The Ohio departments of Health (ODH) and Natural Resources (ODNR), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services program and local health departments (LHDs) will began fall oral rabies vaccination (ORV) operations Sunday in 16 northeast and eastern Ohio counties.

“This local, state and federal partnership shows our commitment to controlling raccoon-rabies variant in Ohio,” ODH Director Alvin D. Jackson said. “Please show your commitment by vaccinating your pets.”



Distribution area

As in past years, vaccine-bait distribution will take place in all of Ashtabula, Columbiana, Geauga, Jefferson, Lake, Mahoning and Trumbull counties and parts of Belmont, Carroll, Cuyahoga, Harrison, Monroe, Noble, Portage, Summit and Washington counties. Baits will be distributed by various methods in each county, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopter and LHD staff in vehicles.

Residents in the areas to be baited should be aware of low-flying aircraft and should keep children and pets away from the baits.



RRV

Rabies is a viral disease that affects mammals and people. It is almost always fatal. Since the mid-1970s, a rabies variant associated with raccoons has spread rapidly through the eastern United States.

Spring and fall vaccine baiting operations are intended to help curb the spread of raccoon-rabies variant (RRV) west of an immune barrier established by regular rabies vaccination that began in 1997. This immune barrier has successfully slowed the spread of rabies into Ohio from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. As of Aug. 31, 2009, one skunk was confirmed positive from Lake County for RRV, down from nine rabid animals (seven from Lake County and two from Trumbull County) during 2008.



Types of bait

Two types of baits will be used. Airplanes will drop a small plastic sachet, about the size of a ketchup packet, coated in fishmeal. In urban areas, the vaccine will be inside a hard, brown, 2-x-2-inch fishmeal block that will be distributed by vehicles staffed by LHD and other local agency volunteers.

Most of the 877,680 baits will be distributed by air, with the use of specially equipped white Beechcraft King Air planes from Dynamic Aviation and a helicopter from the ODNR.

Baiting began Sunday and will cover 4,761square miles of the state’s northeastern and eastern border. Aerial distribution should be complete within 10 days; ground baiting may continue beyond Sept. 25 depending on weather.



Avoid baited areas

Residents should avoid the baits and keep pets confined during the baiting period. Dogs in particular are attracted to the baits and will occasionally eat them. The baits are not harmful to pets. Please keep the following information in mind:

n Know what the baits look like. The coated sachet, which will be distributed by aircraft, is about the size of a ketchup packet. It is white and rolled in a brown fishmeal glaze. In urban areas, where baits will be distributed by vehicle, the sachet will be inside a hard, brown fishmeal block, about 2-x-2-inch square.

n Instruct children to leave the baits alone.

n Once your area is baited, keep dogs and cats inside or on leashes for up to five days. Most bait disappears within 24 hours; however, it is important raccoons have every opportunity to eat them.

n Do not attempt to take bait away from your pet; you may be bitten.

n Anyone handling baits should wear gloves. If baits are found in areas frequented by pets or children, toss them into deeper cover. Damaged baits can be disposed of in the trash.

n If a person is exposed to the vaccine (red liquid), thoroughly wash any areas of the skin that came into contact with the vaccine with soap and water.

n If someone has been exposed to the vaccine or has questions about the baiting, call your LHD or ODH’s information line at 1-888-722-4371.

The rabies virus is found in the saliva of affected animals, most often raccoons, skunks and bats, and is spread by a bite or scratch. Bats, raccoons and skunks pose the greatest risk of rabies in Ohio. To protect your family against this still-deadly disease:

n Avoid contact with wild animals and animals you do not know.

n Vaccinate your pets against rabies and keep them current on their shots.

n If bitten, call your doctor. If your pet has contact with a wild animal, call your veterinarian. Rabies exposures should also be reported to your LHD.



Multi-state effort

Ohio’s partners in the multistate baiting are Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, in what is known as the Appalachian Ridge ORV program. The seven-state effort will involve distribution of about 5 million baits and cover more than 26,000 square miles. ODH has participated in the program since 1997 and has dropped almost 13 million baits in Ohio over that time.



According to the law

Note the following from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources:

“According to Ohio Administrative Code 1501:31-15-03, it is illegal to live trap, move and release raccoons. Persons dealing with a nuisance raccoon cannot relocate the animal. There are only two legal options for nuisance raccoons; euthanize or release on the same property where they were live trapped. Uninformed people who are relocating nuisance raccoons may be contributing to rabies crossing the barrier.”



Those who came before us

Politically correct sorts claim you should never pick up an Indian artifact. To do so, they say, destroys a page of ancient history. Personally, I think those people are nuts. They rank right up there with extremists who think that we're depleting the ozone layer with hairspray and we'll all die of skin cancer, if global warming doesn't kill us first.



Connecting to the past

Every time I see an arrowhead from the past, I feel a great kinship to the ancient craftsman who made it. I never see one, though, that I don't wonder about the craftsman who shaped it. I hold it in my hand, just as he held it in his hand. I shut my eyes tight and, using the artifact's power as a medium, try to picture the ancient artisan. Did he live 1,000 years ago or 10,000 years ago? Was he the man who invented horn-rattling for whitetails? Was he a good shot with his bow? Was he satisfied to make a bow and arrows the way his ancestors taught him, or was he forever experimenting with materials and designs that might prove more effective? What was the hunting like in his time? Did he ever shoot a really big buck? Was a deer with unusually large antlers considered strong medicine, or were the antlers primarily viewed as tools to knap the flint into projectile points?



