State nails muzzle-loading season deer kill

Ohio’s top deer management biologist correctly nailed the 2012 muzzle-loading season’s kill. Mike Tonkovich - the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s deer management administrator - said before the Jan. 7 to 12 season started that the state’s roughly 265,000 muzzle-loading hunters would kill about 20,000 animals. Tonkovich was off by only 749 white-tails. For the just-concluded four-day season hunters shot 19,251 deer. During the 2011 four-day muzzle-loading deer-hunting season hunters shot 16,934 deer. Of course, the weather Saturday through Tuesday was far and away more pleasant and conducive to what hunters encountered in 2011. Back then, very cold temperatures, high winds and frequent heavy snow showers combined to keep hunters huddled by firesides instead of taking a stand in the woods. This year hunters could strip themselves of their heaviest and warmest garments, climb a ladder stand or sit on an over-turned pickle bucket and enjoy firing their one-shot muzzle-loading rifles. What is left now is the remains of Ohio’s four-month-long archery deer-hunting season, which concludes Feb. 5. For this late season Tonkovich says hunters typically kill an additional 20,000 deer. The Top 10 counties reporting the highest number of deer checked during the muzzle-loading were: Coshocton - 722, Licking - 639, Muskingum - 638, Guernsey - 612, Tuscarawas - 581, Belmont - 577, Harrison - 569, Knox - 470, Meigs - 466, and Jefferson - 465. The following is a list of deer checked and tagged by hunters during the statewide muzzle-loading deer-hunting season. The number taken during the 2011 four-day season is showed in parentheses: Adams -336 (281); Allen –77 (59); Ashland – 294(247); Ashtabula –374 (279); Athens –457 (372); Auglaize –87 (44); Belmont –577 (516); Brown –273 (229); Butler –131 (93); Carroll –418 (428); Champaign –132 (95); Clark –75 (52); Clermont –239 (218); Clinton –76 (55); Columbiana –331 (350); Coshocton –722 (622); Crawford –103 (60); Cuyahoga –5 (4); Darke –62 (28); Defiance –140 (126); Delaware –140 (109); Erie –42 (31); Fairfield –216 (233); Fayette –26 (29); Franklin –46 (36); Fulton –58 (55); Gallia –333 (305); Geauga –154 (140); Greene –67 (60); Guernsey –612 (576); Hamilton –89 (79); Hancock –111 (70); Hardin –141(77); Harrison –569 (618); Henry –68 (40); Highland –278 (244); Hocking –384 (315) ; Holmes –388 (343); Huron –173 (155); Jackson –282 (272); Jefferson –465 (431); Knox –470 (446); Lake –41 (26); Lawrence –220 (230); Licking –639 (627); Logan –179 (132); Lorain –162 (153); Lucas –31 (26); Madison –50 (39); Mahoning –154 (114); Marion –65 (45); Medina –146 (107); Meigs –466 (461); Mercer –52 (19); Miami –61 (23); Monroe –422 (419); Montgomery –41 (30); Morgan –340 (354); Morrow –143 (104); Muskingum –638 (593); Noble –389 (353); Ottawa –37 (9); Paulding –122 (86); Perry –333 (298); Pickaway –71 (59); Pike –216 (159); Portage –176 (135); Preble –87 (64); Putnam –56 (19); Richland –290 (268); Ross –388 (323); Sandusky –72 (57); Scioto –276 (216); Seneca –142 (113); Shelby –95 (58); Stark –192 (156); Summit –52 (41); Trumbull –231 (246); Tuscarawas –581 (660); Union –92 (62); Van Wert –91 (39); Vinton –309 (231); Warren –139 (88); Washington – 462 (410); Wayne –139 (143); Williams –166 (134); Wood –40 (47); and Wyandot –136 (136). Total –19,251 (16,934). - Jeffrey L. Frischkorn JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com Twitter: @Fieldkorn