OHIO WILDLIFE Carriers get info out for the hunt

Rural mail carriers help monitor wildlife across Ohio.
LEWISBURG (AP) -- Letter carrier Paul Price for years has navigated the narrow rural roads of his southwest Ohio route, periodically making note of the wildlife he encounters.
He is among 1,400 rural letter carriers in the state who volunteer as part of a joint operation between the U.S. Postal Service and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife. The program has been in existence for more than three decades and Price has been involved 26 years.
Gleaning data
In April and August each year for two weeks, he and other carriers count rabbits, quail and pheasants. Data gleaned from the surveys is one source in determining dates and bag limits of the upland game season that started Friday.
For many, this is the "traditional" hunting season, which runs until Dec. 1 for quail, Jan. 1 for pheasants and Feb. 28 for rabbits.
All can be hunted statewide from sunrise to sunset on public lands and from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset on private lands. This year, for the first time, Sunday hunting on private land is legal.
The daily bag limit, unchanged from last year, is four rabbits, two male pheasants and four quail per hunter.
Other factors, such as predictions by wildlife biologists, field reports from last year's hunters, even a "road kill" survey conducted by wildlife officers help determine seasons and limits.
But the Postal Service survey is the more consistent supplier of comparative data, said Scott Hull, Division of Wildlife biologist at the Olentangy Research Station in the central Ohio city of Ashley.
Hull said the letter carriers are out at the same time of day, the same days of the week in the same territory, which allows for bench marking of the data they collect.
"Because it is a long-term survey, we don't get excited or concerned over a one or two year spike in the data, so that is not directly reflected in season lengths or bag limits," Hull said.
Price, 47, started part time at Lewisburg in 1976, and immediately began doing wildlife surveys.
Out of a total of 2,600 rural routes in Ohio, 1,400 participated last year.
"We get great cooperation from the higher ups in the postal service, but some local postmasters tend to balk," Scott said.
Not for himself
Being a lifelong turkey and deer hunter, Price does not use the observations for his own hunting.
"I enjoy the counting, but I do pass along tips of where to hunt to some folks," he said.
Based in part on the spring and summer data, hunters this year will find good populations of rabbits, but pheasants and quail continue a two-decade downward trend.
"Rabbit hunters can expect a good season this year, with exceptional hunting in some areas of the state," said Mike Budzik, chief of the Division of Wildlife. "And, those Ohio families that make a rabbit hunt part of their Thanksgiving tradition should anticipate a good day in the field."