Whitetails Unlimited/Fin, Feather, Fur team up to survey Ohio's deer hunters

Taking the buck by the antlers, the owner of a five-store Northeast Ohio outdoors supply company and a Whitetails Unlimited field representative are seeking on-line deer management input from the state’s white-tailed deer hunters.

Mike Goshinski – owner of Ashland-based Fin Feather Fur Outfitters – and Whitetails Unlimited field representative Denny Malloy have constructed an on-line 26-question interrogative that seeks survey participant’s thoughts on a variety of Ohio deer-management matters.

The strictly voluntary survey continues through February 24th with the results being ready for presentation March 3rd at the annual Proposed Ohio Game Law hearings in each of the state’s five wildlife districts.

Whitetails Unlimited is national non-governmental organization (NGO) with more than 125,000 members and 500 chapters, including more than 12,500 members in 44 chapters in Ohio.

Goshinski was out of the office at press time and consequently was not available for comment.

Among the survey’s inquiring questions are hunters’ perception about Ohio’s electronic-based telecheck game check-in system; whether the number of deer being seen by hunters is growing, stable or shrinking; whether other hunters are lying about their deer-hunting and reporting successes; and if participants believe that the state’s deer herd is being properly manged by the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Ohio Division of Wildlife chief Mike Miller said his agency will examine closely the survey results, just as it does the thoughts, impressions, and comments offered by any concerned individual or constituency group – including, and perhaps, especially - Whitetails Unlimited.

“The survey was several years in the making after we began seeing how former game-check stations were losing business, and after attending numerous sportsmens’ club meetings with their disgruntled members, and by fielding ‎daily calls from concerned hunters,” Malloy said.  

Malloy says that Whitetails Unlimited is thus concerned that a loss of close to thirty-thousand licenses being sold in recent seasons may be the result of “less successful deer sightings and associated harvest.”

Also, Malloy says he is curious as to what sportsmen think of the state’s eight-year/$10.1 million telecheck game check-in system, and if Ohio’s deer hunters believe it is encouraging fraud and abuse.

“After years of speculation and debate, maybe its time we asked the deer hunter his and her opinions and make them part of the ‎process,” Malloy said.

“We need to survey sportsmen to understand more of the big picture. It is easier to retain a hunter than to recruit one,” Malloy said as well. “Every hoop a hunter has to jump through thins out our numbers. Changes in tradition also cause hunters to lose interest in protecting our sport.”

Malloy said he does believes that Ohio needs “a balance of science, sociology and economics to preserve our hunting traditions” but that the state may now be experiencing push-back due to the ready availability of multiple tags “for those with access and a nationwide push towards bow-hunting and early season harvest.”

Noting as well that Wisconsin recently formed citizen advisory panels in every one of its counties to help construct individual deer bag limits and population goals, more needs to be done by the Ohio Division of Wildlife to solicit deer hunters here also, Malloy says.

“We need to find out what will keep hunters hunting and buying licenses if we are to preserve our traditions for our kids and grandchildren,” Malloy said.

For its part the Wildlife Division “welcomes input from our constituents, and we are always looking for new ways to gather insight from the public,” says Wildlife Division chief Miller.

“Whitetails Unlimited is an important conservation partner and a valuable part of our Deer Stakeholder Group, which is currently working on the direction of Ohio’s deer management plan. We are excited to see the input their survey provides and will consider the responses,” Miller said.

To participate in the strictly voluntary survey, log on to http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07eez6d873jbp5olge/start.

Participants who complete the survey are eligible to win one of fifty $20 Fin, Feather, Fur gift cards.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Ohio's to-date deer kill all ready exceeds that for the entire 2016-2017 season

Even with two more weekly to-date reporting periods left to go, Ohio’s current take of deer stands at 1,320 more animals than were shot during the entire combined 2016-2017 deer-hunting seasons format.

The present deer kill totals 183,649 animals as of January 23^rd, 2018 while the combined total for all deer-hunting seasons last year, 182,329 animals were taken.

And this year’s to-date kill is also 5,532 animals ahead of where the comparable figure stood last year at this time (178,117 deer and as of January 24^th, 2017).

Likewise, the 183,649 figure represents an increase of 1,961 more animals when compared to the immediate previous weekly to-date (January 16^th, 2018) tally of 181,688 animals.

Thus, tack on another four thousand or so animals to the present to-date number and a projected all-seasons’ deer kill of around 186,000 deer is not out of line. And that figure would fall neatly within the estimate provided by game biologists with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

For more comparisons, the total all-seasons’ deer kill for 2014-2015 was 175,801 animals, and 188,335 animal for the 2015-2016 combined all-seasons’ take.

