Officials hunt for way to keep herd healthy | Mansfield News Journal

By KRISTINA SMITH HORN

The spread of a deadly brain disease could threaten Ohio’s deer population and the revenue the state receives from hunters.

Chronic Wasting Disease, an illness among deer and elk that causes the brain to deteriorate, has been found in Midwestern states including Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. So far, Ohio has been successful in keeping the disease out of its deer herd.

“People come from all over the country to hunt our prized deer,” said Larry Mitchell, president of the League of Ohio Sportsmen. “Our big concern is CWD coming into the state.”

That’s why state Sen. Bob Gibbs, R-Lakeville, and Rep. Mark Okey, D-Carrollton, have proposed bills to have businesses that keep commercial deer apply for a permit and be subject to fencing requirements and other control measures.

The concern is that deer in breeding facilities and preserves — where operators buy trophy-sized deer from around the country and people pay to hunt them — could become infected, get loose and infect the native deer population. Chronic Wasting Disease can spread through feces, urine and saliva and by animal-to-animal contact.

The bills also would give the Ohio Department of Agriculture sole authority to regulate commercial deer. That’s where the controversy comes in.

Who controls the deer?

In a memo last month, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources opposed the bills because the agency wants to retain oversight of the deer population.

ODNR has regulated hunting preserves — most of which are in central and southern Ohio — since 1953 and deer breeders since 1994, according to the memo. The Department of Agriculture has authority over health issues and already regulates sale of captive deer across state lines, said Jim Lehman, Division of Wildlife law enforcement administrator.

“We want to make sure that we maintain authority over those animals,” Lehman said. “(CWD) is not easy to fix once you’re dealing with it. It’s much easier to prevent it.”

The League of Ohio Sportsmen encourages hunters to call legislators to speak out against the bills.

“Without the Division of Wildlife’s authority, it could get out of hand,” Mitchell said. “If there was a problem with a herd inside a place, the Division of Wildlife would have no control over anything. The department of agriculture does not have the manpower to do this.”

ODNR and the agriculture department are working together to reach a balance on the issue, Lehman said. Gibbs said he and Okey want that balance. Gibbs feels the sportsmen’s opposition is misguided and premature.

“We’re both hunters, and we’re both sportsmen, and we want to protect the deer herd,” he said. “Unfortunately, the ODNR has the sportsmen all riled up. We can sit down and work this out.

“We’re not going to pass a bill that sportsmen aren’t going to be comfortable with.”

Gibbs said he proposed the bill because operators of hunting preserves in his district — including Holmes County, which has four preserves — asked for regulations. Okey did not return a message seeking comment.

“There’s no framework about what the regulations are now,” Gibbs said. “They want a structure in place. I’ve toured the farms, and they’re pretty impressive.

“If something happens, they want to make sure they work with the Ohio Department of Agriculture.”

Sen. Mark Wagoner, R-Ottawa Hills, who represents Ottawa County and is co-sponsoring the Senate bill, said his understanding is the bill would help the state better regulate deer sold as livestock. ODNR would retain oversight of the native deer herd, he said.

“It’s a bill that makes sense and should be at least considered,” he said.

The agriculture department monitors domestic deer that are sold across state lines, said Robert Boggs, Ohio Department of Agriculture director.

The department oversees shipping, making sure shipments match the manifest, Boggs said.

“We just keep them honest,” he said. “You don’t get three strikes and you’re out. You’re out on the first strike.”

A captive deer must go through five years of inspections before being considered disease-free, he said. If farms don’t have that certification, they can’t market their animals.

His agency and ODNR work together, he said. The agriculture department tests for diseases among the animals, and ODNR uses its 137 wildlife officers to monitor deer across the state.

“They’re very important in enforcement in keeping us informed in other parts of the state,” Boggs said. “We have no problem with them, and they have no problem with us.”

Since July 2007, ODNR’s wildlife officers have conducted 395 inspections of deer-holding facilities. They documented 41 issues or problems and filed 16 charges, including conspiracy and interstate transportation of non-certified deer.

“The Division of Wildlife, with its significant numbers of well-trained law enforcement officers, is uniquely suited to dealing with laws and rules dealing with captive (deer),” according to the ODNR memo.

