Ohio's 2014-2015 deer harvest likely the state's new normal

The 175,745 animals shot during Ohio’s various 2014-2015 deer-hunting seasons is the state’s new white-tail deer normal harvest figure.

With the conclusion of Ohio’s long archery deer-hunting season one-half hour after sunset, Sunday, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife says the (preliminary) 175,745 number falls within the agency’s expectation of an approximately eight-percent harvest decline from the 2013-2014 all-seasons’ deer kill of 191,455 animals.

Further, says the Wildlife Division’s deer-management administrator, Ohio’s hunters will henceforth likely produce an annual harvest of between 175,000 and 200,000 animals.

“That would be my guess,” says Mike Tonkovich, the agency’s deer management point man.

Thus the hills of 2009 when Ohio deer hunters giddily smacked 261,260 animals and the valley of 1999 with a harvest of 126,770 white-tails are the opposite polls almost certainly never to be seen again, Tonkovich says.

 “Just like every other state, Ohio’s harvest will be on a roller-coaster ride,” Tonkovich says.

“I’m not going to fault anyone for wanting to harvest the numbers we did in the recent past but there are today many hunters who want quality even more than they do quantity.”

The bottom line is that the 2014-2015’s all-seasons’ harvest is wedged between the 155,124 deer taken during the 2001-2002 all-seasons’ kill and the 204,652 deer killed during the 2002-2003 all-seasons’.

Yes, just one year later Ohio’s deer hunters popped nearly 50,000 more deer.

The thing is, says Tonkovich, “the deer population was ready to be harvested in 2002,” and consequently the Wildlife Division had to act accordingly in order to establish a healthy and under control herd size.

So now that the pendulum is swinging (or has swung) back to a smaller deer herd size, a new normal harvest is likely being reflected in the 2014-2015 all-seasons’ kill figures. More or less, says Tonkovich.

 

“There are always going to be fluctuations in the harvest; more dynamic than static,” Tonkovich says.

Here is a list of all white-tailed deer checked by hunters during Ohio’s 2014-2015 hunting season. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for 2014-2015, and the 2013-2014 numbers are in parentheses.

Adams: 3,278 (3,847); Allen: 1,027 (1,057); Ashland: 2,903 (2,931); Ashtabula: 4,418 (4,981); Athens: 3,317 (4,053); Auglaize: 786 (788); Belmont: 3,128 (3,953); Brown: 2,596 (2,526); Butler: 1,391 (1,503); Carroll: 3,406 (4,203); Champaign: 1,317 (1,243); Clark: 755 (779); Clermont: 2,689 (2,830); Clinton: 915 (883); Columbiana: 2,996 (3,669); Coshocton: 5,727 (6,270); Crawford: 1,081 (1,033); Cuyahoga: 725 (681); Darke: 730 (589); Defiance: 1,724 (1,576); Delaware: 1,586 (1,516); Erie: 951 (760); Fairfield: 1,931 (2,245); Fayette: 380 (292); Franklin: 790 (719); Fulton: 736 (859); Gallia: 2,564 (2,899); Geauga: 1,859 (1,849); Greene: 849 (956); Guernsey: 4,181 (5,307); Hamilton: 1,743 (2,069); Hancock: 1,116 (908); Hardin: 1,149 (1,207); Harrison: 3,448 (4,533); Henry: 697 (642); Highland: 2,662 (2,714); Hocking: 2,856 (3,513); Holmes: 3,625 (3,958); Huron: 2,064 (2,139); Jackson: 2,560 (2,769); Jefferson: 2,565 (3,286); Knox: 4,191 (4,529); Lake: 897 (793); Lawrence: 1,791 (2,238); Licking: 5,281 (5,711); Logan: 1,885 (1,917); Lorain: 2,401 (2,342); Lucas: 655 (736); Madison: 493 (451); Mahoning: 1,991 (2,207); Marion: 819 (833); Medina: 2,013 (1,937); Meigs: 3,125 (3,336); Mercer: 583 (625); Miami: 835 (881); Monroe: 2,162 (2,623); Montgomery: 780 (687); Morgan: 2,822 (3,080); Morrow: 1,537 (1,549); Muskingum: 4,748 (5,547); Noble: 2,419 (3,091); Ottawa: 488 (402); Paulding: 1,072 (1,047); Perry: 2,495 (2,731); Pickaway: 806 (804); Pike: 1,880 (2,096); Portage: 1,968 (2,005); Preble: 1,020 (1,070); Putnam: 759 (687); Richland: 3,141 (3,242); Ross: 2,921 (3,087); Sandusky: 935 (773); Scioto: 2,148 (2,705); Seneca: 1,677 (1,641); Shelby: 1,118 (1,103); Stark: 2,625 (2,578); Summit: 1,436 (1,428); Trumbull: 3,185 (3,592); Tuscarawas: 4,883 (5,774); Union: 904 (826); Van Wert: 576 (491); Vinton: 2,503 (3,133); Warren: 1,244 (1,344); Washington: 2,954 (3,298); Wayne: 1,923 (1,908); Williams: 1,790 (1,903); Wood: 1,077 (729) and Wyandot: 1,568 (1,410). Total: 175,745 (191,455).

 

Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

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.