Poor Ohio gun deer opener contrasted against average fall turkey season kills

While it was just an average year for Ohio’s fall wild turkey hunters it was anything but for the opening day of the state’s seven-day firearms deer-hunting season.

The tally for the start of Ohio’s gun deer-hunting season, Monday, November 26^th, was striking in its huge – 39 percent – drop from its 2017 counterpart. On Monday, hunters killed 13,614 deer compared to the 22,366 animals shot during the 2017 gun deer season opener.

Not a single one of Ohio’s 88 counties recorded an opening day this year when stacked up against its 2017 counterpart. Some counties experienced drops in excess of 40 percent or more. And just one county – Lucas – saw an identical kill.

Clearly poor weather statewide caused grief for hunters who were forced to deal with rain, high winds, sleet, snow and everything else bad that Mother Nature could toss at them. The result was easily the slowest gun deer season opener since at least 2014.

The opening day deer kill numbers for the past five years were: 2014 (17,512); 2015 (22,256); 2016 (18,776); 2017 -(22,336); and 2018 (13,614).

“Although there are several factors that influence deer harvest, Monday’s weather undoubtedly impacted the number of deer that were killed,” said Wildlife Division spokesman John Windau.

“It is important to remember, though, that there is plenty of season left which will provide opportunities for hunters to take deer.”

Yet a fall in numbers was not in the cards for Ohio’s 11,000-plus fall wild turkey hunters. Hunters killed 1,117 wild turkeys, which is up slightly from the 1,053 birds taken during the 2017 season but markedly lower than the 2016 banner season when 2,168 birds were shot.

This year, the fall wild turkey hunting season was open in 70 counties from Oct. 13-Nov. 25, an increase of three counties and which yielded. This year, three counties were open during the fall turkey season for the first time and which combined yielded 22 of the statewide 1,117 bird total. 

Thirty-two of the 70 counties saw increases when compared to their respective 2017 numbers, five counties saw identical numbers, three counties were new, and the remaining counties experienced declines.

Also, the total fall turkey-hunting season kill for 2013 through 2017 was: 2013 (1,037); 2014 (1,239); 2015 (1,537); 2016 (2,168); and 2017 (1,060). By comparison, the spring 2018 turkey hunting season saw a total kill of 22,571 bearded birds only.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to look closely at the county-by-county harvest numbers to see if there were any regional changes but this year’s overall harvest is pretty consistent with what has been seen in recent years,” said Mark Wiley, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s turkey management biologist.”

Here are the county-by-county 2018 opening day deer kill numbers (with their respective 2017 figures in parentheses): Adams: 187 (354); Allen: 45 (93); Ashland: 277 (432); Ashtabula: 488 (821); Athens: 281 (478); Auglaize: 60 (94); Belmont: 215 (362); Brown: 153 (292); Butler: 26 (85); Carroll: 339 (575); Champaign: 64 (121); Clark: 38 (56); Clermont: 63 (179); Clinton: 43 (84); Columbiana: 269 (453); Coshocton: 587 (924); Crawford: 112 (177); Cuyahoga: 11 (15); Darke: 50 (90); Defiance: 145 (252); Delaware: 72 (135); Erie: 41 (69); Fairfield: 126 (213); Fayette: 13 (32); Franklin: 29 (45); Fulton: 77 (101); Gallia: 237 (396); Geauga: 113 (146); Greene: 34 (48); Guernsey: 402 (657); Hamilton: 20 (34); Hancock: 79 (133); Hardin: 91 (139); Harrison: 285 (497); Henry: 59 (112); Highland: 183 (315); Hocking: 249 (426); Holmes: 386 (648); Huron: 204 (370); Jackson: 241 (358); Jefferson: 152 (244); Knox: 424 (705); Lake: 35 (54); Lawrence: 152 (262); Licking: 395 (577); Logan: 137 (219); Lorain: 130 (200); Lucas: 24 (24); Madison: 22 (40); Mahoning: 144 (209); Marion: 86 (122); Medina: 109 (153); Meigs: 229 (414); Mercer: 55 (86); Miami: 35 (72); Monroe: 220 (406); Montgomery: 19 (35); Morgan: 274 (434); Morrow: 120 (228); Muskingum: 489 (780); Noble: 283 (445); Ottawa: 15 (39); Paulding: 87 (129); Perry: 243 (359); Pickaway: 51 (96); Pike: 122 (199); Portage: 104 (142); Preble: 41 (74); Putnam: 59 (94); Richland: 261 (411); Ross: 186 (307); Sandusky: 48 (68); Scioto: 126 (206); Seneca: 141 (244); Shelby: 65 (119); Stark: 184 (248); Summit: 23 (29); Trumbull: 283 (487); Tuscarawas: 511 (768); Union: 56 (103); Van Wert: 43 (50); Vinton: 168 (322); Warren: 38 (62); Washington: 320 (476); Wayne: 184 (265); Williams: 150 (251); Wood: 43 (74); Wyandot: 134 (224).
Total: 13,614 (22,366).

Here are the county-by-county fall turkey harvest totals (with their respective 2017 figures in parentheses. An * designates a county that was open during the 2018 season, but was not open during the 2017 season): Adams: 11 (20); Allen : 8 (4); Ashland: 14 (15); Ashtabula: 39 (46); Athens: 20 (15); Belmont: 29 (23); Brown: 10 (9); Butler: 7 (6); Carroll: 20 (19); Champaign: 2 (3); Clermont: 13 (15); Columbiana: 16 (22); Coshocton: 52 (54); Crawford: 1 (3); Cuyahoga: 6 (2); Defiance: 14 (9); Delaware: 9 (11); Erie*: 6 (0); Fairfield: 12 (6); Fulton: 10 (6); Gallia: 32 (31); Geauga: 34 (16); Guernsey: 41 (31); Hamilton: 11 (11); Hancock*: 4 (0); Hardin: 2 (3); Harrison: 35 (28); Henry: 3 (3); Highland: 25 (25); Hocking: 20 (8); Holmes: 32 (26); Huron: 12 (5); Jackson: 21 (18); Jefferson: 8 (19); Knox: 18 (17); Lake: 9 (9); Lawrence: 19 (12); Licking: 25 (30); Logan: 10 (4); Lorain: 5 (16); Lucas*: 12 (0); Mahoning: 11 (11); Medina: 13 (17); Meigs: 19 (20); Monroe: 28 (22); Morgan: 28 (12); Morrow: 6 (19); Muskingum: 25 (20); Noble: 30 (19); Paulding: 2 (8); Perry: 17 (19); Pike: 18 (12); Portage: 18 (15); Preble: 9 (10); Putnam: 5 (8); Richland: 19 (28); Ross: 17 (13); Scioto: 25 (7); Seneca: 2 (9); Stark: 14 (25); Summit: 9 (13); Trumbull: 21 (28); Tuscarawas: 40 (25); Vinton: 11 (18); Warren: 4 (6); Washington: 19 (18); Wayne: 9 (8); Williams: 13 (25); Wyandot: 4 (5); Total: 1,117 (1,053).

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net