Lake Erie anglers determined not to let soaring gas prices keep them from the walleye

 

While Lake Erie walleye anglers will certainly find a record number of walleye this angling season they also will face another – far less desirable – record shattering figure.

That being, of course, the cost of fuel to get to the fish in the first place.

Even before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the subsequent fallout, crude oil prices and thus refined gasoline costs were on the rise. The crisis in the Ukraine has simply become a highly combustible accelerant that is adding upward pressure on these fuel prices.

All ready in parts of the United States where recreational and commercial sport fishing activities are underway, dockside prices for gasoline have risen to $6 and more per gallon.

Such higher costs are obviously of concern to Lake Erie anglers; both those who charter for a living and those who make frequent runs to fish for walleye.

Yet a theme of determination to access Lake Erie’s fisheries bounty continues to exist among anglers. Even if that desire also is accompanied by a drain on the wallet brought about by eye-popping higher gasoline prices.

“Right now I see charter captains raising prices,” said Don McGee, Vice President of the 150-200-member Lake Erie Charter Boat Association. “I think it will be somewhere in the range of $30 to $60 per trip.”

Such an increase, McGee added quickly, would translate into an additional cost of between $5 and $10 per person for a six-person charter.

“No one I know intends to back out of chartering, though,” said McGee who added that fuel costs represent about 20 percent of his business expenses.

“I have a 30-foot Sportcraft that gets about one mile per gallon,” McGee said, illustrating the impact of higher fuel prices will extract on his business.

Other charter captains are likewise looking at the issue in the same context. Among them is Marv DeGreen, a charter boat captain who starts in the lake’s Western Basin around May 1 and moves to the Grand River about one month later.

DeGreen said, however, that many of his fellow charters skippers anticipated higher fuel prices last fall. They thus made adjustments to their proposed charter rates months ago, DeGreen said.

A good thing, too, since DeGreen said a run from Grand River to Marblehead alone consumes about 100 gallons of fuel.

Consequently, both McGee and DeGreen are hoping that walleye again will be found closer to port. In the best of angling worlds the last thing they want are making a lot of long-distance runs to find fish.

“I also think you’ll see more cooperation between captains; better communication between them, helping each other out,” DeGreen says.

The thing is, though, for well-established charters with a consistent clientele, “there will always be people with money” who’ll be open to pay the price for accessing Lake Erie’s famed horde of walleye, DeGreen said.

Which is why more than a few of the so-called “private” Lake Erie boat anglers do not see themselves mowing the lawn on a Saturday. Rather they intend to keep hooking up the trailer with its boat and outboard for a day of walleye fishing on the big lake.

“I’m going to chase walleye wherever they are, but I normally don’t fish out beyond 60 feet of water anyway, maybe just a couple of times a year out to 75 feet,” said Tommy Oehlenschlager.

Oehlenschlager has about a 45-minute drive from his home near Jefferson Village in Ashtabula County to the public boat launch ramps in either Ashtabula Harbor or Conneaut Harbor.

“Fuel prices aren’t going to make a difference in what I do, and I’ll definitely go fishing every opportunity I get,” Oehlenschlager said. “Besides, I’d just spend the money somewhere else anyway.”

And for outdoors writer Chip Gross, a run from his home in Knox County to a preferred launch site in the Western Basin or else the far western edge of the Central Basin represents a drive of up to two hours.

Even so, Gross said neither the distance nor the increasing fuel prices will discourage him and his wife, Jan, from soon seeking out Lake Erie walleye.

“You go where the fish are,” Gross said, adding that he does not intended to reduce the number of trips he seasonally makes, either.

“We’re retired and we like to fish,” Gross said.

Fortunately for private boat owners, having a fishing buddy kick in a few dollars to help pay for a tank of gas is all perfectly legal

“There is certainly nothing wrong with individuals voluntarily splitting a tank of gas at the fuel dock on a fishing trip. However, the actual charging of a fee above and beyond that would require the boat owner to possess the captain’s license and meet all legal requirements,” said Brian Banbury, Ohio Division of Wildlife Executive Administrator, responding to a request from “Ohio Outdoor News” on the subject.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

UPDATED Talk of permitless carry not stopping Ohioans from getting carry licenses

 

Even when the prospects of permitless carry grew, the number of persons seeking licenses to carry a concealed firearm in 2021 was still the forth largest number since 2012.

However, now that Governor Mike DeWine has signed a bill into law allowing Ohioans age 21 and older to carry concealed a handgun – and if they are legally permitted to possess such a weapon - without first obtaining a license or undergoing training, the number of such documents being issued is expected to drop by more than one-half.

For now, and based on data provided by Ohio’s 88 county sheriffs who perform the required CCW paperwork, the number of permit renewals was 50-percent higher than the 2020 total. Also, this figure was “a record high for the program,” says Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost who is responsible for annually reporting to the legislature and the governor about the program.