Gibbs, however, said wildlife officers’ visits to the preserves have been sporadic. He thinks more stringent oversight would be beneficial.

His and Okey’s bills propose to have breeders and operators of hunting preserves apply for a permit to keep commercial deer — which would come with a $300 fee. If approved, they would be subject to state regulations.

“If you don’t want to be involved with it, you stay the same,” he said. “This is voluntary.”

Regulations including criteria for fencing, records of all deer kept, sold and killed on the property and tissue samples of 10 percent of the operation’s deer, according to the bill.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture works with deer farmers more than ODNR does, Gibbs said.

“We do have interest in the bill, but only the disease portion,” Boggs said.

Boggs commended Okey for moving to take more precautions against Chronic Wasting Disease.

“It’s something we think will move us much further on in terms of the disease,” he said.

mkhorn@gannett.com

via Officials hunt for way to keep herd healthy | mansfieldnewsjournal.com | Mansfield News Journal.

Wild hogs could be past point of elimination in Ohio – Dayton Daily News

By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer

Ohio could be past the point of being able to eradicate destructive wild hogs from the state, a federal wildlife specialist said.

The swine, popularly dubbed “Hogzillas” capable of growing to 500 pounds or more, have taken a foothold here as they have rapidly spread across the United States in a population explosion, a new survey shows.

So far, Ohio’s animals are apparently free of diseases that could harm people, said Craig Hicks, a wildlife disease biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture based in Reynoldsburg.

But they remain a serious threat to native wildlife and the environment, and hunters should still use caution when harvesting them, Hicks noted.

“Their existence here can only wreak havoc on the natural environment,” he said. “We may be beyond the point of removing all feral swine from Ohio.”

In 2009, the first year of an ongoing program to test the wild hogs for diseases, Hicks examined samples from 14 swine killed by hunters. Tests came back negative for classical swine fever, swine brucellosis and pseudo rabies.

That doesn’t mean hunters shouldn’t be vigilant, he added.

As with deer or any wild animal, hunters should wear rubber gloves when handling raw meat and properly bag discarded pieces after field dressing, Hicks said. Hunters should also wash their hands and clothing. And, as with any pork product, the meat should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

The total number of wild Ohio hogs — a mix of farm escapees and much larger European boars that fled game hunting camps — is 500 to 1,000, according to estimates.

They’re in 26 of 88 counties including Belmont, Gallia, Guernsey, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Ross, Scioto, Vinton and Washington in the southeast.

They’re also in Adams, Brown, Butler, Darke, Preble and Shelby counties.

Reports also have located them in Auglaize, Champaign, Fayette, Logan, Mercer and Pickaway counties, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

As wild hogs have spread, they have developed permanent populations in more regions, said Jack Mayer, a scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, S.C.

In a Scripps Howard News Service report, Mayer said he’s tracked the spread of the pigs to 44 states. America’s wild pig population more than doubled in size and range in the past 20 years. Two decades ago, 500,000 to 2 million roamed the United States. Now the population is 2 million to 6 million. In 1982, they were documented in only 17 states.

Mayer said that when a wild hog community is large enough, it reaches a critical mass and gains what scientists say is a permanent foothold.

Twenty-one states fall into that category of having an “established” hog population. When the population is smaller, it can still be removed by hunting and trapping.

Twelve states have so-called “transitional” or “emerging” populations including Ohio, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Wildlife experts have said the hogs are increasingly running roughshod in rural areas, suburbs and even a few cities. They’re digging up cemeteries, gardens and lawns, causing car wrecks — and occasionally attacking people.

In 2009:

• A wild pig attacked a St. Petersburg, Fla., woman in her backyard in April, goring her leg. Seven months later, an Avon Park, Fla., driver was killed when her sports utility vehicle flipped after colliding with a wild hog.

• In Detroit, a wild pig wandered through downtown, making its way to the home of a family in nearby Warren, Mich.

• In September, in a Redding, Calif.-area subdivision, an estimated 100 feral hogs tore out landscaping and turned lawns into muddy messes.

According to the Scripps Howard report, no national strategy or program exists to corral what is a cross-border problem. Without federal intervention and enforcement of laws that limit transporting animals, the battle against the pigs — which each year cause an estimated $800 million in property and crop damage and 27,000 auto collisions — could very well be lost, Mayer said.

