SPORTS

Hocking Hills not just for leaf viewing

Dick Martin

The fall season for “leaf peepers” who love to see beautiful scenery and autumn reds and golds is almost here, and while the whole state has much to offer, the 10,000 acres of unbroken forest in Ohio’s Hocking Hills region ranks high. This year, the southeastern Ohio area is offering plenty for visitors from great hiking at Ash Cave, Old Man’s Cave and Cedar Falls to rushing waterfalls, excellent bird watching, unusual vegetation and soaring cliffs. The area also has good camping, fair fishing and activities from horsebacking to kayaking and multiple zipline tours, not to mention plenty of accommodations, good food, antique malls and guided tours. For more information, Google the Hocking Hills Tourism Association or call them at 1-800-HOCKING.

Dec. 17 will be big date for birdwatchers 

Bird watchers who like to plan ahead should circle Dec. 17 on their calendar. That’s the day designated for the 117th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Individuals can do the count on their own, watching a bird feeder or field counting in a specific area, or join a group, and there should be many of these around the state. For more details on participating in this very useful bird count that allows the Audubon Society to keep track of changes in bird populations, Google Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

A cheap way to keep the deer away

Recently, I wrote about a product called Deer Scram which seems to work well for keeping deer away from gardens and flower beds. Last week a reader emailed to give a much less expensive answer to the problem. He said “You need a one-gallon sprayer with a half cup concentrated dish soap (mix with small amount of water), stir to thin down the soap, pour into empty sprayer, and add one raw egg with a small amount of water to thin egg. Pour into sprayer also, add a gallon water and shake it up to mix. Spray around the perimeter of garden or plants. I have used this simple mixture for better than 3 years – it works!” He added that it should be repeated every 10 days or so according to rainfall.

Dates for deer hunting

Deer hunters are reminded that the archery season is now in, and youth gun season will be held on Nov. 19-20 followed by the gun season on Nov. 28-Dec. 4, and muzzleloader on Jan. 7-10. Hunters will find the hunting regulations similar to last year, and county bag limits and antlerless permit use also unchanged. The statewide bag limit is six deer with limits determined by county, and hunters cannot exceed a county bag limit.

Whitetails Unlimited hosting fundraising dinners

The Whitetails Unlimited organization does good work in defending the American tradition of deer hunting, and much of its funding comes from a series of annual dinners. The proceeds are used for causes from youth programs and whitetail research to venison processing for food banks. Among upcoming dinners are the Erie County/North Coast American Freedom Dinner on Oct. 8 at the American Legion Post 83, 3615 Hayes Ave in Sandusky.  Tickets are $30 for dinner, raffles and more. Then there’s the Deer Creek Second Amendment Freedom Dinner on Oct. 21 at Skyland Pines, 3550 Columbus Road in Canton with $40 tickets. And the Big Walnut Creek American Freedom Dinner on Oct. 29, Cardinal Entertainment Center, 616 Ohio 61 in Marengo with $30 tickets. For details or words on other dinners visit www.whitetailsunlimited.com or call Dennis Malloy at 330-507-9489.

Dick Martin is a retired biology teacher who has been writing outdoor columns for 30 years.  You can reach him at richmart@neo.rr.com.