Adults can start hunting small game beginning Friday
While youngsters got first dibs this weekend and last on Ohio’s small game population, the seasons for adult hunters of cottontail rabbits, bobwhite quail and ring-necked pheasants open Friday.
In the decades before the comeback of white-tailed deer and the reintroduction of the wild turkey, among the most popular quarries in the state were bunnies, pheasants and bobwhites.
Quail, once abundant in abandoned orchards and farm fields, have disappeared from many counties and have grown few in others. For that reason, the season is short, running through Nov. 26, and restrictive. The daily limit is four in the 16 open counties in southern Ohio, the closest to Columbus being Ross, Vinton and Athens.
Cottontails, which can do well in wild meadows or suburban tracts not overseen by coyotes or cats, can be hunted daily except during deer gun week through Feb. 28, 2018. The daily limit is four.
Pheasants, once numerous in the farmlands of western and northwestern Ohio, offer hunters a handsome quarry and fine table fare. The limit is two cock birds daily through Jan. 14.
Changing land use has caused a precipitous decline in pheasant numbers, but the Ohio Division of Wildlife helps by raising and distributing thousands of birds at public hunting sites each year.
This year, some 14,000 will be released in stages before Thanksgiving Day, a ritual hunting day for many families in the past and for some still. In central Ohio, pheasant releases take place at two wildlife areas, Pleasant Valley, northwest of Chillicothe, and Delaware, north of Columbus.
The Delaware Wildlife Area already has received some 800 pheasants in anticipation of the two weekend youth hunts. Releases totaling 350 birds are scheduled on Thursday, another 200 birds on Nov. 9 and an additional 250 birds on Nov. 22. The total of 1,600 pheasants is more than any other site in the state.
Pleasant Valley is scheduled to receive 400 birds over the three November dates.
Within reasonable driving distance, Killdeer Plains in Wyandot County will receive 1,210 birds and Tri-Valley in Muskingum County 1,490 birds.
Butcher block
An informational workshop on field dressing and butchering white-tailed deer will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Ohio Division of Wildlife District One headquarters, 1500 Dublin Road, Columbus.
Registration is required to attend the free workshop, which will be held outdoors. For details and registration, phone Derek Klein at (614) 644-3295 or send an email to derek. klein@dnr.state.oh.us.
Mohican plans
The public comment period has been extended until Nov. 6 on a proposal by the Ohio Division of Forestry that would alter sections of the MohicanMemorial State Forest.
The plan would result in the removal of tracts planted with non-native red and white pine during restoration efforts that took place decades ago. Removal of the mature pines, which cover about 40 percent of the forest, would promote the growth of native hardwoods.
The proposal would leave some pine tracts “untouched to serve as a legacy of reforestation efforts at Mohican,” a division statement said. About 20 to 40 acres of the planted pines, or about 1 to 2 percent of the total, would be cut annually.
Details about the plan can be viewed at forestry. ohiodnr.gov/rnhi_mohican. Comments can be emailed to forestry.comments@dnr.state.oh.us.
Parting shots
Goose and duck seasons continue through next Sunday. Goose hunting reopens Nov. 23 and duck hunting on Dec. 16 in the South Zone, which includes central Ohio. … Dove hunting runs through next Sunday and reopens Dec. 16.