Ohio's muzzle-loaders add to deer kill total; possible year-end tally of 188,000 animals

Ohio’s deer hunting has rounded third base and is headed for home.

The to-date January 12^th deer kill figure stands at 180,917 animals. That statistic includes the 12,505 animals taken during Ohio’s wintery weather-plagued four-day statewide muzzle-loading season. And that latter number was – no surprise here – a decline from the 2015 muzzle-loading season kill of 13,724 deer for a drop of 1,219 animals.

Taken a step further, remove the 12,505 deer from the 180,917 figure and what’s left is a kill of 168,412 animals. Thus, extrapolating the data a tad more and we see that only 871 deer were taken by archery hunters between the reporting period of January 5^th and January 12^th.

Clearly the deer-hunting clock is not only ticking down, Ohio’s hunters have turned off the alarm, affording them the opportunity to sleep through the remainder of the state’s archery deer-hunting season which draws the curtain on February 7^th.

 That’s not a whole lot of time for the fat lady to sing her final aria.

As for the statewide muzzle-loading season January 9^th through 10^th, Ohio’s primitive weapons deer hunters saw it all weather-wise: Rain, freezing rain, snow showers and snow squalls, and winds that whipped up gusts at times and in some locations that approached 50 mph.  Such poor conditions are hardly conducive for good hunting of anything but especially, deer.

In examining the four-day muzzle-loading season’s data comes the finding that of Ohio’s 88 counties 27 posted gains from the 2015 statewide muzzle-loading season. Among some of the noteworthy counties that saw increases (with their comparable 2015 statistics in parentheses) were Hocking – 319 (284); Tuscarawas – 410 (363); Athens – 357 (335); and Jackson – 274 (249).

Also, three counties recorded identical kills for both the 2015 statewide muzzle-loading season and the 2016 statewide muzzle-loading season. These counties were Clinton (both 64); Cuyahoga (both three); Morrow (both 88).

The rest of Ohio’s 88 counties experienced weather-associated deer kill declines. A few of the more noteworthy were (with their respective 2015 statewide muzzle-loading season figures in parentheses): Ashtabula – 270 (323); Coshocton – 425 (553); Guernsey – 343 (395); Jefferson – 211 (266); Muskingum – 384 (445); and Trumbull – 147 (234).

In looking at the January 12^th to-date deer kill – all such reports come from the Ohio Division of Division and appear the following day, typically a Wednesday – what is seen is a holding pattern among the top counties.  That said, Ohio now has two counties with to-date kills exceeding 5,000 animals. They are Coshocton County – 5,504 deer; and Licking County – 5,050 deer. Last week’s report showed only Coshocton County as the sole member of the Five Thousand Club.

Another six counties are in the commendable Four Thousand Club. They include Adams County – 4,033 deer; Ashtabula County – 4,638 deer; Guernsey County – 4,274 deer; Knox County – 4,322 deer; Muskingum County – 4,807 deer; and Trumbull County – 4,722 deer.

Almost assuredly these eight counties will end up in the state’s Top Ten deer kill counties for the all-inclusive deer hunting seasons’ total scorecard.

And just as for sure are the twenty-six Ohio counties which have not even popped the cork in celebrating deer kills of at least one thousand deer each. The bottom few of this lowly group are: Van Wart County – 487 deer; Madison County – 473 deer; Ottawa County – 383 deer; and Fayette County – 301 deer.

What comes next are the last remaining three reporting periods before the books close on all of Ohio’s various deer-hunting seasons. Just how many more deer that hunters will kill up through February 7^th is a matter of conjecture, of course, though history is often a pretty reliable indicator that the number of animals taken is not particularly impressive.

Last year between the January 14^th and final February 2^nd reports, Ohio archery hunters shot just 6,566 deer. That figure was even less for the same 2014 mark-up: 5,108 deer, to be exact.

Consequently, it wouldn’t be out of line to say that another 5,000 to 6,500 deer could be killed before the game-ending whistle blows. Tack that range of figures onto the to-date number of deer killed and the all-inclusive seasons’ take may very well number between 186,000 and 188,000 deer. The comparable 2015 figure was 175,745 deer while the comparable 2014 figure was 191,455 deer.

 

A list of all white-tailed deer checked by hunters using muzzleloaders during the 2016 four-day deer-muzzleloader season is shown below. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for this year’s season, while the 2015 numbers are in parentheses.

Adams: 274 (277); Allen: 45 (57); Ashland: 224 (253); Ashtabula: 270 (323); Athens: 357 (335); Auglaize: 49 (38); Belmont: 283 (393); Brown: 221 (245); Butler: 72 (85); Carroll: 277 (341); Champaign: 72 (83); Clark: 41 (33); Clermont: 173 (168); Clinton: 64 (64); Columbiana: 222 (206); Coshocton: 425 (553); Crawford: 50 (59); Cuyahoga: 3 (3); Darke: 34 (28); Defiance: 92 (97); Delaware: 81 (53); Erie: 18 (37); Fairfield: 111 (141); Fayette: 11 (20); Franklin: 23 (29); Fulton: 21 (23); Gallia: 204 (281); Geauga: 83 (94); Greene: 49 (48); Guernsey: 343 (395); Hamilton: 42 (40); Hancock: 49 (63); Hardin: 87 (99); Harrison: 293 (321); Henry: 19 (32); Highland: 214 (243); Hocking: 319 (284); Holmes: 259 (264); Huron: 127 (147); Jackson: 274 (249); Jefferson: 211 (266); Knox: 309 (311); Lake: 28 (30); Lawrence: 129 (173); Licking: 322 (390); Logan: 144 (128); Lorain: 104 (126); Lucas: 24 (23); Madison: 27 (31); Mahoning: 109 (141); Marion: 54 (45); Medina: 107 (114); Meigs: 355 (404); Mercer: 17 (29); Miami: 29 (37); Monroe: 256 (244); Montgomery: 29 (33); Morgan: 273 (316); Morrow: 88 (88); Muskingum: 384 (445); Noble: 270 (272); Ottawa: 28 (24); Paulding: 47 (62); Perry: 201 (229); Pickaway: 44 (77); Pike: 174 (180); Portage: 94 (81); Preble: 62 (55); Putnam: 17 (26); Richland: 204 (241); Ross: 284 (301); Sandusky: 56 (51); Scioto: 196 (199); Seneca: 77 (122); Shelby: 63 (60); Stark: 174 (167); Summit: 28 (30); Trumbull: 147 (234); Tuscarawas: 410 (363); Union: 43 (41); Van Wert: 20 (22); Vinton: 268 (243); Warren: 74 (65); Washington: 290 (340); Wayne: 119 (137); Williams: 95 (86); Wood: 31 (47); Wyandot: 115 (91). Total: 12,505 (13,724).

 

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.