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LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION
This 141-acre wildlife area lies in the gently rolling farming region of Highland County, seven miles west of Hillsboro. It is easily reached from U.S. Route 50, six miles west of Hillsboro, by traveling one mile northeast on County Road 6-C. The area lies on the northwest side of the road just south of the village of Russell.
Most of the area is in meadow and grain crops intermixed with brushy fencerows and extensive brushy coverts along Dodson Creek. An exceptionally fine 25-acre mature woods of beech, maple, swamp white and pin oak, and other hardwoods may be found in the northwest corner of the area. Index of Ohio's trees from the Division of Forestry.
HISTORY AND PURPOSE
This area was purchased in 1944. Located in an agriculturally productive section of Highland County, the area is managed primarily for rabbits and quail.
Open fields are maintained in a desirable mixture of meadow and grain crops for farm game species. Several thousand shrubs and conifers have been planted. The woods have been protected and improved. Several ponds have been constructed.
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Cottontail rabbit, bobwhite quail, fox and gray squirrels, woodchuck, raccoons, muskrats, skunk, and opossum are the principal upland game and fur species in this region of Ohio. All of them are found on the area. A variety of waterfowl use the ponds, especially during spring migration.
Largemouth bass, bluegills, and catfish are the principal species of fish.
The best rabbit and quail hunting is in the openfields and brushy coverts. Both fox and gray squirrels are found in the 25-acre woods. Fox squirrels can be taken in the scattered woods along Dodson Creek. Raccoon and woodchuck hunting is usually good. The best fishing is usually in the more shallow areas of the ponds during the early morning and late evening, and in the deeper areas during the day.
PUBLIC USE FACILITIES
One parking lot is located on the south side of the area.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Further information may be obtained from the Wildlife District Five Office, 1076 Old Springfield Pike, Xenia, Ohio 45385; telephone (937) 372-9261.
TURN IN A POACHER
Ohio’s TIP, “Turn In a Poacher,” program is helping to curtail poaching throughout the state. TIP is designed to involve the public in reporting wildlife violations. Citizens who observe wildlife violations should call the TIP toll-free hotline, 1-800-POACHER.
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