Ohio hunters gearing up for ducks and geese
Waterfowl hunting hasn't gone away, though numbers have slipped. Some 15,000 Ohioans, virtually all of them enthusiasts, aim at ducks and geese.
Waterfowl make stern demands, including an embrace of pre-dawn wakeups, the setting out of decoys in the dark and, later in the season, shivering through a morning in a blind sometimes shaken by wind and strafed by rain, sleet or snow.
Waterfowl hunters of the patrician class were among the nation's first conservationists. Less well-born hunters have been contributing to the restoration of wetlands since the federal duck stamp program began during the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency.
The current cost of the stamp, which must be purchased to hunt waterfowl legally, is $25. Revenues from sales have generated millions of dollars for habitat efforts since 1934.
Waterfowl season opened Saturday in most of Ohio, the Columbus area included.
Hunting for ducks and geese typically is a hit-or-miss endeavor that depends not only on skill and luck but also on weather, ultimately the shaper of waterfowl behavior on any given day.
Whether time in the blind runs fast or slow, whether the elements turn bracing or beautiful, the birds deliver a rush when called within shooting range and exotic cuisine when set on the dinner table.
Split into parts, the current session continues through Nov. 1 in both the North and South zones, after which the seasons don't sync precisely.
In the North Zone, which dips into Union, Logan, Marion, Morrow and Knox counties, ducks, coots and mergansers may be hunted again starting Nov. 7 and continuing through Dec. 27. Geese may be hunted from Nov. 7 through Dec. 27 and again from Jan. 2 through Feb. 6.
In the South Zone, which covers most of central Ohio and points south, hunting for ducks, coots and mergansers starts again on Dec. 5 and runs through Jan. 24. Goose hunting reopens Nov. 12 and continues through Feb. 6.
Waterfowl hunting within the popular stronghold known as the Lake Erie Marsh Zone, comprising Ottawa County and chunks of Erie, Sandusky, Wood and Lucas counties, runs on a somewhat different schedule based on historical patterns. There the migrants tend to arrive early in autumn and tend to depart before winter grows harsh as the wetlands grow a covering of ice.
Ohio sits off any of the four main migratory paths, or flyways, used by waterfowl in North America. The Atlantic and Mississippi flyways, nonetheless, have branches that bring ducks and other waterfowl into the Buckeye State, sometimes in large numbers when weather fronts and storms assist.
About every two weeks during the season the Ohio Division of Wildlife posts results of surveys conducted at a number of wetlands, including inland sites Big Island, Killbuck Marsh and Funk Bottoms. The update posted last week showed a burgeoning influx of ducks.
For 65 years the most accurate measure of autumn duck abundance has been the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey. Carried out annually during the nesting season by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Canadian Wildlife Service and state partners, this year's survey was not conducted, a casualty of COVID-19 restrictions.
Delta Waterfowl, a North American waterfowl hunter organization, nevertheless used surveys by North Dakota's wildlife agency in that state to declare the 2020 breeding season a success and to predict a strong flight of migrating ducks. Not making a forecast was Ducks Unlimited, a 700,000-member conservation and hunter advocacy group.
Check the regulations booklet or wildlife division website, wildohio.gov, for bag limits, survey updates and related rules.
outdoors@dispatch.com