Ohio's to-date weekly deer kill slides even further

On the eve of Ohio’s statewide muzzle-loading deer-hunting season, the state’s to-date deer kill continues to lumber along at a snail’s pace.

Raw data supplied weekly by the Ohio Division of Wildlife shows that the January 1st to-date deer kill stood at 147,918 animals. The comparable January 2^nd, 2017 to-date deer kill was 165,392 animals: A decline of 17,474 deer.

That 17,474 figure and the 147,918 figure are each interesting in each of their ways. The first figure represents a continued weekly slide in the number of deer being taken. A look at the to-date deer kill one week earlier showed a 17,041 deer kill difference between the respective to-date 2018 and 2017 figures: A number that has since expanded by another 433 animals.

And the 147,918 number shows that between the December 25^th to-date reporting period and the January 1 to-date reporting period, only 1,321 more deer were taken during the course of that seven-day period. Last year that one-week figure was 1,754 more animals.

Of Ohio’s 88 counties, only three have shown current to-date increases over their respective 2017 to-date deer kill; a number that increased by one county from last week. The counties showing current to-date increases (with their 2017 respective to-date numbers in parentheses) were: Clark – 627 (605); Geauga – 1,605 (1,591); and Greene – 691 (682).

Among the remaining 85 Ohio counties with current to-date declines (with their respective 2017 to-date numbers in parentheses) were: Adams – 2,527 (2,900); Ashtabula – 4,314 (4,568); Brown – 1,925 (2,254); Coshocton – 5,150 (5,823); Guernsey – 3,558 (4,097); Hocking – 2,417 (2,824); Knox – 3,625 (4,163); Lake – 687 (769); Licking -3,814 (4,384); Lucas – 606 (653); Muskingum – 3,993 (4,639); Perry – 2,094 (2,443); Summit – 1,190 (1,226); Trumbull – 3,038 (3,236); Tuscarawas -4,390 (5,054); Vinton – 2,085 (2,491); and Williams – 1,370 (1,463).

Last year Ohio had 13 counties with to-date deer kills of at least three thousands animals each. This year the number of counties with to-date deer kills of at least three three thousand animals each stands at nine.

And last year Ohio had 29 counties with to-date deer kills of one thousand or fewer animals each. This year the current to-date number is 33 counties.

However, some ground could be made up beginning Saturday. That is the start of Ohio’s four-day muzzle-loading deer-hunting season. Last year, primitive weapons deer hunters in Ohio killed 13,268 animals. In 2017 that figure was 15,843 deer.

The long-range weather forecast for the four-day season generally calls for unseasonably mild temperatures ranging from the low 40s to perhaps around 50 degrees, and possibly some rain for the season’s last two days.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net