Ohio's deer harvest closing in on 180,000 animals, but 60 counties still short

With just two reporting periods left in Ohio’s 2016-2017 deer-hunting calendar the state will unquestionably see a take exceeding 180,000 animals: A somewhat ambiguous projection by officials with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

However, it is conversely likely that Ohio deer hunters will neither equal nor best last year’s all-seasons’ total take of 188,335 animals.

The current to-date deer harvest stands at 178,117 animals, as of January 24th. The comparable 2015-2016 deer season to-date kill as of January 26^th, 2016 was 184,791 animals.

Simple math shows that for this current Ohio deer-hunting season hunters have killed 6,694 fewer animals than at the same point of the 2015-2016 season.

And the arithmetic indicates that last season hunters killed just 3,544 deer during the final two-week leg of the deer-hunting season. Thus, tack on another 3,500 to 4,000 deer to this season’s theoretical total and hunters will top the 180,000 mark – but barely; perhaps 182,000 to 182,500 animals.

Looking at the statistics from another angle and the all-important take of antlerless deer has fallen, a point the Wildlife Division has stressed is one of its deer management goals.

The 2015-2016 to-date total harvest figure for antlerless deer was 108,987 animals. This season’s to-date antlerless deer kill is 103,461 animals; and though many of these deer no doubt are button bucks it is safe to say that fewer does are being killed under the Division of Wildlife’s current deer management protocols.

Interestingly as well , and in spite of Ohio’s lengthy archery deer-hunting season  (one of the nation’s longest, by the way), parity exists between the number of antlerless deer shot and the number of antlered deer taken by archerers: 39,745 for antlered deer and 39,588 for antlerless deer for a difference of only 157 animals. Such a notation demonstrates once again archery hunters’ selectivity.

Of Ohio’s 88 counties, 28 have to-date posted deer kill gains while the remaining 60 have recorded to-date deer harvest declines when compared to their respective 2015-2016 to-date numbers.

Obviously some counties have seen significant deer harvest declines – Adams County being a prime example( a drop of 884 animals) – while some to-date declines are statistically miniscule – Hancock County as an example (a to-date drop of only eight animals).

At the other end of the harvest spectrum, gains were seen, though generally not as dramatic as are the observed declines. Trumbull County, for instance, has a to-date harvest increase of 351 deer while Fayette County has seen a to-date harvest jump of just four deer.

A snapshot of select counties with their to-date 2016-2017 all-inclusive deer hunting seasons harvest numbers (and their respective 2015-2016 figures in parantheneses) are: Adams – 3,214 (4,098): Ashland – 2,894 (2,979); Ashtabula – 4,941 (4,764); Athens – 3,587 (3,925): Auglaize 747 (814) Belmont – 3,189 (3,169); Brown – 2,383 (2,702); Carroll – 3,505 (3,497); Clark – 641 (733); Clermont – 2,243 (2,716); Columbiana – 3,147 (3,249); Coshocton – 5,796 (5,603); Defiance – 1,662 (1,745); Erie – 809 (734); Fayette – 309 (305); Franklin – 799 (772); Gallia – 2,693 (2,890); Geauga – 1,799 (1,824); Greene – 787 (814); Guernsey – 4,494 (4,348); Hamilton – 1,477 (1,907); Hancock -1,159 (1,167); Harrison – 3,711 (3,740); Henry – 700 (678); Highland – 2,545 (2,882); Hocking – 3,192 (3,669); Holmes – 3,638 (also 3,669); Huron – 2,254 (2,179); Jefferson – 2,752 (2,622); Knox – 4,426 (4,395); Lake – 915 (875); Licking – 4,815 (5,204); Lorain – 2,432 (2,364); Lucas – 727 (728); Madison – 473 (485); Mahoning – 1,895 (1,794); Medina – 2,034 (1,825); Meigs – 3,399 (3,538); Mercer – 653 (598); Monroe – 2,542 (2,561); Morgan – 2,958 (3,062); Muskingum – 5,031 (4,895); Noble – 2,808 (2,928); Ottawa – 439 (396); Perry – 2,752 (2,828); Pickaway – 710 (787); Pike – 2,047 (2,347); Portage – 2,138 (2,128); Richland – 3,172 (3,128); Ross – 2,967 (3,362); Scioto – 2,431 (2,988); Seneca – 1,818 (1,758); Stark – 2,689 (2,703); Summit – 1,468 (1,401); Trumbull – 3,609 (3,258); Tuscarawas – 4,914 (4,835); Union – 825 (919); Van Wert – 457 (489); Vinton – 2,636 (3,032); Washington – 3,351 (3,475); Wayne – 1,995 (1,943); Williams – 1,653 (1,820); Wood – 846 (822); Wyandot – 1,451 (1,496).

Here are the total inclusive/all-seasons' deer harvest figures for the past 11 years as provided by the Ohio Division of Wildlife:

Season           Total Harvest
2015-2016       188,335
2014-2015       175,801
2013-2014       191,503
2012-2013       218,910
2011-2012       219,748
2010-2011       239,475
2009-2010       260,261
2008-2009       252,017
2007-2008       232,854
2006-2007       237,316
2005-2006       209,513

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net