Ohio’s popular deer-gun season opens statewide on Monday, Nov. 28, offering hunters a full week to harvest a whitetail. The upcoming season will again include an extra weekend of gun hunting on Dec. 17-18, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife.

A Compatibility Determination for cooperative farming on Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Oak Harbor is now available for a 14-day public review. The comment period will end Nov. 23.
Cooperative farming is a tool used by Ottawa NWR to keep some newly acquired lands farmed until restoration of those parcels is financially feasible. Cooperative farming does not bring any existing refuge lands into farming, it merely allows newly purchased agricultural fields to continue to be farmed prior to habitat restoration. The farming program supports the habitat management goals and objectives of the Refuge.

All trails at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge will be closed Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 19-20, and Monday through Thursday, Nov. 28-Dec. 1, for safety reasons during controlled deer hunts. The refuge’s visitor center will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on those days. For information, call 419-898-0014 or visit the refuge website, www.fws.gov/midwest/ottawa.