“Four and no
more” was the mantra I fell unto when I used up my forth Ohio either-sex tag on
January 22.
It also was
my third deer shot in Lake County, a former Ohio Division of
Wildlife-considered Urban Deer Zone stronghold.
Even with intense
municipal allowances to permit the taking of deer in such urban environments
the numbers of animals either remains stubbornly strong or else may even be
growing. At least in some locations, as my detailed and extensive daily hunting
activity reports show, anyway.
For several
years – and almost immediately after each hunt situation – I record the various
morning or afternoon hunt observations. This data tabulation includes such
topics as the hunt date, whether it was an a.m. or a p.m. hunt, hours spent, along
with how many adult bucks, adult does, fawn bucks and fawn does, and “unknown
antlerless” deer are seen.
Besides
these notations the sheet also enfolds such requests as the number of coyotes (two
this past year) and wild turkeys (three this past season) seen while on stand along
with “comments.”
That last
one I use to record details about weather conditions and if there was any nearby
human activity (an important detail when hunting in an urban environment where
it could impact a deer making an approach to the baiting station.)
I’d like to
take credit for this sheet’s thoroughness but it was developed by the wildlife management
unit of the Kirtland-based (Ohio) Holden Arboretum. I have long been one of
about 80 to 100 people granted permission to deer hunt at the arboretum, which
in some cases includes jumping through a number of additional hoops required by
the location’s local police chief.
Anyway, a
look back this past all-hunting-seasons’ tabulations shows I hunted one
location in Geauga County, two locations in Ashtabula County and four sites in
Lake County (one location in one township and three sites in one village). A
further look shows that of the seven locations, four failed to produce a single
deer sighting.
And at all but
one of these seven sites I maintained feeding stations. Also, I helped with the
other by periodically dropping off bags of apples for the hunting landowner to
use too.
The number
of hunting trips to each location varied from one and two to as many as 23
visits. The bulk of these visitations were late afternoon/early evening events
(30) with the remaining 22 trips being morning hunts.
Hunts lasted
from as few as one hour to as many as 11.5 hours.
Perhaps
telling is the increasing number of morning hunts; likely the result of my
retirement not quite two years ago.
Note as well
that of the four deer I shot (one fawn doe, two adult does, and one buck that
had lost both antlers) the number taken was equal between morning and evening
hunts (two each).
A further
look shows that all four deer were taken with my Wicked Ridge crossbow, though
I did take an unsuccessful poke at an antlered buck with a newly acquired
single-shot .45-70 caliber rifle during Ohio’s general firearms deer-hunting
season.
Perhaps one
more noteworthy number is that 19 of the 29 deer observed were seen during morning
hunts. So too the bulk of the antlered deer observed (eight) were noted in the
morning as well (five).
Yeah, eight
is not a whale lot of antlered deer seen but, then again, 29 deer for 52 trips totaling
156.5 hours is not an especially large figure, either.
Broken down
even further the number of observed deer were eight antlered animals, 11 adult
does, and 10 fawns/button bucks.
It must be
noted here as well that I hunt exclusively from a fabric ground blind. This
condition is mandated by my wife, a physical therapist and all of the several
doctors/specialists I have to see.
I suspect
that if I had hunted from a tree ladder stand the number of deer observed would
have increased significantly.
Maybe one of
these days I’ll also keep track on the number of 50-pound sacks of shelled corn
I buy from the Rome (Ohio) Feed Mill and the number of bags containing second-grade
apples I purchase from Sage’s Apples in Chardon Township.
Then again, probably
not as I’m sort of afraid to know just how much money I sink into this “hobby”
when I also factor in the need each season to buy at least one replacement
ground blind and at least one replacement trail camera, $15 for each mechanical
broadhead I launch, the accompany arrow plus a bundle of other necessities
needed to get the job done.
Oh, and if
you’re going to complain that I shot four deer, you have to remember that three
of them were taken in urban areas where landowners maintain a love/mostly hate,
relationship with deer.
Besides, not
only do my wife and I benefit in having a bunch of venison in our freezer we
also have a daughter, son-in-law and their five children that we help by
supplying them with wild game.
On that
score if the Ohio Division of Wildlife ever issues hunting tags for woolly mammoths
I’ll be first in line to buy one.
Of course this
would mean I’d have to go and sell my current 4x4 ATV and buy a proper low
mileage Hummer H1. Oy vey.
Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.
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