Some Ohio waterfowlers and most deer
hunters will learn sooner rather than later whether they hit the
special lottery hunt jackpot.
The reason being is that those
waterfowlers who applied for an early waterfowl hunt at Wingfoot
Lake, Mogadore Reservoir or LaDue Reservoir will need to know quickly
whether they were successfully drawn.
Ditto for those deer hunters will
sought to hunt at NASA's Plum Brook Station. Here the reason is owed
to the required FBI background check prior to being allowed to hunt at
the federal reservation.
In all cases, applicants had until July
31 to apply, with the Ohio Division of Wildlife still working to
process paper applications.
While most applicants used the agency's
on-line process the Wildlife Division still accepted paper ones, which
took longer to process; up to three days to complete and given the
entire requirements for the program, said Andrew Burt, the agency's
licensing coordinator.
“Because of the need for immediate
notification, I will perform the draw for all the early season
waterfowl and all deer hunts so the results are posted on the
customer's account on Friday, August 9,” Burt said.
For the remainder of the controlled
waterfowl hunt drawings, Burt said he'll have to wait to run and post
the results for them on August 21.
“The (general) waterfowl seasons and
dates have not been approved yet through the Wildlife Council, so I
cannot run those results until the dates are finalized,” Burt said.
Burt said the Wildlife Council is
scheduled to meet Aug. 21 with the hope of posting the lottery
results on Monday, Aug. 26.
Burt also said that any applicant who
tried to trick the system by applying more than once was no doubt
caught, the process including enough trip wires such as requiring
one's Social Security Number that any attempt to foil the process
would fail.
In a cursory examination of nearly all
applications processed, the number of those adults who applied for
the controlled deer hunts is down 8.1 percent (23,858 total this year
and compared to the 25,973 applicants in 2012.
Meanwhile, applications for the
controlled youth deer hunts was up 10.7 percent (5,041 this year
verses 4,553 in 2012), and also up for both the women's and mobility
impaired deer hunts; a rise of 2.9 percent and comparing the 750
applications this year when compared to the 729 applications in 2012.
Down, however, were the number of
applications for the controlled adult waterfowl hunts, off 3.2
percent. Comparisons were the 9,819 applications received this year
and compared to the 10,139 such applications processed last year,
Burt said.
On the flip side of this coin, though,
showed more applications for the controlled youth waterfowl hunts; up
11.7 percent, or 1,352 applications processed this year compared to
the 1,210 applications processed in 2012.
Burt says as well that all successfully
drawn hunters will receive a letter notifying them of being selected.
For those hunters who simply cannot
wait, says Burt, any hunter can access the information by visiting
the Wildlife Division's web site at www.wildohio.com
and then logging onto the “Manage Your Account” portal. The page
will say either “Successful” or “Unsuccessful.”
Applicants likewise can call the
agency's Wildlife Call Center at 800-945-3543 but only between 8 a.m.
and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
As for that $3 per application fee
every applicant had to pay, $2 went to the Wildlife Division while
the other $1 went to the agency's contracted on-line agent.
The annual net income to the Wildlife
Division for this program is about $80,000.
That being said, the program is not
inexpensive to operate, requiring postage, manpower and program
management expenses and the like, notes Burt.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
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