On Friday, the visiting judge in Mahoning County Courts ruled that the controlled hunt inside of Mill Creek Park can proceed as planned.

The ruling stated that the plaintiffs in the case showed no proof to counter the claims made by the park or the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, siting that the park is using a similar culling plan for deer to Cleveland Metroparks.

The judge ruled against the injunction to stop the hunt based on the proof of the ecological damage evidence shown by the park as evidence and said the concerns over safety during the hunt were speculative.

However, those opposed to the hunting plan have filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals, Seventh District of Mahoning County in an attempt to halt the hunt until the legal question regarding the extent of the parks legal authority to hold it.

Here is what people living near the hunt sites or visitors to the park need to know:

The controlled recreational hunt will begin on Sunday and will go through the end of January 2024, with 331 hunters that were selected through a lottery draw for the duration of the hunt.

Hunt times will follow the Ohio Department of Natural Resources rules, which is 30 minutes before sunrise,  and 30 minutes after sunset.

Hunters will be allowed to enter the park from 5 a.m. through 10 p.m. during hunting season.

The hunting locations inside the park are:

Hunters are to park in the designated parking areas at each site location. Hunters have to stay 100 feet away from any hiking trails and 300 feet away from any residential areas.

ODNR bag limits for deer apply here, with antlered deer per hunter applying to the entire hunting season. Six antlerless deer may be harvested per hunter in the park, but will not count against the Ohio hunting season takes for antlerless deer. A maximum of nine deer may be hunted during the controlled hunt.

Hunters are required to check in all deer killed with the ODNR and with Mill Creek MetroParks.

Nick Derico, Natural Resource Manager for Mill Creek Metroparks says the success rate of any hunt is approximately 20 percent and anticipates that 60 to 120 deer will be harvested from the park.

Archers will be allowed to hunt in all locations from October 1 through December 1, then firearm hunters will be allowed in all designated areas - except for Hitchcock Woods and Huntington Woods - from December 2 to the end of January. In total, 331 hunters will be allowed in the park throughout the season.

Guns will be allowed in all 7 of the nine hunting sites, archery only for Hitchcock and Huntington.

Each hunter is only allowed in the specific hunting areas laid out by the park. There are 9 different locations where hunters can kill deer including:

The park locations will be open to visitors during archery hunt but closed during firearm hunting.

On top of the recreational hunting, the park received a permit from Ohio Department of Natural Resources for culling hunting, with professional sharpshooters who will hunt deer in the Mill Creek Proper area which is north of Route 224, but the exact date has not been expected to be around mid-to-late October and would late only a few days, according to Derico.

The permit for the sharpshooters only allows them to take 30 deer at night, when the park is closed to the public. The park can apply for additional permits for the sharpshooters to take more deer in the future.