Going Up: Both Ohio's 2015 Opening Day gun deer season kill and total fall turkey season kill

Based on figured supplied through Ohio’s electronic game-check system, Ohio’s deer hunters killed a whopping 22,256 deer for Monday’s start of the statewide firearms deer-hunting season.

That 22,256 figure represents an increased kill of 4,744 animals. Even so, the 2015 opening day kill closely mirrors the 2013 opening day kill of 22,619 deer.

Here is the 2015 firearms deer-hunting season’s county-by-county opening day kill:

Adams: 373; Allen: 116; Ashland: 483; Ashtabula: 772; Athens: 420; Auglaize: 99; Belmont: 429; Brown: 248; Butler: 66; Carroll: 571; Champaign: 104; Clark: 52; Clermont: 154; Clinton: 79; Columbiana: 522; Coshocton: 888; Crawford: 177; Cuyahoga: 7; Darke: 74; Defiance: 316; Delaware: 110; Erie: 66; Fairfield: 219; Fayette: 33; Franklin: 31; Fulton: 140; Gallia: 372; Geauga: 167; Greene: 54; Guernsey: 647; Hamilton: 44; Hancock: 135; Hardin: 149; Harrison: 556; Henry: 125; Highland: 300; Hocking: 521; Holmes: 552; Huron: 367; Jackson: 377; Jefferson: 386; Knox: 619; Lake: 44; Lawrence: 224; Licking: 563; Logan: 249; Lorain: 195; Lucas: 27; Madison: 28; Mahoning: 165; Marion: 120; Medina: 152; Meigs: 418; Mercer: 76; Miami: 52; Monroe: 334; Montgomery: 28; Morgan: 387; Morrow: 184; Muskingum: 722; Noble: 352; Ottawa: 20; Paulding: 157; Perry: 399; Pickaway: 107; Pike: 209; Portage: 157; Preble: 80; Putnam: 90; Richland: 462; Ross: 320; Sandusky: 76; Scioto: 207; Seneca: 273; Shelby: 97; Stark: 248; Summit: 24; Trumbull: 468; Tuscarawas: 658; Union: 97; Van Wert: 63; Vinton: 401; Warren: 61; Washington: 490; Wayne: 211; Williams: 327; Wood: 87; Wyandot: 227. Total: 22,256.

Now, for comparison purposes (and, again, the only meaningful use of statistics) here are the 2014 county-by-county opening day firearms deer-hunting season kill figures with their respective 2013 figures in parentheses and as provided by the Ohio Division of Wildlife:.

Adams: 219 (375); Allen: 98 (77); Ashland: 353 (318); Ashtabula: 586 (880); Athens: 305 (529); Auglaize: 77 (99); Belmont: 329 (530); Brown: 183 (262); Butler: 38 (92); Carroll: 451 (698); Champaign: 103 (137); Clark: 39 (56); Clermont: 131 (160); Clinton: 51 (68); Columbiana: 372 (584); Coshocton: 793 (940); Crawford: 161 (140); Cuyahoga: 4 (2); Darke: 53 (44); Defiance: 280 (269); Delaware: 119 (100); Erie: 45 (43); Fairfield: 186 (228); Fayette: 25 (24); Franklin: 19 (25); Fulton: 125 (127); Gallia: 282 (382); Geauga: 124 (153); Greene: 57 (66); Guernsey: 512 (742); Hamilton: 29 (42); Hancock: 127 (89); Hardin: 141 (142); Harrison: 455 (738); Henry: 98 (112); Highland: 230 (294); Hocking: 284 (382); Holmes: 477 (521); Huron: 296 (338); Jackson: 222 (325); Jefferson: 303 (448); Knox: 573 (645); Lake: 35 (30); Lawrence: 142 (276); Licking: 501 (572); Logan: 183 (186); Lorain: 174 (157); Lucas: 17 (27); Madison: 28 (26); Mahoning: 157 (227); Marion: 83 (76); Medina: 139 (146); Meigs: 251 (435); Mercer: 57 (72); Miami: 66 (53); Monroe: 203 (364); Montgomery: 24 (34); Morgan: 272 (387); Morrow: 184 (176); Muskingum: 652 (831); Noble: 234 (402); Ottawa: 17 (25); Paulding: 151 (158); Perry: 326 (419); Pickaway: 78 (102); Pike: 140 (198); Portage: 104 (150); Preble: 46 (73); Putnam: 85 (72); Richland: 337 (314); Ross: 227 (307); Sandusky: 61 (60); Scioto: 113 (264); Seneca: 205 (199); Shelby: 98 (111); Stark: 183 (243); Summit: 18 (23); Trumbull: 331 (482); Tuscarawas: 667 (853); Union: 77 (82); Van Wert: 69 (42); Vinton: 248 (397); Warren: 66 (78); Washington: 350 (497); Wayne: 170 (190); Williams: 286 (340); Wood: 95 (59); Wyandot: 207 (178). Total: 17,512 (22,619).