The USDA’s Hicks said wild pigs are challenging to kill.

“They’re a pretty smart animal, and they learn from our mistakes,” he said. “They are prolific breeders. In our southern counties, trying to find them on a large tract of land can be difficult.”

via Dayton Daily News.

Muzzleloading season appears to have fewer bucks – MariettaTimes.com

By Brad Bauer, bbauer@mariettatimes.comPOSTED: January 11, 2010 “Muzzleloading season appears to have fewer bucks” For the past several weeks Joseph Hendershot had been seeing a large buck roaming around his Stanleyville-area home, but the buck disappeared – sort of.Hendershot, 48, hoped to take aim at the impressive 10-point buck during the state's muzzleloader deer season, which opened Saturday and continues through Tuesday.”I froze all day Saturday and most of Sunday looking for him,” he said. “I saw lots of deer, but nothing with horns.”Hendershot said he began to theorize his buck may have been killed by a bowhunter or moved to another area. But on his way out of the woods for lunch on Sunday, Hendershot said he found a clue to the mystery.”I looked down and found a shed,” he said. “It looked like half of the rack from my buck… That buck probably walked past me 10 times and I didn't know it because he's already dropped his horns.”Nearly all bucks shed their antlers each winter, but the shed generally doesn't occur until late January or later. Wildlife officials said the difference this year is likely related to a food shortage.Many parts of the region encountered the worst crop of nuts and other wildlife foods in the last 40 years this past fall.Hunters in West Virginia said they noticed fewer bucks during their muzzleloader season last week.”There's a definite biological reason for it,” Chris Ryan, wildlife management supervisor for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources told the Associated Press. “When bucks are malnourished, they tend to shed their antlers earlier than usual.”Hendershot said he planned to go back out to the woods on Sunday in hopes of finding the other half of the shed and maybe another buck that hasn't lost his rack yet.”I'm going to be afraid to shoot a doe, just because I don't want to accidentally shoot that buck,” he said. “If that guy can make it through the rest of the season, he should be a real dandy come fall.”A total of 227,748 deer have been harvested so far this season in Ohio when combining the adult and youth gun seasons, early muzzleloader season, gun weekend, and the first nine weeks of the archery season.That compares to a total of 218,890 killed last year during the same time period. Hunters took a total of 252,017 deer during all of last year's hunting seasons.Prior to the start of the hunting season, Ohio's deer population was estimated at 650,000. The Division of Wildlife expects as many as 210,000 hunters will participate in the muzzleloader season.Ohio's statewide archery season continues through Feb. 7.

via Muzzleloading season appears to have fewer bucks – MariettaTimes.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Ohio, Community Information – The Marietta Times.

300,000 Ohio bowhunters expected to try for deer – toledoblade.com

Some 300,000 bowhunters, representing more than half of all Ohioans who hunt deer, are expected to participate in the statewide archery deer-hunting season, which opens Saturday for a four-month run.

The state’s deer managers are not necessarily forecasting another record bag this year, but it is altogether possible as seasons, bag limits, and permits remain liberal.

During last year’s four-month archery season, bowhunters killed 85,856 deer, an increase of 9 percent from the previous year. Crossbow hunters took a record 46,480 of that number and longbow hunters took a record 39,376. Overall, archers accounted for nearly 34 percent of 252,017 deer taken during Ohio’s combined archery, muzzleloader, and gun seasons.

Licking County led the state in both the vertical bow and crossbow harvest. Coshocton, Tuscarawas, Ashtabula, and Holmes rounded out the top five counties in crossbow harvest, and Coshocton, Tuscarawas, Knox, and Holmes made up the list of top five counties in vertical-bow harvest.

Again this year, hunters who purchase an Ohio hunting license and $24 deer permit will be eligible to buy the $15 antlerless-deer permit, which is valid Sept. 26 through Nov. 29. The $15 antlerless-deer permit will be valid through Dec. 6 in Zone C only. The $15 permit may be purchased only until Nov. 29.

“There is no doubt that progress toward reducing the statewide deer herd is being made,” said Mike Tonkovich, deer biologist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

“Bowhunters participating in our annual statewide survey have reported seeing fewer total deer from their stands for the past two years. Work remains, but there is certainly good reason to thank Ohio’s hunters for their hard work and continued support of our deer program.”

