Ohio's 2018-2019 total deer kill lowest since 2001

It’s been almost two decades since the last time Ohio’s deer kill has failed to exceed what hunters shot during the 2018-2019 combined deer-hunting seasons.

From September 29th, 2018 when the first crossbow bolt was launched until February 3^rd, 2019 when the final arrow was nocked – and all of the ammunition and blackpowder bullets exited their respective barrels in-between – Ohio deer hunters shot a preliminary 172,040 animals.

Not since the 2001 season have fewer deer been killed in Ohio during the state’s various legal deer-hunting seasons. That is when just sightly more than 165,124 deer were taken.

And going back through the most recent deer season history, the statistic show that the deer kill for the 2011-2012 was 219,748 animals; for the 2012-2013 season it was 218,910 animals; for the 2013-2014 season it was 191,459 animals; for the 2014-2015 season it was 175,745 animals; for the 2015-2016 season it was 188,335 animals; for the 2016-2017 season it was 182,169; and for 2017-2018 season it was 186,247 animals.

Thus, this past season’s deer kill was some 14,207 fewer deer than were killed during the preceding all-methods-combined deer-hunting season. Only seven of Ohio’s 88 counties saw increases in their respective deer kills this past season with one county posting an identical kill.

Reasons are many and varied for this past deer season’s deer kill (called “harvest in the parlance of wildlife biologists), says Scott Peters, a wildlife biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s District Three (Northeast Ohio) Office in Akron.

“It really wasn’t a total shocked,” Peters said of the fourteen-thousand-plus decline.

“It seemed that every time we had a season start we saw terrible hunting weather, and that happened also on what one would think were peak hunting days, too. Hunting conditions were less than optimum or ideal.”

Consequently, Peters said, hunters either stayed home, hunkered down for the long haul in ground blinds or else shunned stalking and other tactics typically employed to motivate deer into coming within the gunners’ sights.

Peters said also fueling the challenges were other natural factors well out of control of either hunters or deer managers. Among them was a heavy hard mast (oak acorn) crop that in many instances meant deer did not have to travel very far to find food to help them fatten up for the winter, Peters said.

Yet some regulatory changes also no doubt played a role, Peters said as well.

The most noteworthy of these new rules was the prohibition of taking antlerless deer on the bulk of public lands following the conclusion of the statewide seven-day general firearms deer-hunting season.

“Some hunters didn’t think much about it until the time came and either they had all ready filled a tag, decided not to go out hunting, or else could not find some private property to hunt,” Peters said. “We got calls about this regulatory change, which happened a year ago.”

Even so, Peter says such an alteration in allowance probably would account for one or two thousand animals fewer animals, “not fourteen thousand.”

However – and Peter says this is an important “however” - the entire purpose of the public lands restriction is to bolster the deer herd on public lands. And this coming fall this restriction should mean that hunters will begin to see more deer on public lands, Peter says.

Also, Peters says that more than a few of those fourteen thousand deer will remain in the state’s deer herd reservoir. With the bonus that many adult does who gave hunters the slip almost certainly are expected to add fawn recruitment going into this coming 2019-2020 deer-hunting season.

“We have to think of the long-term when we look at deer management and regulations,” Peters said.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech..net