MCARTHUR, Ohio — As Ohio’s fall hunting seasons get underway, the Vinton County Dog Shelter is reminding residents that a hound dog turning up on their property is not a stray to be rescued, and interfering with one could lead to criminal charges.
In a Facebook post this week, the shelter said residents should expect to see hunting dogs, particularly coon and rabbit hounds, roaming on and off private property as hunters pursue game across the county. Owners are usually easy to reach and will come get their dogs, the shelter said.
Ohio’s archery deer season opened Sept. 26 and its squirrel season opened Sept. 1, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ 2026-27 hunting and trapping regulations. The raccoon season does not open until Nov. 10 and cottontail rabbit season until Nov. 6, but state rules allow hunters to run and train dogs pursuing furbearing animals between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. outside of a May-through-August blackout period, meaning hound owners can legally have dogs working the woods well before those harvest seasons formally begin.
The shelter urged residents not to remove collars from dogs they find on their property. Those collars are GPS tracking devices, not shock collars, and they are how an owner locates a dog that has wandered off the chase, the shelter said in its post. Taking off someone else’s tracking collar, or taking a hunting dog in an attempt to rescue or rehome it, can expose a person to criminal charges, the shelter said. Under Ohio law, theft of property valued at $1,000 or more is a felony, a threshold a trained hunting dog and its GPS collar can easily reach.
Dogs that have been running loose for a few days without access to food can start to look thin, which is not necessarily a sign the animal has been neglected or abused, the shelter said. A hunting dog that seems shy or timid around strangers is usually reacting to a lack of socialization with people rather than mistreatment, according to the post.
The shelter also reminded residents that the reprieve for loose dogs during hunting season applies only to dogs actively engaged in the hunt. Ohio law generally requires owners to keep dogs confined to their own property, restrained, or under reasonable control at all times; dogs lawfully hunting while accompanied by their owner or handler are the exception. The shelter’s post noted that non-hunting dogs are still required by law to stay on their owner’s property.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Vinton County Dog Shelter and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