In looking at other current to-date numbers there are eight counties with total deer exceeding four-thousand animals each. In alphabetical order (with their respective to-date 2016-2017 figures in parentheses) these counties are: Ashtabula – 5,005 (4,941); Coschocton – 6,472 (5,796); Guernsey – 4,689 (4,494); Holmes – 4,047 (3,638); Knox – 4,596 (4,429); Licking 4,910 (4,815); Muskingum – 5,229 (5,031); and Tuscarawas – 5,632 (4,914).

As can be noted, several of these counties have scored remarkable to-date gains when stacked next to their respective 2016-2017 to-date numbers. In Coschocton’s case the increase is 676 animals, and for its next door neighbor, Tuscarawas County, the increase is 718 animals.

In all, 66 of Ohio’s 88 counties have recorded increases in their respective to-date deer kills.

There are also 26 counties which have yet to record deer kills of one-thousand animals each, and of which three have yet to see respective deer kills exceeding five-hundred animals each: Fayette County - 355 animals; Ottawa County - 474 animals; and Van Wert County - 498 animals.

Last season’s comparable to-date numbers were 27 and four, respectively.

Continuing as the county with the greatest decline in to-date deer kill numbers is Jefferson County. Its current to-date deer kill figure stands at 1,882 animals. Last year’s comparable to-date deer kill number there was 2,752 animals, for a decline of 870 deer, or a roughly 32-percent drop.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Ohio's community-focused safe boating grants set sail for 10 entities

The Ohio Division of Parks and Recreation is again opening its Waterways Safety Fund wallet to assist local entities in promoting safe boating programs.

This year more than $240,000 from the Fund is being provided to support 10 community boating safety education programs this year, says officials with the Watercraft arm of the division.

Individual grants this year range from $8,875.23 to $30,000. Grant money comes via the fund, which itself is fueled by a share of the state motor fuel tax as it relates to expenditures that boaters use for their vessels.

Other Fund revenue sources include watercraft registration and titling fees, along with additional dollars from the U.S. Coast Guard.

For this year a total of $240,003.36 is being awarded to 10 community boating safety education programs.

The boating safety education grant program was formed in 1982 when the Ohio legislature authorized the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to award funds for boating education.

Grant applications are due on November 1^st for the following year. There is also a free grant workshop for interested parties each September. Beginning with the 2017 grant season, grant recipients became eligible for boating safety education grants once every three years.

One of the department’s key ongoing goals is to reduce boating accidents, mishaps and fatalities within the state of Ohio through boater education, also said Mike Bailey, chief of the Division of Parks and Watercraft.

“Our natural resources officers and educators regularly help fulfill this mission by conducting safe boating education programs statewide,” Bailey said.

Bailey said that grants are “user-pay” in order to help fund “ “user-benefit programs,” which are specifically funded by Ohio’s recreational boaters.

“Grant recipients are great local partners, assisting the Natural Resources Department by teaching safe boating practices to residents all across Ohio,” Bailey said.

“The 2018 recipients specialize in teaching safe boating programs in urban areas, to people with special needs, to people from rural areas, to college students and to residents who visit their local metro parks.”

This year’s grant recipients are: The Great Miami Rowing Center in Butler County - $20,425; the Berea Power Squadron in Cuyahoga County - $8,875; the Mayfield Village Parks and Recreation Department in Cuyahoga County - $28,027; the Adaptive Adventure Sports Coalition in Delaware County - $29,791; the American Kayaking Association in Franklin County - $22,320; HERO USA in Franklin County - $28,696; Hocking College in Hocking County - $30,000; the U.S. Freshwater Boaters Alliance in Mercer County - $17,889; the Miami Valley Boy Scout Council in Preble County - $24,000; The Barberton Parks and Recreation Department in Summit County - $29,977.

In large measure, much credit to the financial success of the program goes to the Coast Guard.

And the Coast Guard/State cooperative effort in recreational boating safety “is an outstanding example of the ability of government at all levels to work together for the benefit of the public and has directly resulted in safer boating for millions of Americans,” says the service in a highlighted explanation of its grant authorization duties.

“This is evidenced by the fact that the number of reported recreational boating fatalities has been reduced from a high of 1,754 in 1973 to about 700 per year. During the same period, the number of boats owned by Americans more than doubled,” the Coast Guard says as well.

In all, during Fiscal 2017, the Coast Guard distributed $105.52 million in various grant monies to the 50 states and various trust territories. Ohio received $3.87 million – the forth largest amount in Fiscal 2017 – and which went to both state use and distribution to approved local entities.

