The deer kill figures for Ohio’s 2015 firearms
deer-hunting season didn’t set any records but they did wave good-bye in the
rearview mirror to their comparable – but still “ho-hummish” - 2014 statistics.
In all for the 2015 seven-day firearms deer-hunting
season, held November 30th through December 6th, participants killed
73,399 animals. That figure compares to the 64,484 white-tails that hunters
shot during the 2014 seven-day gun deer season. The difference resulted in a
harvest uptick of 8,915 animals.
Taking it one step further, the 73,399 gun deer-hunting
season 2015 total is only 2,009 fewer deer killed than were taken during the
2013 gun deer-hunting season (75,408 deer).
The flipside, though, points to 34 of Ohio’s 88 counties having
posted deer kills of 1,000 or more animals. And of this 34-county figure, three
jurisdictions saw at least 2,000 deer killed during this year’s firearms
deer-hunting season: Ashtabula – 2,002; Coshocton – 2,420 animals; and
Muskingum – 2,283 animals.
An honorable mention goes to Tuscarawas County which
missed the Two-Thousand Deer Kill Club by just one animal (1,999 deer, to be
exact).
“I’m not terribly
surprised by the harvest,” opined Mike Tonkovich, the Wildlife Division’s deer
management administrator. “We generally had good weather for deer hunting during
the gun season, unlike last year when we had poor weather for deer hunting.”
In looking to explain this year’s general gun deer-hunting
season largesse, Tonkovich said that one possibly is that Ohio’s deer herd may
or may not have shrunk due to the youth-only gun deer-hunting season as well as
the first couple of months of the statewide archery deer-hunting season,
Tonkovich says
“This is just anecdotal, I know, but I heard from any
number of hunters and check station operates that it’s been a long while since
they’ve seen so many good buck,” Tonkovich said also. “”They’re calling it ‘the
year of the big bucks.’”
Clearly, too, says Tonkovich, Ohio’s deer-hunting
possibilities still have a lot of gas left in the tank. New this year is a
two-day, post-Christmas “bonus” firearms deer-hunting season. This hunt is
slated for December 28th – the Monday following Christmas – and December
29th.
A prior and short-lived two-day bonus season was held up
until 2012. During that last two-day gun deer hunt participants knocked off 14,365
animals, or approximately 6.5 percent of that year’s total combined all-seasons’
harvest, Tonkovich said.
The issue this year, however, is the two-day season’s
timing: just a few days after Christmas. As such, perhaps many would-be hunters
will have returned to work after having expended all their vacation time or
else are on a long holiday but locked in with family obligations that will
curtail any deer-hunting time-out, Tonkovich says.
“If we see 10,000
to 12,000 animals taken that would be a great harvest, actually,” Tonkovich
said.
As for the to-date deer kill figures, Ohio Division of
Wildlife spokesman John Windau, said hunters have tele-checked in 152,554 deer
Last year for approximately
the same period, hunters had taken a total of 148,821 deer, said Windau.
“Given that the year-to-date harvest is only slightly
higher, the significant increase in this year’s deer-gun season can most likely
be attributed to better weather conditions compared to the 2014 deer-gun
season,” Windau said.
Last year for approximately the same period, hunters had
taken a total of 148,821 deer, said Windau.
“Given that the year-to-date harvest is only slightly
higher, the significant increase in this year’s deer-gun season can most likely
be attributed to better weather conditions compared to the 2014 deer-gun
season,” Windau said.
Here is the list of all
white-tailed deer checked by hunters during the seven-day 2015 firearms deer-hunting. The first number
following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for 2015, with their
respective 2014 numbers in parentheses:
Adams: 1,585 (1,134); Allen: 387 (348); Ashland: 1,232 (1,160);
Ashtabula: 2,002 (1,730); Athens: 1,666 (1,360); Auglaize: 299 (278); Belmont:
1,516 (1,428); Brown: 1,055 (940); Butler: 338 (308); Carroll: 1,577 (1,477);
Champaign: 419 (434); Clark: 207 (195); Clermont: 776 (685); Clinton: 292
(285); Columbiana: 1,458 (1,245); Coshocton: 2,420 (2,308); Crawford: 576
(515); Cuyahoga: 46 (24); Darke: 282 (241); Defiance: 865 (871); Delaware: 418
(422); Erie: 192 (219); Fairfield: 761 (708); Fayette: 125 (142); Franklin: 133
(124); Fulton: 361 (336); Gallia: 1,523 (1,220); Geauga: 508 (470); Greene: 220
(213); Guernsey: 1,995 (1,788); Hamilton: 252 (165); Hancock: 487 (443);
Hardin: 542 (487); Harrison: 1,664 (1,491); Henry: 365 (334); Highland: 1,189
(1,004); Hocking: 1,592 (1,195); Holmes: 1,362 (1,349); Huron: 1,006 (921);
Jackson: 1,323 (968); Jefferson: 1,170 (1,120); Knox: 1,755 (1,727); Lake: 160
(138); Lawrence: 1,021 (779); Licking: 1,865 (1,655); Logan: 765 (672); Lorain:
637 (646); Lucas: 113 (105); Madison: 147 (154); Mahoning: 556 (555); Marion:
363 (340); Medina: 545 (567); Meigs: 1,544 (1,270); Mercer: 235 (206); Miami:
235 (250); Monroe: 1,316 (1,056); Montgomery: 128 (130); Morgan: 1,418 (1,207);
Morrow: 584 (671); Muskingum: 2,283 (2,084); Noble: 1,333 (1,031); Ottawa: 97
(121); Paulding: 523 (509); Perry: 1,340 (1,160); Pickaway: 345 (330); Pike:
954 (701); Portage: 553 (451); Preble: 284 (272); Putnam: 304 (315); Richland:
1,222 (1,159); Ross: 1,264 (1,106); Sandusky: 258 (261); Scioto: 1,164 (761);
Seneca: 779 (710); Shelby: 387 (397); Stark: 863 (759); Summit: 167 (122);
Trumbull: 1,142 (983); Tuscarawas: 1,999 (2,074); Union: 336 (313); Van Wert:
237 (283); Vinton: 1,440 (1,031); Warren: 319 (321); Washington: 1,738 (1,409);
Wayne: 683 (639); Williams: 823 (831); Wood: 293 (389); Wyandot: 696 (749). Total: 73,399 (65,484).
The statewide archery season runs through February 7th. A revamped two-day firearms deer-hunting
season is set for December 28th and 29th (a Monday and a
Tuesday) while the statewide four-day, muzzle-loading-only deer-hunting season
is on tap for January 9th through 12th (a Saturday
through the following Tuesday).
However, 23 of Ohio’s 88 counties did see slippage in
their 2015 seven-day, firearms deer-hunting season when stacked up to their
2014 gun deer season kill totals.
Yet while all of these figures are interesting to hunters
what intrigues the Wildlife Division’s game biologists the most is what the
tally sheets will say at the conclusion of all the various deer hunting sessions.
Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
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