The park stretches along more than 14 miles of Big and Little Darby creeks and covers 6,319 acres in southwestern Franklin County. Battelle-Darby has some ideal whitetail habitat consisting of fields, prairies and woods.

"There are some cities that allow bowhunting where gun hunting is not allowed," offered Huss. "These cities have realized that they have a deer problem and are willing to let hunters remove some of the deer. In the Columbus Urban Deer Unit, these cities include Grove City, Gahanna, Pataskola and New Albany. Hunters should check with local police departments to see if their ordinances allow hunting this year.

Pointing out that older deer get carry bigger racks, he added, "Hunters who take the time to research these areas may find some old deer in these protected areas."

The Columbus Urban Deer Unit's boundaries start south of state Route 36 at the Union-Delaware county line and end at the Delaware-Knox county line. Everything in Delaware County south of this line is included.

For more detailed information, contact the Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park at (614) 891-0700, or try the ODOW's District One office at (614) 644-3925.

CINCINNATI-DAYTON URBAN DEER UNIT
"What we're doing is trying to encourage hunters to use the Urban Deer Unit area," said Lynn Holtzman, private lands biologist with District Five. "There are a lot of car-deer accidents in Hamilton County, and that's the reason we have established the unit. Deer are also a nuisance for private landowners, because they come in and eat valuable nursery stock and shrubbery."

According to Holtzman, the situation is so bad that some of the county parks within the unit have hired sharpshooters to deal with excess numbers of deer -- while prohibiting private hunting. "I don't know of a lot of big bucks being taken, but these hunters don't have a problem shooting does," he said.

The terrain throughout the unit ranges from flat to rolling. And that terrain comes furnished with lots of people. Hunters need to be aware of property lines and "line-of-fire" responsibilities when hunting with shotgun or bow.

The southernmost part of the unit provides excellent prospects for hunters from Dayton and the Queen City. The unit includes all of Hamilton County and sections of the counties of Clermont (the area west of state Route 132 and south of state Route 48), Warren and Butler (those parts bounded on the west by the Great Miami River and on the east by state Route 48), and Montgomery (everything east of I-75 north and state Route 48 north to the county lines).

The biggest challenge in hunting an Urban Deer Unit is obtaining written permission to hunt on private land. Hunters have several options for finding private landowners, which include studying plat maps, telephone books and county tax directories. Also, try contacting the wildlife district office covering the unit you plan to hunt. Each office maintains a list of landholders that have complained about deer problems, and hunters may have access this list.

For more information on hunting Ohio's Urban Deer Units contact the ODOW at 1-800-945-3543, or try them online at www.dnr.ohio.gov/wildlife.

Trip planning assistance and information on lodging may be found by contacting the Ohio Division of Travel and Tourism at 1-800-282-5393, or visit www.discoverohio.com.