This fall’s preseason statewide deer population is estimated at 650,000, down 50,000 from a year ago. More larger bucks also seem to be available. But select regions, especially in the southeast and in urban zones, still are considered to be deer-heavy.

Ohio hunters again are encouraged to take more does using the $15 permit and to donate any extra venison to the needy. The state is collaborating with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry to help pay for the processing of donated venison.

While funds for the effort last, hunters who donate deer to a food bank are not required to pay the processing cost. More information about this program can be found online at fhfh.org.

After Nov. 29, archery hunters must use a $24 deer permit for antlerless deer. Using the $15 antlerless deer permit, hunters can take one additional antlerless deer in Zone A, up to two additional in Zone B, and up to three additional in Zone C.

The antlerless-deer permits will also be valid for Division of Wildlife controlled deer hunts and for hunting deer in urban areas.

This year’s statewide archery season remains open through Feb. 7, including during the week of gun season for deer, Nov. 30 through Dec. 6.

Gun hunters will be able to enjoy an additional weekend of deer hunting Dec. 19 and 20. Archers may hunt one half-hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset, except during the statewide gun, youth, and muzzleloader seasons when they are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.

Archers hunting during the statewide gun, youth or muzzleloader seasons must meet the hunter orange requirements of those seasons.

To hunt deer in Ohio, hunters must possess a deer permit in addition to a valid hunting license. State law allows hunters to take only one antlered buck a year, regardless of the type of deer season, deer permit, or weapon used.

The 2009-2010 hunting licenses are not printed on weatherproof paper. Hunters are advised to protect licenses and permits by carrying them in protective pouches or wallets.

A detailed listing of deer hunting rules is contained in the digest, 2009-2010 Ohio Hunting Regulations, which is available where licenses are sold. It also may be viewed online at wildohio.com.

via toledoblade.com –.

Hunting scheme targeted elderly property owners | Mansfield News Journal

Cincinnati.com • March 29, 2009

ADAMS COUNTY — There were track marks of four-wheel drives. Piles of dead deer.

And sometimes late at night, Evelyn Butts would look out the window at her 100-acre property and see lights flickering in the woods.

None of that made sense – until authorities began investigating a Sharonville man for a wildlife scheme in Adams County that netted more than $80,000 from dozens of hunters and took advantage of elderly property owners.

“I’m angry, disgusted and annoyed,” Butts said. “I’m a 73-year-old lady, and you better bet I’m not gonna sit on this. Oh my goodness – I feel violated.”

Butts, like many others in rural Adams County, owns property that stretches into the woods and well beyond the line of sight from her home. She is one of at least half a dozen property owners who recently discovered that a stranger had been leading hunters onto their property in search of deer and turkey.

That stranger, investigators say, is Joseph Todd Payne, who faces several wildlife charges that are third- and fourth-degree misdemeanors. More charges are pending. He is scheduled to appear in Adams County Court in April.

Payne allegedly charged hunters $1,200 to $1,500 for five-day deer and turkey hunts on land he didn’t own. The 30-year-old helped start a company called Lethal Impact Outfitters, which provides deer and turkey hunting guide services. The company’s Web site touts “trophy class whitetails” and more than 2,000 acres of “private low-pressure” hunting in Jackson and Adams counties.

Payne’s business, which was in operation for several years, wasn’t short on customers.

“It’s a growing industry,” said Joel Buddelmeyer, investigator with the Ohio Division of Wildlife. “There’s a lot of money to be made, especially with out-of-state hunters from Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. We have bigger and better deer here.”

Payne’s alleged scheme didn’t land on the radar until last January, when a property caretaker noticed several people hunting. The hunters said they paid Payne to hunt there and showed written permission slips issued by Lethal Impact Outfitters.

An undercover investigation revealed several parcels of land being used.

A search warrant was issued earlier this month on Payne’s Sharonville home, where authorities confiscated computers, journals, records and receipts.

Most of the property owners, such as Helen Haverland, 83, do not live on the land. Haverland said her land is used for farming and is usually unregulated. She said she allowed hunting on her property years ago but has since posted signs that forbid it.