Likewise, however, in 2021 the number of regular license denials rose by 50-percent as well, the second consecutive year a record in this category was seen, Yost says in his report.

Ohio began its concealed carry permit program in 2004. Based on data compiled by the “Cincinnati Enquirer” and reported by the “Columbus Dispatch,” the state has over the years issued a total of 673,000 concealed carry permits, or one for every 17 Ohioans.

Breaking things down a bit, for 2021, the state’s sheriffs issued 94,298 new licenses. This figure represents a drop from the 96,892 such permits issued in 2020, and is a considerable fall-off from the 117,953 such permits issued in 2016.

As for the number of renewals – required every five years – that figure was 108,622 for 2021. As such, the number is a huge jump from the 72,340 such re-ups seen in 2020 and also larger than the 98,927 renewals issued in 2018.

Looking at denials, in 2021 the state’s 88 sheriffs conducted background checks and rejected 2,668 applications. In 2020 that figure was 1,777.

Meanwhile, revocations fell from 429 in 2020 to 420 in 2020. In 2018 that figure was 1,879. Note that there are several reasons associated to revocation, some of which have nothing to do with criminal behavior. Among them are death, moving out of state, or when a person voluntarily gives up his or her permit.

Suspensions rose slightly from 1,618 in 2020 to 1,880 in 2021. Here, suspensions may be the result of some arrest or the person becomes the subject of a protection order. If such conditions occur but are later dismissed, the CCW may be returned.

Some other statistic shows that the Top Five counties for new CCW permits issued in 2021 (with their respective 2020 figures in parentheses) were: Franklin – 6,060 (7,525); Lake – 6,047 (4,839): Greene (4,144 (4,742); Ashland – 3,524 (3,552); and Portage – 3,441 (1,406).

And for renewals, the Top Five counties (with their respective 2020 figures in parentheses) were: Butler – 4,780 (2,566); Franklin – 4,742 (4,367); Lake – 4,614 (3,083); Clermont – 3,836 (2,111); Portage – 3,373 (1,200).

It is important to note that even with passage of the so-called Constitutional Carry, Ohioans who wish carry outside the state will be subject to those visiting states’ concealed carry laws. And any number of them do require licensing.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Spurred on by record firearms and ammunition sales, Fish and Wildlife Service's Fiscal Year 2022 aid money increases by 50 percent

 

Activated by record sales of firearms and ammunition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reporting that another record has been set: $1.5 billion for disbursement to states and U.S. territories in grant money for fish and wildlife programs as well as such other items as shooting ranges and hunter education.

This $1.5 billion for Fiscal Year 2022 is nearly $500 million more than was dispersed in Fiscal Year 2021 which itself was some $121 million more than was distributed in Fiscal Year 2020.

Ohio will be a beneficiary of the excise tax-based largesse, too.

The program exists via taxes levied on firearms, ammunition, and some archery tackle under the banner commonly referred to by its Congressional origin: the Pittman-Roberson Act for hunting/shooting-related items.

For fishing-associated projects, money comes from the Dingell-Johnson/Wallop-Breaux funds, and supported by excise taxes on fishing tackle and a portion of the federal gasoline tax.

Collectively, the two entities are known as the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. Monies are distributed through grants for approved project reimbursement, and are based on the number of either hunting or fishing license sold in a state as well as the state’s size.

The Fiscal Year 2022 final apportionment for Wildlife Restoration Fund totals nearly $1.12 billion. That figure is markedly more than the rounded-off $678.89 million awarded in Fiscal 2021, and considerably more than the $601.83 million presented in Fiscal 2020.

However and interestingly, the Fiscal Year 2022 total outlay for Sport Fish Restoration is actually down from that awarded in Fiscal Year 2021: $399.66 million verses $414.26 million. In Fiscal Year 2020, the figure was $369.73 million.

Ohio’s share of the Fiscal Year 2022 Restoration Aid pot includes $7.86 million for Sport Fish Restoration initiatives and $21.92 million for Wildlife Restoration initiatives. In Fiscal 2021, those figures were $8.14 million and $13.51 million, respectively.

Just for some comparison for Fiscal Year 2022, Texas will collected $19.98 million for Sport Fish Restoration and another $51.09 million in Wildlife Restoration funds.

At the opposite end, in Fiscal 2022, several U.S. territories will each get $1.86 million in Wildlife Restoration aid money (the District of Columbia will get none), and $1.33 million in Fish Restoration money, including for Washington D.C.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Ohio's 2021-2022 deer-hunting season hits the expectation mark

 

The just-concluded 2021-2022 Ohio deer-hunting season produced a kill that exceeds the three-year average and also finished as the second best since the 2013-2014 season.

Preliminary data from the Ohio Division of Wildlife says that for the just-concluded combined deer-hunting season, 196,988 animals were taken for a 6.6 percent increase over the three-year average of 184,746 deer.

