Ohio's 2015's to-date deer kill lags behind 2014's and 2013's to-date numbers

This is where Ohio’s on-going deer kill scorecard gets a little more complicated.

Today the Ohio Division of Wildlife released the to-date deer kill as of December 2^nd. That figure includes the tally for the archery season up to this point, the results of the recently held two-day/youth-only firearms deer-hunting season, and the number of deer killed during the first two days of Ohio’s seven-day general firearms deer-hunting season, which began Monday.

That stew of deer seasons has been simmering since the archery season began September 26 and now the entire pot stands at 111,752 dead deer.

By comparison one must do a dumpster dive into the Wildlife Division’s electronic data repository since the agency no longer provides side-by-side comparisons. The Wildlife Division’s officials say such numbers are not germane for wildlife management purposes.

Yeah, I know, such thinking hardly seems rational or makes sense, but that’s the Wildlife Division for you and whose motto seems to be straight out of a quote by cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn: “Go away, boy, you’re bothering me.”

But I digress.  In any event, the comparable 2014 to-date deer kill was 113,093 deer. And for 2013 the commensurate figure was 124,290 deer.

Thus, when laid side-by-side, this year’s to-date deer kill is 1,341 fewer animals than were shot for the near identical 2014 to-date time frame. And placed alongside the 2013 figure the difference is 12,538 fewer deer killed up to December 2^nd this year.

Some of the other interesting points detailed in the most recent deer kill is that three of Ohio’s 88 counties have so far surpassed the 3,000 deer kill figure. They are Ashtabula County – 3,010 animals; Coshocton County – 3,433 animals; and Licking County – 3,158 animals.

In 2014, five of Ohio’s 88 counties had achieved the 3,000-plus to-date total. Meanwhile, in 2013 the number of counties achieving the to-date 3,000-plus mark was six, including Coshocton County which actually had leapt tall buildings by recording a then to-date kill of 4,035 deer.

A continued glance at this combined deer seasons’ to-date figures show that 12 counties fall in the 2,000 to 3,000 deer kill range. Another 35 counties are tucked into the to-date 1,000 to 2,000 deer kill group.

Bringing up the rear are Van Wert County – 299 deer to-date; Madison County – 291 deer to date; and the ever-so-always-lagging-behind Fayette County with just 197 deer killed to-date.  Just for fun, let’s look at Fayette County’s to-date 2014 deer kill, which was 239 animals while the county’s 2013 to-date deer kill was 186 animals.

Yes, Fayette County was in last place those years as well.

 

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.