Coyote hunting offers challenging and exciting opportunities Deer season has concluded for another year and most other seasons have wrapped up too, so what are hunters to do? Repair hunting equipment? Clean…

by Larry S. Moore

There are several proposals regarding deer hunting that should make the annual Division of Wildlife Open Houses on Saturday March 5 interesting. One proposal circulated by Whitetails Unlimited Field Director Tim Schlater calls for allowing deer gun hunting to continue for one-half hour past sunset to align with the archery season. Another proposal being circulated would allow the use of rifles chambered for the legal pistol cartridges to be used. It is quite possible that earlier requests to permit the use of single shot rifles in the black powder cartridge configuration, such as the .45-90 cartridge, will continue to surface.

Schlater, in a letter to then Acting Chief John Daugherty noted, “Currently gun hunters are required to unload their guns and quit hunting at sunset, thus losing the best 30 minutes of hunting time in the entire day. Deer usually begin moving to a food source around sunset, just as legal hunters are walking back to their vehicle.” Schlater also noted that gun hunters can start one-half hour before sunrise when there is roughly the same amount of daylight as one-half hour after sunset. Schlater claims that all the states adjacent to Ohio allow gun hunters to hunt until one-half hour after sunset with no increase in hunter incidents. According to Schlater providing this opportunity to gun hunters effectively adds 7.5 hours of some of the most productive hunting time to the current gun seasons.

Jim Lehman, Division of Wildlife Law Enforcement Administrator, notes, “Schlater is correct that is a prime time for deer to move. The Division has to be cautious that we are not causing any safety issues. The hunter orange is not effective once the sun goes down. There is a potential for hunter incidents. We are looking at some other states that allow it and checking their incident rates. We want to give an opportunity we can to harvest deer as long as it can be done safely. The Division must take hunter safety and incidents as a high priority. We believe that is key to continued public support.”

Buckeye Firearms Association volunteer Aaron Kirkingburg is among those proposing to make pistol caliber carbines legal implements for deer hunting. The proposal has detailed ballistic comparisons showing improved ballistics over the shorter barreled handguns. Another supporter Dan Allen claims improved range and accuracy with the carbine rifle due to sighting radius and the shoulder stock. He asserts that the carbines are more accurate than the shotguns for deer hunting. The plugging of the carbines for three shots is often tougher to accomplish than with shotguns but there is no requirement to plug handguns. Allen is challenging the Division of Wildlife to substantiate that the plugging limit has made any difference in safety in the field for Ohio’s deer hunters.