Most of the officers' vehicles are equipped with laptop computers so they can check on licenses.

Most of the officers' vehicles are equipped with laptop computers so they can check on licenses.
At the start of the hunting season Monday, deer weren't the only creatures in the Mahoning County woods that had reason to be wary. Hunters were scrutinized by a stepped-up state enforcement effort.
A task force of wildlife officers and others from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife gathered at the Berlin Lake Wildlife Area headquarters on Bonner Road before heading out to check hunters Monday morning.
"We will be checking hunters for licenses and legal firearms," said Rena Reda, an outdoors skills specialist for the DOW's District Three office in Akron. Reda, a Mahoning Valley native, usually works in the Cleveland area.
There were more than a dozen other wildlife officers from the immediate area, including Mahoning County's officer, as well as from other areas of the state.
Across the border
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the start of the deer gun season sent scores of Pennsylvania Game Commission workers into the field to understand the state of the herd. They are going to hundreds of meat processors and butchers to learn about the deer killed by hunters before they're turned into meat.
The 33 teams of two to four members aim to record the ages of the deer by inspecting the animals and to record the names of the hunters who killed the deer.
The information will be used next year when the Game Commission's Bureau of Wildlife Management sets the number of doe-hunting licenses for 2005. Last year, roughly 1 million licensed deer hunters harvested 465,000 deer in Pennsylvania, down from the record 517,000 that was recorded in the 2002-03 hunting season. The rifle season runs through Dec. 11 in the Keystone State.
Calvin DuBrock, director of the Bureau of Wildlife Management, said that this year, the teams also will collect about 4,000 deer heads to be tested for chronic wasting disease. That is a devastating ailment that has struck deer in other states, but has not been found yet in Pennsylvania.
Back in the Buckeye State
The Ohio task force fanned out in the immediate area surrounding Berlin, checking hunters who were out at first light for white-tailed deer.
An ODNR helicopter flew overhead, helping to direct the wildlife officers to concentrations of hunters.
Reda said that the task force moves around the state from year to year, checking hunters on opening day.
"This is by far our busiest day of the year," he said.
He added that the task force's focus area is determined by a number of factors including complaints from landowners over a number of years and hunter participation.
"Much of the violations will be mostly minor stuff," Reda said. "The vast number of people hunting will do nothing wrong," he added.
Just what and how a hunter is either warned, cited and fined or arrested is up to the wildlife officer, he said.
"The officer's discretion plays a large part in a wildlife officer's duties," Reda explained.
At one of the first stops of the day, off Fewtown Road in the wildlife area, Reda checked two hunters -- one sitting in his truck and another just coming out of the woods.
Reda must check licenses, deer tags, whether a shotgun has been plugged to allow only three shells per gun, whether hunter orange is being worn and a whole host of other safety and wildlife rules and regulations.
Art Coulter, 59, of Akron exited his truck at Reda's request and amicably went through the paces with the officer.
As Reda checked Coulter's gun for a plug, the Akron man said he had seen only one deer all morning.
"I came back to my truck because I'm almost 60 and I'm a roofer, so my legs can't take it like they used to," he said.
"This will probably be my last year hunting."
Reda found all of Coulter's papers and his weapon in order and wished the man luck.
During the morning Reda's array of radio's phones and scanners picked up chatter from wildlife officers around the area reporting on various checks they were doing.
State system
This year the officers had the advantage of working with a new computer system that allows the officers to connect to Ohio State Highway Patrol and almost every sheriff's department in the state.
The state-mandated system places laptop computers in most of the DOW's vehicles to help officers check on licenses and other information.
There were some violations made and citations given by the task force officers Monday.
Reda himself came upon a hunter walking down a Mahoning County road and stopped to check his papers.
It turned out to not be this gentleman's day as Reda cited him for an unplugged shotgun.
While Reda was checking the man's papers, two more men drove up and Reda discovered another unplugged gun in the group.
Reda told the men that he would have to cite them for the offense as it was a key provision of the state's wildlife law. The offense will cost the hunters court fees and likely a fine.
Reda also made a stop at the Ace Hardware Store in Ellsworth, one of three deer checking stations in Mahoning County.
Hunter activity was slow in the morning and the only two deer checked in while he was there were two button bucks, male deer with only a small bony tab where antlers would one day have grown.
Reda checked the papers belonging to Jerry Fullum of Austintown and found everything in order.
Fullum used a .50-caliber black-power muzzleloading rifle to bag his whitetail and said his deer would provide him with a nice amount of venison. "This is a nice, good-eating deer," he said.
He was also satisfied his hunting day had concluded successfully.
"There's plenty of deer out there," Fullum said. "If you don't get one this year, there's always next year."
Later in the day, Reda reported that wildlife officers were searching for two lost hunters in the Grand River Wildlife Area. He said they had been in contact with one of the hunters by cell phone. "So, they're not that lost," he said. He was confident that both hunters would be found.