With the approach of the rut, Ohio's deer-hunting archers continue to do well

With the presumptive peak of the rut only two weeks away, Ohio archery hunters are beginning to make the most of their tree time.

Ohio’s reported to-date deer kill as of October 27 stands at 26,103 animals. That figure is 5,351 more deer than the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s stated October 21^st kill of 20,103 animals.

Delving into the Wildlife Division’s records the close-to-same deer kill figure for October 29, 2014 was 31,907 animals. Meanwhile the comparable 2013 to-date deer kill was 34,077.

However, an important difference between the 2013 and 2014 to-date deer kills and when laid alongside the to-date 2015 numbers is that the former two summaries included deer that were taken during their respective early two-day, muzzle-loading-only/antlerless only deer hunting seasons.

No such early season was held this year.

As for Ohio’s rut pinnacle, the date for that deer-hunting key is almost always a couple of days on either side of Veteran’s Day, or November 11^th, says Mike Tonkovich, the Wildlife Division’s deer management administrator.

During the rut the bucks are often known to throw caution to the wind in search of a receptive – if ever so temporary – soul mate. These males also are prone to be active during the day instead of sulking around only when the sun fades in the west.

As for the counties with the most to-date reported deer kills (along with their respective October 20^th 2015 figures - as well as their comparable 2013 and 2014 to-date kills – all in parentheses) they are, in alphabetical order: Adams – 541 (441) (735) (607); Ashtabula – 770 (583) (1,003) (978); Coshocton – 631 (524) (831) (900); Hamilton – 599 (527) (677) (549); Holmes – 579 (439) (630) (741); Knox – 627 (496) (688) (786); Licking – 851 (655) (1,116) (1,025); Lorain – 552 (435) (585) (623); Trumbull – 793 (613) (918) (920); Tuscarawas – 568 (456) (697 (794).

Also, there are still six of Ohio’s 88 counties that have yet to see their respective deer kills cross over the triple-digit benchmark. That figure is down from last week’s 13 counties. The six remaining double-digit-only counties are: Fayette – 39; Henry 75; Madison – 77; Ottawa – 83; Pickaway – 87; Van Wart – 50.

Locally for Northeast Ohio (admittedly my backyard) the current to-date figures (with their respective 2014 numbers in parentheses) are: Lake – 228 (269); Geauga – 404 (451); Cuyahoga – 229 (216).

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

 

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 125 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.