Everything is going
to change – and radically so – with the next installment of the
weekly to-date deer kill.
With the seven-day
statewide firearms deer-hunting season underway that has so far seen
a very respectable kill, the numbers will no doubt jump and the
leader board almost certainly will undergo revision. It’s kind of
the way that early returns on election night must be consumed with a
grain of salt.
Upheaval is almost
assured. Thus we won’t dwell too deeply on the to-date as of
November 21st figures.
What we do see is
that to-date as of November 21st, 67,291 deer were taken, including
34,930 antlered deer verses 32,361 antlerless deer.
That is correct,
more antlered than antlerless deer have been shot, which goes against
conventional wisdom that says more does and button bucks are killed
than are antlered deer. Which is true but only after the various gun
seasons are included. What we see here is the selectivity of archery
hunters who often place a premium on deer with antlers.
Again, anticipate a
reversal for the next two weekly to-date tallies. This is when the
impact of the seven-day firearms deer-hunting season are factored
into the numbers.
In any event, for
comparison purposes – and once again for emphasis sake, statistics
are meaningless unless they can be compared to and against other
statistics - the comparable 2016 November 22nd to-date
figures showed that 72,483 deer were shot. Enfolded into that total
were 38,378 antlered deer and 34,105 antlerless deer (does, button
bucks and bucks with short antlers less than three inches long).
As noted, both the
number of antlered and antlerless deer shot has fallen to-date this
season when compared to the same period in 2016. Ah, but understand
that for opening day of this year’s firearms deer-hunting season
the number of animals killed was roughly 4,000 critters more; which
very possibly could translate into the next to-date 2017 tally
catching up to the comparable 2016 to-date tally.
Or not, depending on
how the rest of this year’s seven-day gun deer season shakes out.
In a quick run-down
of the this year’s to-date – as of November 21st –
deer kill we see that 29 of Ohio’s 88 counties are now members of
the One Thousand-Plus Club, or those counties which have experienced
deer kills exceeding one thousand animals each.
That 29 figure is
pretty cool, too, given that the compared 2016 to-date ledger listed
just 23 counties in this group.
Based on the data
gleaned and distilled from the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s
computerized game-check system, the Top Ten Counties (with their
comparable 2016 to-date figures in parentheses) are: Coshocton –
2,439 (2,318); Licking -1,948 (2,157); Tuscarawas – 1,882 (1,752);
Ashtabula – 1,769 (1,761); Muskingum – 1,713 (1,773); Holmes –
1,576 (1,548); Knox – 1,590 (1,745); Guernsey – 1,533 (1,543);
Trumbull – 1,470 (1,645); Richland – 1,307 (1,301).
Only two counties
have failed to see November 22nd 2017 to-date kills exceed
at least 200 animals. They are Fayette County with 139 deer and Van
Wert County with 176 deer.
Once again,
importantly and however, the real switcher-o will come with the next
two weekly reporting periods.
- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
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