Seventh to-date deer kill tally not lucky number for Ohio's hunters

Taking advantage of the rut, Ohio’s white-tail hunters are working at playing catch-up with the weekly to-date deer kill.

However, the state’s deer hunters remain some 7,550 animals when compared to the close proximity in time last year. The current to-date (as of November 8^th) total deer kill stands at 42,268 animals, of which 19,732 were recorded as being antlered.

Last year for the not-so-rough equivalent-to-date recording period (as of November 11^th) the count was 49,818 animals, of which 23,027 animals were logged as being antlered.

Also, the state now has six counties where at least one-thousand animals each were recorded as being killed. They include in alphabetical order (with their respective 2015 comparable to-date figures in parentheses) are: Ashtabula County – 1,192 (1,409); Coshocton County – 1,371 (1,389); Knox County – 1,067 (1,251); Licking County – 1,324 (1,611); Trumbull County – 1,146 (1,248); Tuscarawas County – 1,000 (1,124).

However, not appearing on the current to-date list with a kill of at least one thousand animals but appearing on the time-comparable 2015 to-date list (with their respective 2015 figures in parentheses) are: Adams County – 811 (1,147); Holmes County – 991 (1,108); and Muskingum County – 926 (1,055).

At least the current ledger is down to just one county with a to-date kill of fewer than one hundred animals. That is Fayette County with a recorded current to-date kill of 81 deer. Last year’s comparable figure for Fayette County was actually less: 77 deer. So Fayette County is enjoying something of a deer-hunting success surge.

Some other random county current to-date deer kill numbers (with their respective 2015 to-date numbers in parentheses) are: Ashland – 721 (816); Athens – 702 (808); Auglaize – 198 (248); Belmont – 430 (518); Brown – 543 (688); Carroll – 680 (794); Champaign – 316 (400); Clermont – 656 (866); Columbiana – 729 (816); Cuyahoga – 461 (373); Delaware – 531 (625); Erie – 235 (236); Fairfield – 396 (516); Franklin – 304 (316); Gallia – 386 (498); Geauga – 559 (683); Guernsey – 773 (921); Hamilton – 916 (675); Harrison – 678 (861); Highland – 618 (703); Hocking – 605 (795); Huron – 465 (572); Jackson – 631 (701); Jefferson – 489 (557); Lake – 340 (386); Lorain – 755 (891); Lucas – 284 (344); Mahoning – 571 (607); Medina – 578 (647); Meigs – 565 (694); Mercer – 181 (202); Morgan – 486 (614); Montgomery – 215 (266); Morrow – 348 (395); Noble – 427 (562); Ottawa – 112 (139); Perry – 500 (574); Pickaway – 159 (174); Pike – 473 (570); Portage – 652 (749); Preble – 232 (304); Richland – 818 (972); Ross – 645 (808); Scioto – 502 (734); Seneca – 434 (501); Stark – 758 (893); Summit – 594 (627); Van Wert – 115 (114); Vinton – 514 (570); Warren – 343 (429); Washington – 494 (560); Williams – 485 (555); and Wyandot – 302 (326).

As noted, the only two counties to post increases for this year’s seventh to-date tally when stacked against its 2015 counterpart are Cuyahoga and Fayette.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net