Wildlife Council Meeting: 9/17 @ 4:30P - District 4 HQs

[Jackalope]

Ended up grabbing wings and beers with our processor, a retired GW, and two biologists afterwards. It was a very insightful conversation. Let me catch some and I'll share some deeper insight tomorrow. But I'll leave you with this tidbit: TOO is  very well known

The lion might be the Apex predator in Africa, but he knows of the honey badger and gives him a wide berth.

 

[Boarhead]

A buddy sent me this.
Will be interesting to get Jesse's take on it.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Well, he's wrong in that it was not a City Council meeting, it was the Wildlife Council. Also, 200 people is a gross overestimate IMO. While canceling the season was mentioned by a few speakers, there was zero indication from Council members of that even being considered as a viable measure. Yes, the buck only approach was contemplated and I would consider that the best case scenario that  could happen. So half of what he said was accurate, the rest is incorrect and or misleading.

 

[Creamer]

Consider this your call to action...

For those who have the time and ability to attend, I highly encourage you to do so. I have registered to speak and plan to share a personal and a professional anecdote about this unprecedented EHD outbreak. This meeting was called solely to allow those of us in SE Ohio to interface with the DOW in our own backyard. @Creamer, it would be good to see you there, even if you don't feel compelled to speak. I will try to record my remarks and share them here after the meeting, and provide an update on the outcomes afterwards.

Wildlife Council Meeting​

Wednesday, September 17, 2025 - 4:30 PM
Wildlife District 4 Office
360 E State St. Athens, OH 45701

Click here to register to speak.

Not sure how I missed being tagged in this, but I would not have been able to make it last night either way. My son had baseball last night.

 

[Curran]

@bowhunter1023 while the Wildlife Council is unlikely, or possibly unable due to rules for determining seasons and bag limits, to make changes to this season's bag limits do you think they would consider publishing a statement on self-restriction? Maybe this was discussed last night. I could see publishing a press release from the Wildlife Council and / or the Division of Wildlife strongly encouraging deer hunters to self-impose a moratorium on harvesting antlerless deer in the areas affected with high EHD kill off?

Also, I got an invitation to the governor's fish fry at the end of the month. Want to be my date?

 

["J"]

How much of a bureaucracy has been built to where a county/region can’t be closed to deer hunting prior to the opening of the season?
What’s to prevent it? Say it’s closed for the foreseeable future and put the word out.
At that point people who chose to still chase white tails will have to travel some to do so.

 

[GoetzTalon]

Yeah I need to go back and edit my post