With the wind-down of the rut and the approach of various deer hunting seasons
where participants can use something other than “stick and string” a corner is
about to be turned in Ohio’s weekly deer kill report.
Oh, yes, one more thing.
The last county which had yet to clear the triple-digit deer kill figure
finally overcame that hurdle. The Ohio Division of Wildlife’s as-of November 17
for Fayette County stands at 104 animals.
It took hunters there from September 26 through November 15
to get the job done but they did it.
Based on the required electronically filed reports, Ohio’s
deer hunters have thus far killed 63,026 animals, almost evenly divided between
antlered deer (31,579) and antlerless deer (31,579).
The previous report – filed November 11 – included an
all-inclusive figure of 48,818 deer being killed with 23,027 being antlered
deer and 26,791 being antlerless deer.
For the latest reporting period there are 21 counties with
do-date deer kills of at least 1,000 deer. These counties are: Adams (1,477);
Ashland (1,010); Ashtabula (1,625); Athens (1,113); Clermont (1,123); Coshocton
(1,708); Guernsey (1,182); Hamilton (1,103); Harrison (1,095); Hocking (1,065);
Holmes (1,350); Knox (1,539); Licking (1,962); Lorain (1,064); Muskingum
(1,346); Richland (1,152); Ross (1,101); Scioto (1,014); Stark (also 1,101); Trumbull
(1,403); Tuscarawas (1,417).
For the November 10 reporting period (the actual report
filed one day later), only nine counties had to-date recorded kills of at least
one thousand deer each. Those counties were: Adams (1,147); Ashtabula (1,409);
Coshocton (1,389); Holmes (1,108); Knox (1,251); Licking (1,611); Muskingum
(1,055); Trumbull (1,248); and Tuscarawas (1,124).
Another six counties will undoubtedly climb over the 1,000
deer-kill hurdle for the next reporting period. These counties have to-date
deer kills of at least 900 animals. They are Brown (903); Carroll (998);
Columbiana (989); Highland (953); Portage (969); and Meigs (961).
For that matter membership in the 1,000 Deer Kill Club
should expand greatly at the next reporting. The reason for this being that
Saturday and Sunday – November 21st and 22nd – are the
date’s for Ohio’s youth-only firearms deer-hunting season. Last year the
participating youths shot a total of 6,453 deer, antlered and antlerless.
The key to youthful success will – as always and especially as
for any firearms deer-hunting season - will be the weather. And that’s not looking encouraging, either.
From north to south, Saturday’s high will become mired in
mid-40-degree temperatures with rain of some sort expected as well. Lows will
be for Saturday night in the north around the freezing mark but will fall into
the lower 20s the further one ventures south.
Sunday will likely prove miserable, at least in Northeast
Ohio with snow squalls being forecasted and a high only in the mid-30s.
Going south there’s much less chance of snow or rain and
much better opportunities for sunshine. However, temperatures are forecasted to also
be in the mid-30-degree range with temperatures falling that evening into the
upper teens.
Of course by then the youth-only firearms deer-hunting season
will be finished and whatever deer kill numbers come as a result will find themselves
tallied in the November 25th report. For good or for ill in terms of
contributing to Ohio’s overall/all-seasons’ deer kill tally.
By Jeffrey L. FrischkornJFrischk@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 125 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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