Take the time to note some of the increases. They are huge in more than a few circumstances. In Ashtabula County, for instance, the opening day deer kill pole-vaulted some 186 animals from 2014 to 2015 while both Belmont County saw a 100-animal kill increase.

Meanwhile, Adams County saw its opening day deer kill rise some 154 deer with Guernsey County showing a 135 deer kill increase.

Even urban counties posted increases. Lake County (Greater Cleveland) saw its deer kill jump nine animals; Clermont County (Greater Cincinnati) displayed a 23 deer kill rise; Franklin County (Columbus) saw a 12 deer kill increase; and Lucas County (Toledo) gained a 10-deer kill figure.

Yet six of Ohio’s counties saw slippages. They include Delaware County – down nine deer from opening day 2014 to opening day 2015; Greene County – down three deer; Miami County – down 14 deer; Tuscarawas County – down nine deer; Van Wert County – down six deer; Warren County – down five deer; and Wood County – down eight deer.

Along similar lines two counties posted identical 2014 and 2015 opening day deer kills. They are Madison County – both 28 deer; and Morrow County – both 184 deer.

Ohio’s general statewide firearms deer-hunting season continues through Sunday, December 6th. A new two-day “bonus” statewide firearm deer-hunting season is set for December 28^th and 29^th, or the Monday and Tuesday following Christmas.

The well-established statewide muzzle-loading (primitive weapons) deer-hunting season is scheduled for January 9^th through January 12^th, or a Saturday through the following Tuesday.

Legal shooting times for the remainder of the general firearms deer-hunting season, the two-day “bonus” firearms deer-hunting season, and the statewide muzzle-loader are all one-half hours before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset.

 Now on to wild turkeys and Ohio’s 2015 fall hunting bird kill numbers.

As for how many wild turkeys were killed during Ohio’s fall season on the species, the Wildlife Division says that 1,536 birds were taken during the October 10th to November 29th season.

By comparison – the most meaningful yardstick necessary to determining relevance – fall turkey hunters killed 1,239 birds. Thus, this fall season turkey hunters killed 297 more birds in the 56 of Ohio’s 88 counties that were open to such hunting.

The record fall wild turkey kill was in 2001. In that year 3,331 birds were shot, and taken in just 32 counties. Thus, this year’s fall turkey kill is almost one-half that of 2001 and even though this year 24 more counties were open to such hunting than what existed 14 years ago.

Here are the 2015 county-by-county fall wildlife turkey kill numbers with their respective 2014 figures in parentheses:  Adams: 44 (23); Ashland: 27 (14); Ashtabula: 73 (54); Athens: 31 (21); Belmont: 33 (23); Brown: 26 (16); Butler: 13 (11); Carroll: 21 (24); Clermont: 43 (29); Columbiana: 43 (29); Coshocton: 43 (45); Cuyahoga: 2 (8); Defiance: 18 (20); Delaware: 9 (17); Fairfield: 14 (8); Franklin: 1 (3); Gallia: 50 (30); Geauga: 45 (36); Guernsey: 35 (45); Hamilton: 10 (7); Harrison: 32 (23); Highland: 40 (27); Hocking: 52 (18); Holmes: 27 (35); Huron: 6 (7); Jackson: 43 (25); Jefferson: 30 (36); Knox: 34 (35); Lake: 11 (14); Lawrence: 31 (23); Licking: 36 (30); Lorain: 29 (18); Mahoning: 23 (27); Medina: 22 (7); Meigs: 33 (23); Monroe: 21 (15); Morgan: 13 (19); Morrow: 17 (12); Muskingum: 27 (26); Noble: 35 (26); Perry: 29 (26); Pike: 35 (17); Portage: 38 (19); Richland: 21 (also 21); Ross: 24 (22); Scioto: 27 (20); Seneca: 6 (12); Stark: 27 (21); Summit: 12 (18); Trumbull: 50 (32); Tuscarawas: 23 (35); Vinton: 34 (21); Warren: 9 (also 9); Washington: 23 (14); Wayne: 13 (12); Williams: 20 (31); Unknown 2 (this category was not listed by the Ohio Division of Wildlife for 2014). Total: 1,536 (1,239). 

-          Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

-          JFrischk@Ameritech.net

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-          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.