Ohio Division of Wildlife

🏹 Ohio’s deer archery season will begin soon! 🦌 📅 The statewide season opens Saturday, Sept. 28. Hunters in the disease surveillance area (all of Hardin, Marion, and Wyandot counties as well as Auglaize and Jackson townships in Allen County) can begin archery hunting on Saturday, Sept. 14. ⭐ New this year, hunters can use deer management permits, valid for antlerless deer, through Sunday, Dec. 22, which is the last day of the bonus deer gun hunting season. Check the hunting regulations booklet for more info: https://ow.ly/U92e50Ta2q6 📷: Rebecca Davis

🔶 Good luck & stay safe this season, dove hunters! 🌻 ➡️ Doves have been a popular game bird in Ohio since 1995. They are plentiful during the start of the season, especially in agricultural areas and open fields, and migrate to southern habitats for the winter. Dove season runs through Nov. 3, with a second season open from Dec. 7 to Jan. 1, 2025. 📷 Mother-daughter dove hunters Kelly & Sarah Schott with their black lab retrievers

🎣 "The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope." -John Buchan 📷 Alex Barty snapping this stunning shot on the Scioto River

⛅ Sunrise & Sunset Information 🌙 We are no longer publishing a summarization of the sunrise/sunset tables in the Hunting Regulations. ☀️ In place of the table, we are providing a list of resources where all hunters can view or access local sunrise and sunset times. The resources are listed below and also on page 12 of the 2024-25 regulations booklet. ⏺️ The Ohio Division of Wildlife’s HuntFish OH app ⏺️ U.S. Navy Astronomical Applications Department: US Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department (navy.mil) and enter a location here ⏺️ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) solar calculator: gml.noaa.gov ⏺️ Sunrise-sunset apps ⏺️ Weather apps ⏺️ Local newspaper, television, or radio outlets 📷: Nick Davis

🍂 NEWS: Ohio’s hunting seasons for squirrels, doves, and specific waterfowl open in early September. Archers can look forward to white-tailed deer hunting beginning later in the month. 📅 Hunting seasons for squirrel (fox, red, and gray), dove, rail (Virginia and sora), snipe, and gallinule begin Sunday, Sept. 1. Early Canada goose hunting runs from Saturday, Sept. 7 to Sunday, Sept. 15, and early teal (blue-winged and green-winged) hunting is Saturday, Sept. 7 to Sunday, Sept. 22. The deer archery season is not far behind, with statewide hunting opening on Saturday, Sept. 28. https://ow.ly/HliT50Ta2iB ⭐ Learn More: 🐿️ Squirrels are plentiful statewide. Fox squirrels are more abundant in western Ohio and gray squirrels are most bountiful in eastern counties. Early in the hunting season, squirrels are found in forests and woodlands that have beech, oak, and hickory trees. Squirrel season continues through Jan. 31, 2025. 🙌 Doves have been a popular game bird in Ohio since 1995. They are plentiful during the start of the season, especially in agricultural areas and open fields, and migrate to southern habitats for the winter. Dove season runs through Nov. 3, with a second season open from Dec. 7 to Jan. 1, 2025. 🦆 Canada geese, blue-winged teal, and green-winged teal are some of the earliest migratory waterfowl to arrive in Ohio's wetlands. Waterfowl hunting is best in agricultural fields, from the shores of wetlands or ponds, or from a boat. Waterfowl identification is important in the early season, when similar species are not legal game, so it is a good idea to review an identification guide before an early season hunt.

NEWS: Ohio’s Spring 2025 Wild Turkey Hunting Seasons Proposed to Wildlife Council ⏺️ The Ohio Wildlife Council received proposals for the spring 2025 wild turkey hunting season dates. The council also received proposals to amend site-specific minimum-length requirements for walleye, sauger, and saugeye at several inland lakes. Anyone who would like to make official comments proposals can do so online (LINK) between Monday, Aug. 26 and Wednesday, Sept. 25. The proposed rules will be voted on during the Ohio Wildlife Council’s meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30. 🦃 Wild turkey hunting proposals The proposed spring 2025 wild turkey hunting season dates are: Youth: Saturday, April 12 to Sunday, April 13, 2025 South Zone: Saturday, April 19 to Sunday, May 18, 2025 Northeast Zone: Saturday, May 3 to Sunday, June 1, 2025 Ohio’s spring turkey season is split into two zones to align with the timing of turkey nesting in those regions. The south zone is the majority of Ohio, comprising 83 counties. The northeast zone includes Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, and Trumbull counties. Annually, the south zone opening date is proposed to begin on the Saturday closest to April 21, and the northeast zone is proposed to begin on the Saturday closest to May 1. Under these guidelines, the opening dates for the south zone and northeast zone may be as much as two weeks apart. 🎣 Inland fishing proposals The Ohio Wildlife Council received a proposal to remove the 15-inch minimum length requirement for walleye, sauger, and saugeye on Acton Lake, Alum Creek Lake, Atwood Lake, Buckeye Lake, Caesar Creek Lake, Ferguson Reservoir, Findlay Reservoir 1, Findlay Reservoir 2, Indian Lake, Metzger Reservoir, Piedmont Lake, Pleasant Hill Lake, Rocky Fork Lake, Seneca Lake, and Tappan Lake. If approved, there would be no minimum length requirement for walleye, sauger, or saugeye on those waterbodies. As part of the same proposal, a 15-inch minimum length requirement for walleye, sauger, and saugeye would be added at Mosquito Creek Lake and LaDue Reservoir to better conserve fish populations.

NEWS: Little Portage H2Ohio Wetland Restoration Project Complete As part of Governor Mike DeWine's H2Ohio initiative, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has completed a new wetland restoration project at Little Portage Wildlife Area in Ottawa County. The project will improve water quality while benefitting the surrounding communities and revitalizing the area’s ecosystem. The restoration project replaced subsurface field tile drainage to redirect water from more than 400 acres of farmland to the wildlife area wetlands for filtration before flowing into the Little Portage River.

In April of 2023, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 1-800-POACHER TIP line received a report of a hunter bragging about multiple deer hunting violations. This information was passed on to Huron County Wildlife Officer Matt D. Smith. Officer Smith and Seneca County Wildlife Officer, Brock Williamson interviewed the suspect about the deer violations and learned that he had killed a six-point buck early in the season but did not game-check it in because he wanted to kill a bigger buck. The suspect also admitted that he had killed a larger ten-point buck later in the season which he did game-check. Neither deer was legal harvest because the first buck was never game-checked, and the second buck was over the suspect's limit of one antlered deer per season. Officers Smith and Williamson seized the illegal deer parts and charged the suspect with failing to game check a deer and taking more than one antlered deer in any one season. The defendant was found guilty and ordered to pay $600 in fines and court costs, had his hunting privileges revoked for one year, was placed on two years of non-reporting probation, was ordered to complete twenty hours of community service, and was given 120 days of jail time which was suspended.

🚨 Rare Bird Alert: Black-bellied whistling ducks have been spotted with ducklings on a wildlife area in Wayne County. This species has been slowly expanding north, and we're happy to have them in the Buckeye State. 😍 📷 Dave Tidrick

#CitizenScientists: Report your sightings of wild turkeys. This information helps our biologists monitor the turkey population and is part of an annual, coordinated, multi-state effort. 📌 Report through August 31: https://ow.ly/sWy050SZnav 📷 Richard & Joy Hadley 🦃