Pondering

How many arrows were considered enough to carry on a deer hunt? Why did Indians make the tiny arrowheads called “bird points” anyway? A blunt arrow shaft will kill a bird. When I find a projectile point that's broken, as most of them tend to be, I always wonder if the point was broken on the rib of a monster buck. More likely, it was broken in the knapping process and simply discarded as a misfire. (I can always hear the guy who's already invested an hour on the point muttering, “Oh, poo!” or the prehistoric equivalent thereof — as he tosses it on the reject heap.) In truth, most of the broken points were probably run over by a truck, trampled by a buffalo or, in farming areas, fractured by a plow.





The traveled trail

Many times when I’m afield, be it deer or turkey hunting, it’s difficult in a place as magic as the woods and forests are, not to wonder how many hunters had waited beside the same tree or walked the same path in anticipation of harvesting their chosen prey. With more at stake and less technology to make them careless, I would imagine those early hunters chose their stands and pathways ways more carefully than I. The first human hunters were armed with stone-headed clubs or a rock the size of a baseball. They were succeeded by more sophisticated hunters armed with hickory bows and flint-tipped arrows, then blackpowder and smoothbore rifles, then lever-action saddle guns, and finally, in Ohio a sabot throwing shotgun.



Hunting for survival

Once several years ago, 1996 to be exact, I spotted the biggest buck I’d ever seen on our land. As I pulled up and had him my crosshairs I realized he was across the river and it was running high. My predicament was such that if I shot him I would have to wade at least waist high across the river or travel three miles around to retrieve him via dry land. Needless to say I let him pass, it wasn’t his time.

The settler would have scoffed at wading through water much colder. The Indian might have laughed aloud at walking three miles around to retrieve a monster buck. They were hunting to feed their stomachs. I was hunting to feed my soul.



Remembering our ancestors

As the spirit of the wild (as Ted Nugget calls it) beckons to you this fall, remember where our hunting heritage came from and our ancestors that walked this land before us. Remember them and reflect on them with reverence and respect. When you harvest your deer, be it buck or doe; take a few second to thank the hunting gods for what they have given you. Had it not been for them, both the hunting gods and those who came before us, we would not have the knowledge and understanding of the outdoor world as we do today.

Remember, pass it on or it will surely pass on.



Sunderlin is a freelance writer from Geneva. Reach him at djss@roadrunner.com.



DATEBOOK



3D Archery Shoot

n Conneaut Fish & Game Club is having their final 3D shots in an effort to help you get ready for archery season. The dates are as follows: and Sept. 12-13. The shoot starts at 7am and last shooters out at 1 p.m. Donation is $8 per adult and $5 per child 13 and under. $$$ 50/50 shoots available, crossbows welcome, 30 Rinehart targets at each shoot, “hunting scenario set up”. Food and beverages available. Please, absolutely No Broadheads. FMI, call Darin Harper at 813-6042



Cowboy Action Shoot

n The “Rail Spur Outpost” cowboy action shooting club will be having full fledged “Cowboy Action Shoots” during the months of August through November of this year. The shoots will be hosted by Monroe Sportsman’s Club and all cowboy actions shooter are welcome to attend and shoot. Monroe Sportsmans is located on Route 7 six miles South of I-90. The address for mapquest purposes is Monroe Sportsmans Club, 4198 Center Road. (Rt. 7), Conneaut, Ohio 44030. Shoot details are as follows; Shoot dates, Sept. 26, Oct. 24, and Nov. 28. Match fee is $10, registration is from 8-9:15, safety meeting is at 9:30, and the match starts at 10. All SASS rules apply (Single Action Shooting Society), Western Dress is appropriate, Lead Bullets and Lead Shot Only. SASS Pre 1899 Approved Fire Arms. FMI, contact Loquacious Loner (aka Bryon Harwell) at 992-2959 or via email at bywell@yahoo.com



Maple Country NWTF Banquet

n The Maple Country Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will be holding its 15th Annual Hunting Heritage Banquet on Sept. 10, 2009. The dinner will be held at the EOUV Club located at 8636 Pekin Road, Novelty, Ohio. Doors will open at 5:30 pm and dinner will be served at 7 p.m. A single ticket costs $65.00 and includes dinner; open bar, NWTF membership a ticket for the door gun and door prizes. A couples ticket costs $95 and includes one single ticket package and an additional dinner ticket and open bar. Jakes tickets are $30 and include dinner and a Jakes membership. Table pricing is $750 and includes (10) Single Ticket packages and $300 in General Raffle ticket to the Table Chair. Social hour, drinks and games will begin at 5:30. Following that will be the Silent Auction, Live Auction, General Raffle, the New Women’s Only Raffle and much more. FMI, contact Matt McDermott at 834-9606, Don Rauch at 759-8735 or Bill Trumph at 313-4941.