays the price for the elimination of the urban tags/zones.

We were only 20 deer short from last year and the other counties around me were close to their harvests last year. They just want more deer dead cause apparently we haven't killed enough.