The state which received the greatest amount for in-state use and distribution was Florida with $10.55 million.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Oho's archers are battling both the cold and clock as deer season's end draws near

The on-going nasty cold spell is chilling the remainder of Ohio’s archery deer-hunting season.

However, archers continue to climb into tree stands and take up residence in ground blinds where they are still finding accommodating deer to hunt.

 Thus by the numbers the to-date tally, as of January 16^th, the kill stood at 181,688 animals; of which 73,832 were antlered deer. The comparable January 10^th, 2017 to-date kill was 177,111 deer, of which 74,396 were antlered deer.

In looking at the numbers from a different angle, for the 2017-2018 combined deer-hunting seasons, hunters have killed 4,577 more animals to-date this year than for the same time frame during the 2016-2017 combined to-date deer-hunting seasons.

And while the 4,577 animal figure sounds impressive, had the muzzle-loading season produced a deer harvest more in line with that experienced in 2017, Ohio likely would have been looking at a to-date kill approaching 184,000 to 185,000 animals.

Buoyed by a slow and steady climb in the to-date deer kill, wildlife biologists with the Ohio Division of Wildlife at one point several weeks back were talking that the all-seasons’ deer kill might range from 187,000 to 190,000 animals. Let’s see if they’re still on the money.

Historically, from following the conclusion of the statewide muzzle-loading season to the end of the archery-hunting season in early February, Ohio sees only a few thousand to several thousand additional animals being taken.

For example, last year between the-then to-date/post muzzle-loading season deer kill and the final all-seasons’ tally as of February 5^th, 2017 only 6,337 additional deer were checked in (182,169 verses 175,832, respectively).

So tack on something along the lines of 6,300 additional deer to the current to-date figure and a rough guess of around 187,000-plus animals may appear as the 2017-2018 all-seasons’ total. Consequently, the total number is going to closely match the biologists’ original estimate.

“Certainly if we continue to see snow that makes deer more visible along with the bitterly cold temperatures that helps drive deer to feeders we could see a very good harvest by the end of the archery season,” said Allen Lee, wildlife biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s District Three (Northeast Ohio) Office in Akron.

“Snow almost always helps, and the guy who baits is in a better position during the latter part of the archery season.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

(UPDATED) Ohio's muzzle-loading deer harvest slips but to-date kill figures do not slide

Severe weather during Ohio’s just concluded four-day muzzle-loading season put a dent in the to-date deer kill, causing a slight erosion in where the state’s total harvest was projected as being headed.

But not enough so that the year-end total will fall outside of the biologists’ best guess.

The muzzle-loading season was plagued with numbing sub-freezing and even sub-zero temperatures, biting winds and bitterly deep snows, particularly in much of Northeast Ohio. Not surprisingly the kill was off in counties such as Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull when stacked up against their 2017 muzzle-loading season numbers.

In all, the state’s four-day muzzle-loading season – which ran January 6th through 9th – saw a take of 13,268 animals. The 2017 muzzle-loading season saw a kill of 15,843 animals. Thus, a decline of 2,575 animals was noted.

Still, the 13,268 figure is greater than the 2016 muzzle-loading season take of 12,503 animals. Also, this year’s muzzle-loading season deer kill was almost identical to the 2015 muzzle-loading deer season kill of 13,724 animals.

As for the to-date tally, as of January 9^th, the kill stood at 179,943 animals; of which 73,364 were antlered deer. The comparable January 10^th, 2017 to-date kill was 175,832 deer, of which 74,063 were antlered deer.

In looking at the numbers from a different angle, for the 2017-2018 combined deer-hunting seasons, hunters have killed 4,111 more animals to-date this year than for the same time frame during the 2016-2017 combined to-date deer-hunting seasons.

And while the 4,111 animal figure sounds impressive, had the muzzle-loading season produced a deer harvest more in line with that experienced in 2017, Ohio likely would have been looking at a to-date kill approaching 183,000 animals.

Buoyed by a slow and steady climb in the to-date deer kill, wildlife biologists with the Ohio Division of Wildlife at one point a few weeks ago were talking that the all-seasons’ deer kill might range from 187,000 to 190,000 animals. Let’s see if they’re still on the money.

Historically, from following the conclusion of the statewide muzzle-loading season to the end of the archery-hunting season in early February, Ohio sees only a few thousand to several thousand additional animals being taken. For example, last year between the-then to-date/post muzzle-loading season deer kill and the final all-seasons’ tally as of February 5^th, 2017 only 6,337 additional deer were checked in (182,169 verses 175,832, respectively).

So tack on something along the lines of 6,300 additional deer to the current to-date figure and a rough guess of around 186,000 animals may appear as the 2017-2018 all-seasons’ total. Consequently, the total number is going to come pretty darn close to the biologists’ original estimate.

