MIKE BRAUN Duck and dove season news
There will be 60 days of duck hunting in 2002-03 for Ohio waterfowl hunters with the season beginning Oct. 19 in the north zone and Oct. 26 in the south zone, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.
The Ohio Wildlife Council gave its approval to waterfowl season dates last week that includes information on ducks, coots, mergansers and Canada geese.
There's still a six-bag limit for ducks, but the bag limit for mallards has been cut to three. There will be no open season on canvasbacks, and only a 30-day season on pintails, the DOW added.
The OWC also approved a two-day season for young hunters on Oct. 12 and 13.
Dove information
The DOW also announced last week that the state's 2002 dove season, which gets started Sept. 1, will see the bag limit increase to 15 birds and a possession limit of 30 birds.
A survey of the dove population by state wildlife biologists found that the birds were doing very well, which led to the increased hunting limits.
DOW chief Mike Budzik said higher limits were selected instead of a longer season because "an increased limit is a greater benefit to hunters because of the short period of time when large numbers of migrating doves are here."
Hours are from noon to sunset for the first 10 days of the season, and from sunrise to sunset on Sept. 11 through the final day. Hours on private lands are from sunrise to sunset for the entire Sept. 1-Oct. 20 and Nov. 21-30 split dove season.
braun@vindy.com