UPDATED - Ohio's deer hunters have caught up to the 2015 to-date harvest numbers

Some 11,065 Ohio deer hunters received their respective Christmas bonuses early last week.

That’s the number of deer taken between December 13th and December 20th, and which includes the deer killed during the two-day so-named “bonus” firearms deer-hunting season.

Based on data supplied by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the to-date total deer kill stands at 156,034 animals. That 156,034 figure, by the way, is 694 more animals than were shot for the comparable 2015 to-date figure of 155,340 animals.

This modest number is the first time so far this season where the current to-date deer harvest figure has exceeded its 2015 season to-date counterpart number, too.

However - and this is a big "however" - the harvest results of Ohio's 2016 bonus two-day gun deer hunt are now recorded in the season's history books. Last year this time that two-day hunt did not occur until later in December; and consequently it's figures were not tallied until January. Which means in all likelihood that a serious dip in the to-date kill will be seen sometime in early January.

Fully 57 of Ohio’s 88 counties have crossed over the to-date deer kill total of at least one thousand animals each, though. Broken down a bit more and the data shows that ten of these counties have thus far recorded to-date kills of three thousand animals or more each.

Going even further, five of the counties have to-date harvests of at least four thousand animals each; and one – Coshocton – has a thus-far deer harvest tally of at least five thousand animals, or 5,042 deer.

By comparison, the 2015 to-date harvest showed 59 of Ohio’s 88 counties had harvest-kills of at least one thousand animals. And a little deeper into the numbers shows that three counties had harvests of at least four thousand deer each but none with at least five thousand animals.

Here’s a sort of random list of selected counties with their current to-date deer harvest kills with their respective 2015 figures in parentheses: Adams – 2,806 (3,474); Ashtabula – 4,306 (3,986); Athens – 3,038 (3,207); Auglaize – 680 (706); Brown - 2,068 (2,221); Clark - 582 (647); Coshocton – 5,042 (4,644); Cuyahoga – 819 (611); Fayette – 283 (273); Franklin – 716 (647); Gallia – 2,300 (2,465); Geauga – 1,548 (1,488); Guernsey – 3,892 (3,591); Harrison – 3,121 (3,127); Highland – 2,263 (2,437); Hocking – 2,726 (3,027); Knox – 3,958 (3,717); Lake – 759 (721); Licking – 4,165 (4,367); Madison – 424 (412); Meigs – 2,880 (2,868); Muskingum – 4,293 (4,067); Portage – 1,906 (1,812); Richland – 2,831 (2,667); Trumbull – 3,201 (2,793); Tuscarawas – 4,260 (3,930); Vinton – 2,270 (2,482); Washington – 2,798 (2,874); Williams – 1,527 2,068 (2,221);(1,627); Wood – 777 (722).

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net