September has arrived and with it has come the early hunting seasons. and Ohio’s hunters kicked off the hunting seasons on Sept. 1 with opening days for squirrel, mourning dove and more, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.

Hunters are reminded to check regulations for changes to season dates and bag limits as the 2020 fall seasons begin. A summary of Ohio’s hunting and trapping regulations is available where licenses are sold and at wildohio.gov.

The Division of Wildlife now has a free mobile app, HuntFish OH, available to download. The app allows customers to conveniently purchase fishing and hunting licenses, check game, view wildlife area maps, and much more. The HuntFish OH mobile app is available for Android and iOS users and can be found in the app store. Users can access the Division of Wildlife’s online system to check harvested white-tailed deer and wild turkey while out in the field, even without a Wi-Fi connection.

Squirrel (fox, gray, and red squirrels), dove, rail, snipe, and gallinule seasons open the 2020 fall hunting season on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Doves may be hunted sunrise to sunset, except for areas posted otherwise, until Sunday, Nov. 8. The season is open again from Saturday, Dec. 12 to Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. The daily bag limit is 15 doves, with a possession limit of 45 after the second day.

The early Canada goose and teal seasons begin Saturday, Sept. 5. Canada geese may be hunted from Saturday, Sept. 5 to Sunday, Sept. 13 with a daily bag limit of five birds. Teal may be hunted from Saturday, Sept. 5 to Sunday, Sept. 20 with a daily bag limit of six birds. Hours for early Canada goose and teal seasons are sunrise to sunset, unless posted. Possession limits after the second day for both teal and Canada geese are three times the daily bag limit. New this year, active duty military and veterans may hunt waterfowl during the two-day youth waterfowl weekend, Oct. 3-4.

Ohio’s popular archery season for deer begins on Saturday, Sept. 26, and runs through Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. Deer hunting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. The statewide bag limit is six deer, and only one deer may be antlered regardless of location or method of take. Deer bag limits are determined by county, and hunters cannot exceed a county bag limit. Additional details and requirements for deer hunting, including on public land, can be found in the 2020-2021 Hunting and Trapping Regulation Guidebook.

The mission of the Division of Wildlife is to conserve and improve fish and wildlife resources and their habitats for sustainable use and appreciation by all. Visit wildohio.gov to find out more.

• The dog days of August arrived and so did the fishing frustrations that usually come with it. The perch bite almost completely turned off at Lake Erie and you have to go to very deep water in the central or eastern basin to find a consistent bite for walleye. Locally, the largemouth bass have headed to deeper and cooler water as well.

As we get further into September and the water temperatures begin to cool down, it should move the fish to shallower water and turn on the pre-winter feeding frenzy. The fish will start to put on a big feed to stockpile those calories to get them through the winter months.

Until then, if you still have the urge to fish, head to deeper water. With the water still very warm, the fish migrate to deeper water because the oxygen levels are higher in cooler water and they are more comfortable there as well. Weed lines on the edge of those deeper dropoffs are great places to find late summer fish no matter what species you are after.

Until next time, Good Hunting and Good Fishing!