H.C. Whitetails Unlimited chapter banquet is Friday
By ART HOLDEN
Outdoor Editor
Up until last year, one of the state's most productive deer hunting counties was without a Whitetails Unlimited chapter.
That all changed when Heath Cline put the wheels in motion and organized the first Holmes County Whitetails Unlimited Chapter banquet in 2010.
Cline, who has his own taxidermy business, also started up a whitetail outfitting service this year, and couldn't find the time to continue in the chairman's role again.
So, in stepped Chad Dial, who is chairing this year's banquet, which will be held Friday night at the Flying Ridge Hunt Club in Millersburg.
"Just about everyone looks at deer season as a holiday around here," said the 25-year-old Dial, who is happy to report this year's 200-seat banquet is sold out. "It's a good time for area hunters to get together, tell stories, have a good time, and hopefully walk away with some guns and gear."
Whitetail Unlimited is a national organization. As WU likes to say, it's a national organization working for an American tradition. The non-profit organization was founded in 1982 with the mission of dedicating its resources to the betterment of the white-tailed deer and its environment.
Proceeds from chapter banquets are split 50-50, with the local club keeping half the pot to use at its discretion.
"We don't know if we're going to start up a scholarship, or maybe help out with the shooting sports in Holmes County," said Dial of the HC Chapter's proceeds. "I may propose to the committee to do a whitetails for kids day, similar to what the local turkey federation does in the spring. Some sort of event to educate local youth on whitetail hunting."
And with it being Holmes County, Dial shouldn't have a problem finding volunteers, as deer hunting is next to godliness from Berlin to Glenmont.
"Holmes County is a well-known hunting county," said Dial, who himself has been deer hunting since he was 9. "Locals, people from across Ohio, and people from out of state come here to hunt because we grow some of the biggest free-range deer in Ohio."
That's one reason Dial and his committee had little trouble selling out this year's banquet. With Whitetails Unlimited Ohio field director Dennis Maloy handling everything but the venue and ticket sales, it was relatively easy to fill the banquet facility at Flying Ridge.
"We've got a pretty diverse crowd coming in," said Dial. "Dennis Maloy and Whitetails Unlimited is in charge of all the auction items, and they even lined up the caterer. And for the second year, we'll have Adam Campbell doing the auctioning."
Dial notes that there will be over 30 guns auctioned off, along with archery equipment, Terry Redland outdoor prints, as well as home decor items for the women in the crowd. All youth under the age of 18 will be entered into a drawing for one of the guns, and all veterans attending will also be in a special drawing just for them.
"It should be a fun night," said Dial.
The banquet comes a little more than a week before the opening of gun season, and Dial says it should be another banner year in Holmes County for mature bucks, although he says the overall numbers seem a bit down.
"A lot of people have been harvesting does (over recent years) and we're now getting the doe to buck numbers closer to where they should be (in Holmes Coounty)," said Dial. "We're seeing less deer than five years ago, but the quality of bucks is good. A lot of people trophy hunt in Holmes County, and I think a lot of nice bucks will be shot this year."
To date, deer harvest numbers in Ohio are off 11 percent through the first six weeks of the state's archery season. Holmes County's numbers ring true with those of the state's as 1,101 deer were checked through six weeks, compared to 1,328 last year. That ranked Holmes County fifth in the state for early-season archery kills. In Wayne County, the 2011 total was 501, compared to 632 in 2010.
Licking County was No. 1 at 1,836, followed by Coshocton (1,522), Tuscarawas (1,259), Ashtabula (1,143) and Holmes County.
Across the state, the six-week total was 48,836, down from 51,543 in 2010
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