Hunting seasons have begun drawing to a close
Frozen fun
Long-range outlooks suggest stretches of bitter cold won’t become a prevailing pattern this month or next. That doesn’t bode well for ice anglers on Lake Erie or points inland.
The good news is that Michigan sits across Ohio’s northwestern border, and the formation of hard water during winter still rates as a lock in upper parts of that state.
The weather, though hardly frigid, has been harsh at times. Deer hunters tasted the meteorological lash, and as a consequence checked about 17,000 fewer whitetails than they did a year ago.
Hunters have until sunset Tuesday, when the four-day muzzleloader season ends, to make up for any whitetail shortfall. After that, it’s about 3½ weeks until Feb. 3, the 2018-19 deer archery season’s final day. Usually, not many deer go down in those final dark, cold weeks.
The days are dwindling for hunters. Mourning dove season runs through Tuesday, pheasant season through Jan. 13. The last day of January marks the final day hunters can kill a raccoon, fox, opossum, squirrel, weasel, skunk or ruffed grouse. Trappers may no longer take fox, raccoon, skunk, opossum or weasel after Jan. 31.
The clock runs out on central Ohio duck hunters before the end of January, and goose hunters a couple of weeks later. Rabbits and some furbearers remain at risk through Feb. 28, though probably not much given the inertia that comes with end times.
Pleasant or unpleasant, weather doesn’t have much sway during the show season that runs into early spring. Though that marketplace isn’t nearly as heated as it was a few years ago, opportunities remain to sell and to be sold, to inspect, to compare, to learn and to mingle with like-minded people, such as:
• Northeast Ohio Sportsman Show (ohiosportsmanshow. com), Jan. 17-19, Mt. Hope Event Center, 8076 Route 241, Millersburg. $10 for adults, free for children 10 and under. Exhibits and vendors geared toward hunting, fishing, trapping and camping. Speakers include Dan Armitage and Doug Stewart, Columbus-area angling lore-masters, and Travis Hartman, a Lake Erie-based fishery scientist and charter captain.
• Cincinnati Travel, Sports & Boat Show (cincinnatiboatshow. com), Jan. 18-20, 23-27, Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Cincinnati. $13 for adults, free for children 12 and under. Attractions include a wild turkey-calling contest, adventure sports (zip lines and kayaks), gear and seminars.
• Northern Ohio Fly Fishing Expo (ncffexpo. com), Jan. 19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Days Inn & Suites, 4742 Brecksville Road, Richfield. $10 for adults, $5 for ages 13-18. A starting place for connecting to the Lake Erie steelhead fishing community.
• Columbus Fishing Expo 2019 (columbusfishingexpo.com), Feb. 8-10, Ohio Expo Center/ Bricker Building, 717 E. 17th Ave. $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, age 17 and under free with adult admission. A diverse menu of speakers, exhibits, vendors and gear focusing on angling.
• Hoover Fishing Seminar XXI (fishandtales.net), March 2, Walnut Springs Middle School, 888 E. Walnut St., Westerville. A day of informative seminars and a raffle, all to promote youth fishing.
• Ohio Decoy Collectors and Carvers Association show and sale (odcca.net), March 9-10, Holiday Inn, 15471 Royalton Road, Strongsville. Bringing together collectors and carvers with their decoys.
• Outdoor Life/field & Stream Expo (fieldandstreamexpo.com). March 15-17. Ohio Expo Center/bricker Building, 717 E. 17th Ave. $19.50 for age 16 and up, $6 for age 6-15. The Deer & Turkey Expo rolls on under corporate ownership.
outdoors@dispatch.com