The deer kill for the 2020-2021 combined deer-hunting season saw 197,721 deer taken, the most since the 2012-2013 season when 218,910 animals were killed. Going back to 1900, the most-ever number of deer taken in Ohio was during the 2009-2010 combined all-methods season when 261,260 deer were reported as being taken.

“If I remember correctly, back before the season started when I was asked about expectations, I commented that while we felt like the herd was growing, it was going to be very difficult to exceed the 2020-21 harvest because of the near perfect gun season weather and the ‘COVID bump’ in hunter participation we saw last year,” Clint McCoy, the Wildlife Division’s lead deer biologist, said to “Ohio Outdoor News.”

Given those factors, McCoy said also, “we expected a harvest to get close but not quite reach the same level as the 2020-21 total.”

“Well, we got awfully close – actually a bit closer than I expected as the harvest difference from last year is less than 1,000 deer,” McCoy said.

Even the final two days of the 2021-2022 archery deer-hunting season – February 5th and 6th – saw an eye-popping, rounded-off 2,200 deer being taken by archery hunters. That final two-day figure is only about 187 animals shy of the total number of all deer taken during the entire 1970 deer season.

In dissecting the 2021-2022 statistics a little further, McCoy notes that the state’s archery hunters killed 96,209 deer compared to the firearms season take of 79,805 animals.

Another 12,141 deer were shot by participants during the statewide muzzle-loading season. Meanwhile, youths added another 7,634 deer during their exclusive two-day November hunt.

“The big news is where the increases are occurring.  I’m not talking about where geographically; rather I’m speaking to the segment of the deer population that is showing up - or not showing up - in the harvest.  The buck harvest (88,969) is up 12 percent over the three-year average,” McCoy says as well.

McCoy told “Ohio Outdoor News” that the annual buck kill is “one of our better indicators of what the population on the whole is doing, that it’s we’re growing. Which “by itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing” since the goals for many counties were set for “ moderate herd growth,” McCoy said.

Even so, McCoy does say, questions remain as to where Ohio’s deer herd – and thus the annual deer kill – is going.

“What has me concerned is the fact that the antlerless harvest is not keeping pace, as it is only up about 2.5 percent over the three-year average,” McCoy says.

In fact, says McCoy, the proportion of the deer kill that is antlerless - a major factor predicting population growth- is “at levels we haven’t seen since the late 1990s.”

“Which gave rise to the significant population increases we saw in the early- to mid-2000s,” McCoy says.

Boil it all down, and McCoy says the buck kill indicates the herd is growing while the “antlerless harvest indicates there’s more growth to come.”

“The part that concerns me is that while I feel like we’re sitting in a pretty good spot with the size of the herd in most areas of the state right now, additional growth in some areas (which is likely given the proportionally low levels of antlerless harvest) could get us beyond where we want to be,” McCoy said in conclusion to “Ohio Outdoor News.”

Also, in all, hunters bought 396,370 permits during the 2021-2022 season. That figure is less than the 2020-2021 season number of 409,808 permits sold and well under the 624,908 deer permits sold during the record-setting 2009-2010 combined deer-hunting season.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Prospective gun and ammunition buyers are being cautioned about Internet scammers

 

The National Shooting Sports Foundation – the country’s firearms and ammunition trade group assembly – is cautioning prospective gun and ammo buyers about Internet scams.

“We’ve learned from several industry firearm, ammunition and propellant manufacturers of bogus websites and web scams aimed at consumers who are eager to purchase these high-demand products,” says the trade group in a prepared statement.

Eager is not the word. As one example, over the so-called “Black Friday” period immediately following Thanksgiving, the Foundation earlier reported that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) processed 687,788 background checks during the week leading up to and including Black Friday.

The FBI’s NICS program likewise recorded 187,585 background checks on Black Friday alone, ranking it among the Top 10 Highest Days for NICS checks, the Foundation reported earlier.

While background checks are not an absolute device for determining firearms sales they are one measuring tool employed to help understand sales trends, high and low points in such transactions.

Thus, the concern about scammers looking to make a fast buck on hard-to-find or seemingly outrageously reasonably priced ammunition is real. Especially since the buying craze for firearms and ammunition of all types continues.

The Foundation suggests that people looking to buy on-line, “...take steps to confirm the websites they are using are legitimate..”

There are many, reliable on-line firearms and ammunition retailers who offer product, though even here the prices will often be high as the rule of supply (low) butts heads with demand (high).

Suggestions include working with a local firearms/ammunition dealer which itself is increasingly dealing with on-line resources.

Prospective firearms and ammunition buyers similarly can work with fellow gun owners or with people they know who own such products if they deal with on-line suppliers. Such experienced on-line users can help steer a prospective buyer to an honest broker.

