photo by Dan Small

Goose season is in full swing, and the opportunities for good shooting are better than ever. And northeastern Ohio boasts some of the Midwest's best Canada goose hunting. Prior to 1950, Canada geese were a passing oddity in the Buckeye State. But the Ohio Division of Wildlife's program to establish a resident population has been a big success. Canada geese are now the state's most sought-after migrant game birds.

Here are several spots in Wildlife District Three that biologists say will be productive this month:

MOSQUITO LAKE WILDLIFE AREA
This honker hotspot in northeastern Ohio has become a household word with the region's goose hunters.

Its wide expanse of open water and nearby fields attract migrant and resident birds by the thousands. Limit hunts aren't unusual.

Several hundred acres have been planted to row crops, with blinds set up in the corn. The blinds are permit-controlled, but ones that don't get drawn for a particular day are put into a daily draw. Occasionally, a blind or two is kept in reserve for hunters who aren't on time, and latecomers will often get one.

The Mosquito Creek WA borders 8,648-acre Mosquito Lake State Park. The lake itself lies within the park boundaries and is managed for dual purposes: for providing a waterfowl refuge and as a public hunting area.

The lake covers 3,156 acres, and geese are eager to use it.

The resident population of Canada geese provides good shooting, especially later in the year when severe weather drives migrant birds out of the Lake Erie marshes. When that happens, Mosquito Lake is their next stop south.

The wildlife area offers about 1,000 acres of field-hunting opportunities and 300 acres of marsh. The marshy section west of the Penn Central Railroad tracks is usually a good spot to check and at times holds good numbers of geese.

Access is from state routes 46 and 87, which intersect five miles south of Colebrook.

You may launch small boats from the ramp on township Road 240. Hunters looking for walk-in opportunities will find them along the shoreline between the town of Cortland and the buoy line on the lake.

For more information, contact the Mosquito Lake Wildlife Area office at (440) 685-4776, or the Mosquito Lake State Park office at (330) 637-2856.

AUBURN MARSH WILDLIFE AREA
Public areas near urban centers are often heavily hunted from opening day on. The sight of so many hunters in the field can be discouraging.

Sleeper spots are where you find them, and even on the busiest areas, there are opportunities that are all too easy to miss. Auburn Marsh Wildlife Area is one of these.