For the second time in three consecutive years Ohio’s youthful deer hunters were thwarted in their success by the Witch of November that huffed and puffed and blew rain, sleet and snow through the state’s woods and fields.
The weather for this past weekend’s youth-only firearms deer-hunting season was hardly a pleasure to endure. Not with high wind warnings, Lake Effect snow advisories and other weather alerts that inundated the entire state.
Not surprisingly this nasty spate of weather put a damper on the youth deer season kill. In all, the kids shot 5,420 deer – a significant drop of around 18 percent from last year’s tally of 7,223 animals and even less than the 6,453 white-tails that kids shot during the 2014 youth-only season which likewise was plagued by poor weather for hunting.
Even so, after examining the numbers provided by Ohio Division of Wildlife spokesman John Windau one can see that 18 of Ohio’s 88 counties still managed to post gains – albeit very small increases in some cases – in the number of deer killed by youths than the group posted last year.
Yet the gains were not seen in pockets of contiguous counties ; rather, they were peppered throughout the state, says Clint McCoy, the Wildlife Division biologist in charge of the state’s deer management program.
“No question the weather was the determining factor in the number of youthful hunters afield and the lower number of deer that were harvested,” McCoy said.
McCoy added that had the weather been more conducive to allowing hunters afield the total number of animal taken would have approached the 2015 youth-only season final tally.
“Maybe even a few more,” McCoy said.
However, the youth season shortfall may prove a blessing in disguise for those persons participating in the state’s regular seven-day firearms deer-hunting season which begins November 28th.
“Those deer that would otherwise have been harvested during the youth-only season will still be around for the regular gun season, yes,” McCoy said who noted the best guess is for a regular firearms deer-hunting season take of 75,000 to 85,000 animal.
That is, if the regular season’s deer hunters don’t have to contend with rain, sleet, snow and gale-force winds of the kind their youthful counterparts encountered November 19th and 20th.
Here are the county-by-county results of the just completed 2016 youth-only firearms deer-hunting season with their respective 2015 youth-only season figures in parentheses: Adams - 139 (170); Allen - 37 (44); Ashland - 111 (149); Ashtabula - 108 (147); Athens - 106 (169); Auglaize - 35 (52); Belmont - 147 (167); Brown - 70 (100); Butler - 19 (25); Carroll - 127 (140); Champaign - 36 (47); Clark- 11 (20); Clermont - 56 (65); Clinton - 25 (37); Columbiana - 117 (122); Coshocton - 222 (258); Crawford - 34 (37); Cuyahoga - zero (also zero); Darke - 22 (21); Defiance - 63 (75); Delaware - 26 (42); Erie - 72, and note that 51 of these deer were killed during the special hunt at NASA’s Plum Brook Research Station, thus the actual youth-only hunt tally was 21 animals (17); Fairfield - 53 (79); Fayette - 18 (also 18); Franklin: -6 (8); Fulton - 20 (30); Gallia - 114 (124); Geauga - 41 (39); Greene - 21 (18); Guernsey - 197 (188); Hamilton - 18 (13); Hancock - 40 (50); Hardin - 48 (58); Harrison - 116 (183); Henry -25 (20); Highland - 96 (132); Hocking: -73 (125); Holmes: -145 (203); Huron - 80 (85); Jackson: -108 (135); Jefferson - 98 (117); Knox - 144 (182); Lake - 6 (8); Lawrence - 84 (69); Licking - 138 (182); Logan - 74 (82); Lorain - 62 (56); Lucas - 6 (15); Madison -21 (19); Mahoning - 38 (65); Marion: -36 (31); Medina - 42 (38); Meigs - 152 (171); Mercer - 32 (47); Miami - 25 (29); Monroe - 112 (128); Montgomery - 4 (7); Morgan - 121 (143); Morrow - 38 (52); Muskingum - 162 (200); Noble - 118 (114); Ottawa - 20 (18); Paulding - 44 (49); Perry - 101 (128); Pickaway - 27 (41); Pike - 85 (83); Portage - 32 (104); Preble -22 (43); Putnam - 34 (38); Richland - 99 (116); Ross - 128 (162); Sandusky - 29 (15); Scioto - 72 (127); Seneca - 75 (95); Shelby - 47 (67); Stark - 62 (64); Summit - 6 (9); Trumbull - 79 (81); Tuscarawas -178 (226); Union - 31 (36); Van Wert - 19 (38); Vinton - 87 (102); Warren - 26 (35); Washington - 126 (145); Wayne - 72 (79); Williams: -32 (48); Wood - 30 (28); Wyandot - 52 (79). Total - 5,930 – less the 51 shot at Plum Brook controlled hunt equals 5,420 (7,223).
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
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