Butts also has “no trespassing” signs and said part of her land is fenced, but there’s no way for her to regulate so many acres.

“It makes me angry to think that people profit from bringing other people into my property,” Butts said. “It makes me so angry. They don’t pay my taxes. They have no right to be here, and to think they’ve made a profit off of it.”

Hundreds of acres of open land in Adams County go without watch, she said.

No license is required to be a hunting guide, and the only way for wildlife officers to know someone has trespassed is through public complaint, Buddelmeyer said.

“We’re getting more and more deer guides in Ohio, and the Division of Wildlife doesn’t have any regulations on them,” he said.

Butts isn’t sure what she’ll do to protect her land.

“You can’t put up a fence around 100 acres of land, and they won’t stay out because of a trespassing sign,” she said. “I never know who’s back there.”

via Hunting scheme targeted elderly property owners | mansfieldnewsjournal.com | Mansfield News Journal.

State proposes liberal limit on antlerless deer – Ohio Hunting, Fishing, Outdoor Sports | The Great Outdoors – cleveland.com

by D’Arcy Egan

Friday January 09, 2009, 7:26 AM

The Ohio Division of Wildlife has proposed eliminating the bag limit for antlerless deer in Ohio’s five urban deer zones for next season to help manage an overabundance of deer.

The urban zones surround the Cleveland-Akron, Toledo, Youngstown-Warren, Columbus and Cincinnati areas. Currently, there is a four antlerless deer season bag limit. While deer herds continue to grow in the urban zones, available hunting land is shrinking.

Today’s deer regulations astound those who began hunting in the 1950s and 1960s, when spotting a white-tailed deer in the woods was special. The deer herd is now so large and the regulations so liberal that a dedicated hunter is allowed to bag seven deer each year.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

via State proposes liberal limit on antlerless deer – Ohio Hunting, Fishing, Outdoor Sports | The Great Outdoors – cleveland.com.

Ohio Deer Hunters Prepare for Statewide Muzzleloader Season, December 27-30

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.

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

via Ohio Deer Hunters Prepare for Statewide Muzzleloader Season, December 27-30.

The Columbus Dispatch : Hunters kill more deer this season

By Dana Wilson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A larger deer population and better weather than last year helped Ohio hunters to harvest more whitetails during the weeklong gun season.

Statewide, hunters checked 116,798 deer between Dec. 1 and Sunday, a 13 percent increase over last year’s kill of 103,195, the Ohio Division of Wildlife reported.

Biologists had predicted a harvest of between 115,000 and 120,000 deer, so this year’s numbers were right in line with what state officials had expected, said Lindsay Deering, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Tuscarawas County in eastern Ohio checked the most deer, with 5,862, followed by 4,136 in Harrison County and 4,043 in Coshocton County.

Licking County hunters led central Ohio, killing 3,597 deer, up from 3,265 in 2007. But several area counties, including Champaign, Fayette, Franklin, Logan and Pickaway, reported checking fewer deer this year than last.

State wildlife officials estimated Ohio’s deer population at 700,000 in late September.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

The Columbus Dispatch : Hunters kill more deer this season.

White-tailed Deer Hunters Score on Opening Day of Gun Season

Statewide harvest up 70 percent from 2007

COLUMBUS, OH – Ohio hunters were on the mark for opening day of the 2008 deer-gun season. Hunters took 33,034 white-tailed deer on Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. The deer-gun season remains open through Sunday, December 7, and then reopens for two days on Saturday and Sunday, December 20-21.

The preliminary figures from deer check stations throughout the state show a significant increase from last year’s opening day total of 19,391. Monday’s weather was breezy with intermittent rain or snow across the state, a stark contrast to opening day 2007 when hunters were hampered by heavy rain.

Counties reporting the highest numbers of deer checked on Monday included Tuscarawas-1,821, Washington-1,456, Coshocton-1,307, Harrison-1,286, Guernsey-1,202, Licking-1,134, Ashtabula-1,089, Holmes-1,088, Knox-954, and Athens-828.

Combining the results of Monday’s harvest with those from the early muzzleloader season, the first six weeks of archery season and the recent youth deer-gun season, a preliminary total of 95,074 deer have been killed so far this deer hunting season. That number compares to 84,161 harvested last year at this time. In all, hunters took a total of 232,854 deer during all of last year’s hunting seasons.

