Shieldcastle hesitated to say if he thought the laws would be accepted. But history shows that most of the proposals the ODOW sends before the Wildlife Council do get passed.

The recommended move, according to Shieldcastle, is to a 70-day season across the entire state. Seasons will vary from one zone to the next. If these new regulations are passed, most likely there will be no late goose season.

"Our goal," Shieldcastle noted, "is to shift the main harvest back to the regular season."

"With healthy goose populations and good spring breeding success, the hunting should be very good this year," said biologist Mark Shieldcastle. "But in the end, it all comes down to the weather."

Regulations will be more liberal in that the hunting seasons will be longer. This is an effort to help manage the populations of resident geese. It will also take pressure off the migrant population by eliminating late-season hunting.

For the past two years, the Lake Erie Zone has had only a 40-day season, and before that, the season was even shorter. The other two zones -- the South Zone and North Zone -- had fragmented seasons: One started in September, one in November through December and finally, a late season in January.

In all likelihood, the daily bag limit will remain the same: two birds per hunter, per day. Be certain to check updated seasons and regulations before leaving home this fall.

Here's a look at some of the better places to go for a public land goose hunt this month:

MOSQUITO CREEK WILDLIFE AREA
Mosquito Creek WA is open to public hunting and is arguably the best state-owned land in all of Ohio to hunt geese on.

When it comes to hunting geese, Mosquito Creek is virtually unsurpassable, but it does come with its drawbacks. Geese may be taken through controlled hunts only. Hunters must obtain a permit before targeting the area. These permits are not hard to come by, but they do require that you enter a drawing.

Lou Orosz is an ODOW district manager. According to him, the drawings take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

"Hunters enter their names in the drawing for the day they hope to hunt," noted Orosz.

"We have two drawings a day. The first one is at 5:15 a.m. Winners of this drawing will be permitted to hunt one of our wetland units or field units until noon.

"We have a second drawing at 11 a.m. Winners of this drawing may hunt from 1 p.m. to sunset."

These drawings go on during the entire open goose season. According to Orosz, once ice covers the area, drawings end for the wetland units. But drawings for the field units are open all season long.

The number of wetland units varies depending on the water level. Anywhere from 15 to 20 sites, sometimes fewer, may be available at any given time. These units are numbered and assigned to hunters fortunate enough to get drawn. The good news is that few hunters get turned away.

"We are busiest the first two weeks of the season," Orosz pointed out.

"After that, we almost always have enough wetland units to assign sites to all of the hunters who show up.

"Most units sit three hunters, but we do have a few designed for one hunter. There are occasions, however, when there will be too many people at a drawing, and some will not get drawn."