Up to a half-million hunters are expected to fill Ohio’s woods tomorrow for the opening day of deer gun season.

Sunday, November 25, 2001

Up to a half-million hunters are expected to fill Ohio’s woods tomorrow for the opening day of deer gun season.

Season will be open seven days, closing at sunset on Dec. 2.

During the season, hunters may take a deer of either sex during the entire week, except in an 11-county Zone A, located in the northwestern and western part of the state.

Hunters should take note, because there have been some law changes. This year, hunters must wear either a vest, coat, jacket, or coveralls that are either solid hunter orange or camouflage hunter orange. A hunter orange hat or cap will no longer satisfy the blaze-orange requirements.

Legal hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Hunters may use a 10, 12, 16, 20, 28, or .410-gauge shotgun, a handgun with a five-inch minimum barrel length using straight-walled cartridges of .357 caliber or larger, a muzzleloading rifle of at least .38 caliber or larger, a longbow or a crossbow. Rifled barrels are permitted when using shotgun slug ammunition.

It is also against the law to take a deer with a shotgun capable of holding more than three deer slugs unless it is plugged with a one-piece filler that can only be removed by disassembling the gun.

Hunters must also have a deer permit with a valid hunting license. Temporary deer tags no longer have adhesive backing, now, the tag must be separated from the deer permit and tied to the deer. All deer must be properly tagged before they are removed from the field for transport to a check station.

Hunting all wild animals, except deer, in-season waterfowl, wild boar, and coyotes during daylight is prohibited during the statewide deer gun season.