With the dust all ready settling on Ohio’s 2015-2016 deer
kill totals only 24 hours after the archery season ended, the Ohio Division of
Wildlife is expected to announce as early as within the next 72 hours what the
2016-2017 deer-hunting proposals will look like.
In all, Ohio’s hunters bagged and tagged 188,335 deer.
That figure is up 12,590 animals that hunters killed for the all-inclusive 2014-2015
deer-hunting year. For this deer-hunting year (2014-2015) hunters killed
175,745 animals.
For the previous 2013-2014 all-inclusive deer-hunting
year Ohio recorded a kill of 191,465 animals, which is only 3,130 more animals
than hunters arrowed and shot during the just-concluded 2015-2016 all-inclusive
deer-hunting year.
Then again, the entire intend behind 2015-2016’s ramped
up deer-hunting restrictions was to cut back on the number of animals killed,
not to produce an increase.
That being said, the modest gain of 12,590 deer being
killed is tolerable, Ohio Division of Wildlife game biologists are saying.
This belief is enhanced given the fact that the weather
during the 2014-2015 all-inclusive deer-hunting year was not kind to deer
hunters while the El Nino-driven weather for the just-concluded year enhanced
hunter activity, agency biologists are saying.
And when the fact that a widespread dearth of hard mast –
fat-rich white and red acorns – is factored in, the state’s slight deer kill
gain is understandable. Deer simply had to keep on the move in order to sustain
good health by finding a decent meal, says Clint McCoy, the Wildlife Division’s
deer biologist.
“Yes, our regulatory changes were designed to cut back on
the antlerless harvest, and though that didn’t happen as we had hoped, it did
help prevent the sort of harvest increase we saw with antlered deer,” McCoy
said.
A breakdown of the 2015-2016 all-inclusive deer-hunting year’s
antlerless and antlered deer kills show that 76,689 antlered deer were taken
and 111,640 antlerless deer were killed. For the comparable 2014-2015 hunt the
figures were, respectively, 66,058 (antlered) and 109,687 (antlerless) deer.
In bringing the view into sharper focus with an additional
comparison – the best way that numbers have meaning – for the 2014-2015
all-inclusive deer-hunting year the figures were 67,267 (antlered) deer and
124,188 (antlerless) deer.
Thus, Ohio’s 2015-2016 all-inclusive buck kill is way up
from what was produced during any of the previous two all-inclusive
deer-hunting seasons.
“Obviously we couldn’t predict the big hurt on the mast
crop nor the change in the (climatic) weather,” McCoy said.
All in all then, McCoy says, Ohio’s deer hunters ought to
expect seasons dates and lengths, bag limits, and all of the other deer-hunting
rules to closing shadow those encountered during the 2015-2016 all-inclusive
deer-hunting year.
“I don’t believe there will be many changes,” McCoy said.
In looking at the county-by-county deer kills, the Number
One spot goes to Coshocton County. Here, a recorded total take of 5,700 animals
was posted. The previous all-inclusive deer-hunting year saw a take saw a total
deer kill of 5,727 animals, representing a miniscule drop of just 27
white-tails.
Second place goes to Licking County with a kill of 5,365 deer.
The previous all-inclusive seasons’ kill was 5,281 animals. Simple math shows
that Licking County’s kill rose by a minuscule 80 animals.
A closer look at the county-by-county deer kill shows
that some 23 of Ohio’s 88 counties saw declines; most by small amounts.
However, there were some noticeable drops. Among them were Erie County –
falling from a posted 2014-2015 deer kill of 951 animals to 750 animals (a
decline of 201 deer, or 21 percent); and Morrow County – dropping an even 100
animals; 1,437 deer taken during the just-concluded all-inclusive 2015-2016 deer-hunting
year and 1,537 animals shot there the year before.
The county that brought up the rear turns out – once again
– to be Fayette County where only 310 were shot this past all-inclusive deer-hunting
year. Fayette likewise finished last during the 2014-2015 all-inclusive
deer-hunting year with a kill of 380 animals as well as the 2013-2014 all-inclusive
deer-hunting year with a kill of 292 animals.
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Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
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.
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