After six weekly reporting sessions Ohio's deer kill continues to limp along

Ohio’s deer hunters have bagged and tagged an additional 7,066 animals during the latest to-date reporting week kill results.

However, the November 1^st to-date reporting tally is still 7,231 fewer deer than was recorded for approximately the same reporting period in 2015.

Last year the-then reporting period ending November 3^rd,  2015 noted a deer kill of 35,633 animals. For comparison the current to-date reporting period shows a deer kill consisting of 28,402 animals.

And for a further step in making comparisons, the previous weekly reporting period ending October 25^th 2016 (this year) noted a kill of 21,336 animals.

Of some statistical significance so far each of the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 2016 to-date six reporting period tallies have demonstrated marked deer kill declines when stacked up to their roughly parallel 2015 to-date doppelgangers.

Also, last year at this time two counties had reported to-date deer kills exceeding one-thousand animals each: Ashtabula – 1,046; and Licking – 1,166 along with five counties with kills exceeding 800 animals each: Coshocton – 943; Holmes – 818; Knox – 885; Trumbull – 998; and Tuscarawas – 801.

Yet so far in 2016 none of Ohio’s 88 counties have to-date kills in four figures. The closest in alphabetical order are Ashtabula – 853; Coshocton – 912; Licking -881; and Trumbull – 852.

Ohio likewise still has five counties that have yet to inscribe their tallies in triple digits. In alphabetical order these counties are: Fayette – 41; Henry – 97; Madison – 72; Ottawa – 83; Van Wert – also 83. For comparison, for the like-dated tally in 2015 the Wildlife Division reported only the following two counties with deer kills of less than 100 animals each: Fayette – 56; and Van Wert – 78.

Noteworthy counties with their 2016 to-date deer kills (and with their respective 2015 to-date numbers in parentheses) are: Adams – 501 (766); Ashland – 480 (583); Ashtabula – 853 (1,046); Athens – 415 (523); Brown – 339 (449); Carroll – 408 (559); Clermont – 448 (630); Columbiana – 509 (622); Coshocton – 912 (942); Cuyahoga – 362 (287) (Cuyahoga County continues as the only one of Ohio’s 88 counties to record a larger to-date deer kill when compared to its 2015 to-date figure); Darke – 98 (152); Franklin – 226 (242); Geauga – 415 (544); Guernsey – 489 (627); Hamilton – 516 (721); Harrison – 422 (584); Highland – 396 (477); Hocking – 377 (535); Holmes – 677 (818); Jackson – 400 (450); Jefferson – 308 (363); Knox – 688 (885); Lake – 258 (299); Licking – 881 (1,166); Lorain – 562 (713); Lucas – 200 (272); Medina – 421 (493); Meigs – 340 (453); Muskingum – 566 (683); Noble – 279 (375); Perry – 315 (397); Portage – 487 (595); Richland – 583 (727); Ross – 384 (533); Stark – 542 (677); Summit – 326 (433); Trumbull – 852 (998); Tuscarawas – 648 (801); Vinton – 290 (395); Washington – 299 (359); and Williams – 354 (413).

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net