“Certainly if we continue to see snow that makes deer more visible along with the bitterly cold temperatures that helps drive deer to feeders we could see a very good harvest by the end of the archery season,” said Allen Lee, wildlife biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s District Three (Northeast Ohio) Office in Akron. “Snow almost always helps, and the guy who baits is in a better position during the latter part of the archery season.”

Let’s now examine a few current to-date numbers with a county-by-county run-down of the 2018 statewide muzzle-loading deer hunting season at the conclusion.

Those counties with to-date (as of January 9th, 2018) deer kills totaling at least four thousand deer each (with their respective 2017 to-date numbers in parentheses) in alphabetical are: Ashtabula – 4,922 (4,880); Coshocton – 6,342 (5,729); Guernsey – 4,593 (4,454); Knox – 4,510 (4,370); Licking – 4,796 (4,739); Muskingum – 5,148 (4,982); Tuscarawas – 5,494 (4,865). The state also has 12 counties with to-date deer kills of three thousand-plus animals. In 2017 that figure was also 12.

Only four of Ohio’s 88 counties have to-date deer kills of fewer than 500 animals each (with their respective 2017 to-date numbers in parentheses): Fayette – 349 (306); Madison – 495 (470); Ottawa – 456 (429); and Van Wert – 495 (457). Last year each of these four counties failed to note respective deer kills exceeding 500 animals.

In terms of being ahead in the to-date deer kill totals, fully 61 of Ohio’s 88 counties have documented increases when compared to the respective and comparable 2017 to-date numbers. Some counties – such as Coshocton and Tuscarawas – have measured significant gains while others – such as Ottawa and Licking – the increases are more modest.

Of on-going concern to some is that a large number of urban counties have continued to show throughout the 2017-2018 deer-hunting season declines in their respective to-date deer kills when compared to their 2016-2017 numbers. This detail may be suggesting that efforts to reign in their deer herds via liberal bag limits and locally established controlled urban archery deer hunts are having an impact.

Here is the list of all white-tailed deer checked by hunters during the four-day muzzle-loader deer-hunting season. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for this year’s season, and last year’s numbers are in parentheses.

Adams: 208 (308); Allen: 57 (50); Ashland: 204 (239); Ashtabula: 316 (463); Athens: 351 (442); Auglaize: 57 (48); Belmont: 306 (391); Brown: 159 (230); Butler: 93 (75); Carroll: 348 (427); Champaign: 60 (72); Clark: 47 (42); Clermont: 109 (168); Clinton: 63 (59); Columbiana: 292 (293); Coshocton: 487 (591); Crawford: 51 (52); Cuyahoga: 2 (2); Darke: 28 (37); Defiance: 91 (84); Delaware: 62 (71); Erie: 42 (30); Fairfield: 156 (138); Fayette: 29 (14); Franklin: 34 (27); Fulton: 40 (33); Gallia: 176 (338); Geauga: 102 (132); Greene: 51 (47); Guernsey: 463 (490); Hamilton: 34 (39); Hancock: 59 (51); Hardin: 101 (111); Harrison: 346 (499); Henry: 25 (32); Highland: 203 (216); Hocking: 358 (366); Holmes: 278 (289); Huron: 121 (133); Jackson: 218 (324); Jefferson: 182 (359); Knox: 328 (340); Lake: 31 (48); Lawrence: 83 (194); Licking: 363 (440); Logan: 127 (136); Lorain: 136 (142); Lucas: 28 (14); Madison: 21 (32); Mahoning: 138 (135); Marion: 49 (57); Medina: 104 (126); Meigs: 310 (420); Mercer: 28 (29); Miami: 45 (41); Monroe: 255 (344); Montgomery: 29 (29); Morgan: 366 (429); Morrow: 93 (96); Muskingum: 481 (602); Noble: 265 (310); Ottawa: 27 (25); Paulding: 69 (42); Perry: 240 (301); Pickaway: 55 (60); Pike: 168 (172); Portage: 112 (129); Preble: 69 (63); Putnam: 21 (20); Richland: 247 (230); Ross: 237 (287); Sandusky: 56 (52); Scioto: 168 (229); Seneca: 98 (100); Shelby: 60 (67); Stark: 166 (215); Summit: 38 (36); Trumbull: 216 (256); Tuscarawas: 396 (514); Union: 52 (42); Van Wert: 20 (24); Vinton: 255 (305); Warren: 82 (63); Washington: 344 (472); Wayne: 157 (150); Williams: 89 (85); Wood: 53 (32); Wyandot: 84 (96).Total: 13,268 (15,843).

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net