Approximately 400,000 hunters are expected to participate in the statewide deer-gun season. Ohio’s deer population was estimated to be 700,000 prior to the start of the fall hunting seasons.

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.

Hunters are encouraged to kill more does this season using the reduced-priced antlerless deer permit (valid in Zone C through December 7) 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.

Hunters who wish to share their success can submit a photo of themselves and the deer they killed this year for publication on the ODNR Division of Wildlife’s Web page.

A detailed listing of deer-hunting rules is contained in the 2008-2009 Ohio Hunting Regulations, available wherever licenses are sold, and online 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.

-30-

EDITORS NOTE: The following is a list of the number of deer checked and tagged by hunters during the first day of deer-gun hunting season. The number taken during the 2007 season is marken in ( ): 2008 (2007)

Adams -377 (273); Allen -130 (67); Ashland -577 (324); Ashtabula -1,089 (588); Athens -828 (649); Auglaize -102 (78); Belmont -612 (372); Brown -336 (227); Butler -55 (28); Carroll -625 (338); Champaign -193 (147); Clark -67 (40); Clermont -236 (190); Clinton -109(82); Columbiana -722 (331); Coshocton -1,307(659); Crawford -265 (171); Cuyahoga -32 (8); Darke -50 (24); Defiance -323 (93); Delaware -188 (120); Erie -82 (46); Fairfield -452 (279); Fayette -50 (34); Franklin -81 (38); Fulton -150 (69); Gallia -501 (466); Geauga – 326 (111); Greene -54 (35); Guernsey -1,202 (871); Hamilton -40 (32); Hancock -83 (103); Hardin -133 (129); Harrison -1,286 (732); Henry -108 (63); Highland -409 (294); Hocking -683 (416); Holmes – 1,088 (621); Huron -288 (220); Jackson -648 (391); Jefferson -771 (466); Knox -954 (304); Lake -113 (57); Lawrence -343 (265); Licking -1,134 (494); Logan -169 (155); Lorain -165 (120); Lucas -75 (59); Madison -53 (23); Mahoning – 198 (152); Marion -74 (43); Medina – 158 (96); Meigs -702 (451); Mercer -63 (64); Miami -38 (18); Monroe -672 (373); Montgomery -27 (32); Morgan -556 (347); Morrow -308 (190); Muskingum -670 (471); Noble -645 (531); Ottawa -9 (18); Paulding -139 (80); Perry -580 (340); Pickaway – 161 (135); Pike -261 (126); Portage -164 (90); Preble -43 (45); Putnam -157 (101); Richland -364 (201); Ross -597 (280); Sandusky -54 (35); Scioto -380 (206); Seneca -242 (187); Shelby -123 (117); Stark -440 (235); Summit -79 (61); Trumbull -657(333); Tuscarawas -1,821 (833); Union -125 (90); Van Wert -74 (33); Vinton – 497 (216); Warren -102 (90); Washington -1,456 (540); Wayne -186 (133); Williams -264 (146); Wood -108 (78); Wyandot -176 (172); TOTAL: 33,034 (19,391)

News Release Archives.

Two fined $12,988 for poaching trophy Ohio buck after dark in Ross County – Cleveland Sports News

The largest fine ever levied for killing a single white-tailed deer in Ohio was handed down to a pair of southern Ohio men who teamed to illegally kill a trophy buck after dark on Nov. 1. On Friday, the two paid a total of $12,988 under a new formula for poaching a trophy deer.

Cory Posey, 19, of South Salem, and Kyle Kruger, 20, of Washington Courthouse pled guilty in Chillicothe Municipal Court to killing the deer shortly after midnight on Nov. 1 in northwest Ross County. The deer was shot with a Ruger .30-06 high-powered rifle, an illegal deer-hunting weapon in Ohio. The pair also pled guilty to spotlighting, shooting a deer after legal hunting hours and killing more than the season bag limit of one antlered deer.  Click link below for full story!

Two fined $12,988 for poaching trophy Ohio buck after dark in Ross County – Cleveland Sports News – The Latest Breaking News, Game Recaps and Scores from The Plain Dealer.