Ohio's to-date deer kill still limping; several counties down 500 to more than 600 animals

With Ohio’s accumulated deer hunting seasons running down the clock, the lag in the to-date kill continues to hover around seventeen thousand animals when compared to the same time frame in 2017.

Indeed, some counties are seeing drops of 500 to more than 600 animals when their 2018 to-date figures are laid next to their respective 2017 to-date numbers.

Based on raw data supplied weekly by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the current to-date deer kill – as reported through December 25th – stood at 146,597 animals. In 2017 the equivalent December 26th to-date deer kill was 163,638 animals: A difference of 17,041 deer.

The to-date comparison difference going into last week was a nearly identical 17,082 deer.

To illustrate the ball and chain effect on this year’s deer kill, only two of Ohio’s counties are showing current to-date increases when compared to their comparable and respective 2017 numbers. These counties are Clark – 622 (595); and Geauga – 1,580 (1,571). Last week this small subset of counties was three.

Which means that 85 Ohio counties are experiencing declines when compared to their comparable to-date 2017 numbers. And for some of these counties the changes are significant, too.

In Guernsey County the 2017 verses 2018 to-date numbers amounts to a 511 animal decline. Meanwhile, in Licking County that number is 559 deer while in Tuscarawas County the figure is 637 deer, and in Coschocton the number is 657 deer.

Among some of the other counties showing declines (with their comparable 2017 to-date numbers in parentheses) are: Adams – 2,504 (2,871); Ashtabula – 4,300 (4,532); Brown – 1,896 (2,232); Carroll – 2,901 (3,418); Harrison – 2,687 (3,187); Holmes – 3,274 (3,663); Lake – 674 (739); Lucas – 593 (622); Marion – 683 (811); Monroe – 1,954 (2,271); Morgan – 2,486 (2,822); Ottawa – 382 (410); Richland – 2,783 (3,129); Trumbull – 3,024 (3,209); Vinton -2,072 (2,471); Washington – 2,615 (2,861); and Williams – 1,365 (1,452).

Another way to look at the figures, last year this time the state had 13 counties with to-date deer kills of at least three thousand animals each. This year that figure stands at just nine counties.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net