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Blade Hunting Report: Veterans' hunt honors Toledo Marine's legacy

The Blade - 1/4/2022

Jan. 4—FOSTORIA — A chilly winter day was filled with warmth and comradery recently when 17 military veterans took part in a guided hunt at Clay's Pheasant Ridge farm north of town.

The event was the Fourth Annual Rudy Beham Memorial Veterans' Hunt — the family of a distinguished veteran honoring other veterans.

This hunt is a salute to the legacy of Toledo native Rudy Beham and is sponsored by his sons. Beham grew up in West Toledo and graduated from DeVilbiss before enlisting in the Marines at 19. A short time later he was part of a small American force that engaged a massive Chinese army in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.

That battle is considered one of the most significant in Marine Corps history since, against overwhelming numbers, the Marines fought their way through to the sea where transport ships were waiting. Rudy Beham was part of what is known in Marine lore as the "Chosin Few."

Rudy's son Joe reported that all of the military branches were represented at the most recent edition of the veterans' hunt, which included 15 vets taking part for the first time. Clay's Pheasant Ridge put out about 70 pheasants for the hunt and the veterans harvested more than 40 with the assistance of volunteer guides and their bird dogs.

Each veteran that attended the Rudy Beham Memorial Veterans' Hunt received a door prize and Anderzak-Pitzen Construction from Metamora generously donated a lunch of brats, burgers, chips, and dessert.

"A great day was had by all and we had a moment of silence for all servicemen and women who have lost their lives defending this great country," Joe Beham said, adding that the national anthem opened the event.

—Wildlife officer case: Brian Liming, the man found guilty of shooting Ohio Division of Wildlife officer Kevin Behr in 2020, was recently sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The 44-year-old Liming, from the village of Jamestown near Dayton, had been found guilty of felony assault, felony tampering with evidence, hunting without a deer permit and hunting without a license. The charges resulted from a December, 2020, incident in which wildlife officers were looking into a deer poaching complaint in Clinton County and Liming, who had previous offenses including domestic violence and vehicular homicide, excited a vehicle and fired a shot in a wooded area, striking Behr. Liming claimed to be firing at a deer on what was the final day of the gun season. Behr was struck by a round that shattered his pelvis and damaged numerous internal organs. He nearly bled to death before reaching the hospital, spent a month in a coma, and has undergone numerous surgeries and extensive rehabilitation therapy on his long path to recovery.

—Ohio deer harvest: As 2021 closed, white-tailed deer hunters in the Buckeye State had taken 171,656 deer, with 78,766 of those antlered animals and 92,890 antlerless deer. Archery hunters accounted for nearly half of that total harvest, with 83,490 deer taken by bow hunting since the season opened in late September. Bowhunters have harvested 46,334 antlered deer and 37,156 antlerless deer. Ohio's bow hunting season continues for another month, while the four-day muzzleloader season opens later this week.

—Ohio/muzzleloader: The brief season opens on Saturday and runs through Tuesday, with hunting permitted from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset and hunter orange is required of all hunters. Hunters in Ohio are allowed to use a muzzleloading rifle of .38 caliber or larger, or a muzzleloading shotgun of 10 gauge or smaller using one ball per barrel.

—Ohio/archery season: The bow season for white-tailed deer, which opened on Sept. 25, runs through Feb. 6. Archery hunters are reminded that during the muzzleloader season, which runs from Saturday through Tuesday, they are required to wear a hunter orange vest, coat, jacket, or coveralls that are either solid hunter orange or camouflage hunter orange.

—Michigan/urban archery season: While the statewide archery season closed last Saturday, the season is extended through Jan. 31 in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties as part of the effort to manage the burgeoning deer herd and reduce human-deer conflicts. Hunters in Michigan are reminded that a deer license, deer combo license or antlerless deer license are valid during this extended archery season. All of the rules and regulations for the archery season remain in place. For more information on this extended archery season, visit the Michigan.gov/Deer website or refer to the 2021 Michigan Hunting Digest.

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(c)2022 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)

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