The owners of the shuttered property in Vienna, Ohio are working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture to obtain certification under Ohio Revised Code. If approved, animals like deer and elk may be brought in for hunters to kill.
Candywood Golf Course in Vienna, Ohio, which closed after last season, is in the process of turning into a wild animal hunting preserve, the Youngstown, Ohio WKBN reported.
The owners of the land are now working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture to obtain certification, according to Jamey Emmert, wildlife communications specialist at ODNR’s Division of Wildlife. If approved, animals like deer and elk may be brought in for hunters to kill, WKBN reported.
Emmert said there is a lengthy list of requirements under Ohio Revised Code to become certified, and the process may take several weeks for approval, WKBN reported.
“They do have to get the animals legally, which means they have to obtain the animals from a licensed propagator who is legally breeding the animals in the facility,” Emmert said. “They cannot go out into the wild and capture the deer and put them into the preserve, which is illegal.”
Emmert said ODNR will make sure that the enclosure meets specifications, while the Department of Agriculture deals directly with the animals. “We’re involved, because we want to make sure that in no way does this preserve affect the wild herd,” she said.
The owners of Candywood declined to comment on the project yet, saying it was not official and they were still going through the licensing process. An 8-foot tall fence surrounds the property now with signs which read “Wild Hunting Preserve,” WKBN reported.
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