COLUMBUS — September 1 will again kick-off the state’s fall hunting seasons with the opening of the squirrel-hunting season under regulations approved last week by the Ohio Wildlife Council.

The statewide muzzleloader season will move to early January. Season dates are Jan. 9-12, 2010, which includes two weekend days. Two additional northwest Ohio counties will be open for fall turkey hunting, Oct. 10-Nov. 29, bringing the total to 48 counties statewide.

Spring turkey season for 2010 will be April 19-May 16. Spring gobbler hunters will be able to hunt all day the last two weeks, May 3-16, of the four-week season. Legal hunting hours during those two weeks will be one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.

The ruffed grouse bag limit will be cut from three to two, and the season will end on Jan. 31. Grouse populations continue long-term declines with flush rates and harvest rates at record lows.

Archery season will run from Sept. 26 through Feb. 7.

The popular youth deer-gun season is for Nov. 21-22. During the youth deer-gun season, zone bag limits will apply to young hunters. Any deer taken will be part of the young hunter’s total season limit.

Deer-gun season will run Nov. 30 through Dec. 6 and Dec. 19-20. Statewide muzzleloader season will run Jan. 9 through Tuesday, Jan. 12.

During the 2008-2009 season, which concluded Feb. 1, hunters bagged a record 252,017 deer. Approximately 475,000 people hunted white-tailed deer in Ohio this past season.

Hunting and trapping seasons for rabbit, pheasant, quail, squirrel, fox, raccoon, mink, muskrat, beaver, river otter, crow, and falconry were approved as proposed. Rules and season dates for mourning dove, Canada goose, rail, moorhen, snipe, and migratory waterfowl hunting will be set in August, in compliance with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s 2009-10 framework.

All hunting and trapping season dates and rules can be found at wildohio.com.