As for prospective firearms and ammunition buyers who believe they’ve have been the victim of a fraudulent transaction, the NSSF encourages that person to contact the FBI at (202) 324-3000 or the ATF at (202) 648-7080. In either case, the agency should be able to direct a person to the appropriate office.

Or a person suspecting that he or she has been scammed, can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission either on-line or by calling (800) 382-4357.

For additional information, please visit https://www2.nssf.org/e/127421/online-safety/4gj9m7/535021258?h=qU75DwpQ__G7davca3vxcTrVfeU3qYuLhaqnoe-l_Jo.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Ohio's extended North Zone goose season is ill-timed

 

Molly, our intrepid black Labrador retriever, plunged ahead off the front porch, quickly being enveloped in a snowbank at the bottom of the steps before plowing her way into the backyard.

Meanwhile, Cricket, our rescue “terrier-ist” (all 20 pounds of her) stood her ground and refused to budge from the partially snow-blocked front door.

Welcome to the northern fringe of Northeast Ohio’s fabled Snow Belt.

And although the 20 inches of partly cloudy that fell overnight was exceptional, those of us who live in northern Ohio and especially in the Snow Belt of Northeast Ohio, can reasonably anticipate from one to a handful of abusive snow storms each January and February – the typical high point of winter in these parts.

Problem is, that time period also leads to wheels spinning for the state’s North Zone Waterfowl Hunting season. At least as it applies to the pursuit of Canada geese.

As stipulated by the Ohio DNR, the North Zone’s 2021-2022 season for ducks ran from October 23rd until only October 31^st, and again from November 13th (two weeks later) until January 2nd.

For geese the season makes even less sense. Make that much less sense, in fact. The goose season’s first period ran the same for the duck-hunting dates. However, the second phase also started November 13th but is to continue to February 5th.

What’s more, the proposed 2022-2023 North Zone season dates parallel those of the 2021-2022 season with a one-day adjustment.

Missing than are those two weeks of the first half of November. Note that the weather on November 1st as seen in Cleveland included a high in the low 50s.

In other words, mild temperatures, no snowfall, and much better weather that would have benefited the elderly, women, youths, and the handicapped.

Instead, the Ohio DNR’s choice features a Winter Storm Warning, dangerous snowfall, and sub-freezing temperatures.

All with the excuse that Canada geese are migrating later and thus the state needs to adjust the seasons accordingly.

Which might make some sense were it not for the simple and practical argument that it’s better to have an opportunity to hunt in nicer weather when there may be fewer geese than to conduct a season when there are more migrant birds around but with much more restricted opportunities.

At least – again - for the elderly, women, youths and the handicapped.

No one is suggesting eliminating goose hunting entirely during the month of January, of course. What is being recommended is whacking off a dozen days at the end of the current season proposal. Thereby slicing off the six days in February along with five or six days at the end of January, concluding January 24th or 25th, and then putting those days where they rightfully belong: The first 12 or so days of November.

That should be more than sufficient time for those goose hunters will relish late season hunting and who don’t mind laying out in snow and enjoying a brisk day afield.

What such a recommendation would also also provide, however, is better hunting opportunity for – once more – the elderly, women, youths, and the handicapped.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

From 12/15/21 "Wilmington (Ohio) News Journal: Brian Liming gets 4 1/2 years in prison for shooting Ohio WO Kevin Behr

 Wilmington News Journal 12/15/21 by newspaper's John Hamilton

"WILMINGTON — The man found guilty of shooting a state wildlife officer gets prison time.

"On Wednesday, Clinton County Common Pleas Judge John W. 'Tim' Rudduck sentenced Brian Liming to four years and six months in prison. Liming was given eight days credit and will begin his prison term immediately.

"Liming, 44, of Jamestown was found guilty in November of assault (felony 4), tampering with evidence (felony 3), hunting without a deer permit and hunting without a license — the latter both misdemeanors.

"The charges are related to the December 2020 shooting of Kevin Behr, an officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources-Wildlife Division.

"Wildlife officers were investigating a deer poaching complaint last December in the area of Macedonia Road and Martinsville Road when the shooting occurred.

"According to authorities, Liming had exited the vehicle he was in, went into a wooded area where Behr was, and fired a shot to chase out a buck deer they heard was in the area.

"Behr addressed Liming in court telling him not only the effect the shooting had on him but also his family. Behr told him about the month-long coma he was in and how he still has surgeries to undergo.

"Liming addressed people in the court saying he 'isn’t a bad guy' and hoped to be given less prison time so he could be with his kids.

"Rudduck addressed Liming saying he wasn’t being judged as to whether or not he was a bad guy. The judge did say Liming was found guilty of all his offenses, highlighted his prior offenses (including domestic violence and vehicular homicide), and the severity of the situation — including Behr’s occupation as a wildlife officer."