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

 

[Creamer]

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.

I'm not trying to stir up fecal matter, but from my personal perspective, it seems like there are certain "pockets" that have been hit a lot harder than others. I'm in Athens County, I know we have lost a few deer near our property...but from what I see daily and what my cameras suggest, we didn't get hit with the "biblical" kill-off in my immediate area that I know other parts of the county/region have experienced. I'm not personally going to make a decision on antlerless deer until after we get that first frost and see how numbers and sightings go because we're not through this thing yet. If I continue to see the number of deer I am seeing currently, I'll be 100% honest, I may kill a doe and I will not be ashamed of it. I can't be the only resident in the area in a similar situation. I assume a season cancellation might not be recommended because of these types of situations. Someone like me killing one doe near Athens will not affect the future of the deer herd in Coolville or Guysville.

That's my $.02 on it.

 

[Big_Holla]

I'm not trying to stir up fecal matter, but from my personal perspective, it seems like there are certain "pockets" that have been hit a lot harder than others. I'm in Athens County, I know we have lost a few deer near our property...but from what I see daily and what my cameras suggest, we didn't get hit with the "biblical" kill-off in my immediate area that I know other parts of the county/region have experienced. I'm not personally going to make a decision on antlerless deer until after we get that first frost and see how numbers and sightings go because we're not through this thing yet. If I continue to see the number of deer I am seeing currently, I'll be 100% honest, I may kill a doe and I will not be ashamed of it. I can't be the only resident in the area in a similar situation. I assume a season cancellation might not be recommended because of these types of situations. Someone like me killing one doe near Athens will not affect the future of the deer herd in Coolville or Guysville.

That's my $.02 on it.

This is why I believe very little if nothing will be done other than maybe cutting the doe tags to one or two in our county. They would rather leave it up to the locals to decide if there are enough deer in their area or not to warrant it. Management policy has never seemed to look beyond the county level in most states and I'd imagine they don't want to start now.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

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.

Problem is by law they have to give 65 days of comment before they can do anything. Which puts the earliest they can close the season using yesterdays date, mid November. If they try to close it earlier than than that, any group that sues to reopen the season wll likely win. I don't think the Chief of wildlife can close it on their own authority either.

We had to deal with this timing issue when the bobcat season was proposed.

I'll be talking to one one of the wildlife councilor's next weekend.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

This is why I believe very little if nothing will be done other than maybe cutting the doe tags to one or two in our county. They would rather leave it up to the locals to decide if there are enough deer in their area or not to warrant it. Management policy has never seemed to look beyond the county level in most states and I'd imagine they don't want to start now.

I've said for a long time you have to go down to the township level if you want to micromanage things. Beyond that it's up to the landowners.

 

[5Cent]

I'm not trying to stir up fecal matter, but from my personal perspective, it seems like there are certain "pockets" that have been hit a lot harder than others. I'm in Athens County, I know we have lost a few deer near our property...but from what I see daily and what my cameras suggest, we didn't get hit with the "biblical" kill-off in my immediate area that I know other parts of the county/region have experienced. I'm not personally going to make a decision on antlerless deer until after we get that first frost and see how numbers and sightings go because we're not through this thing yet. If I continue to see the number of deer I am seeing currently, I'll be 100% honest, I may kill a doe and I will not be ashamed of it. I can't be the only resident in the area in a similar situation. I assume a season cancellation might not be recommended because of these types of situations. Someone like me killing one doe near Athens will not affect the future of the deer herd in Coolville or Guysville.

That's my $.02 on it.

There shouldn't be a legal hunter that gets any grief for filling tags as they see fit.