A
mediocre jump of just 2,741 deer killed during Ohio’s
just-concluded seven-day firearms deer hunting from its 2018
counterpart is telling as much by what the numbers do not say than
what they do acknowledge.
In
all, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s preliminary figures for the
December 2nd through 8th general firearms deer-hunting season was
63,493
animals
killed-harvested. The comparable 2018 figure was 60,752
deer,
while
the 2017 figure was 72,814 animals,
and the 2016 figure was 66,759
deer.
“I
think the real story, though is the harvest to-date, which is about
147,000 deer
harvested compared
to 132,000 deer (to-date) harvested
last
year,” said Mike Tonkovich, the Wildlife Division’s deer
management administrator.
Still,
the 2019 gun deer season harvest is still five-percent below the
three-year average for the gun season, “and I’m not sure we’re
ever going to see it come back to what it once was,” said Tonkovich
also, who noted that at one time the general firearms deer-hunting
season accounted for fully 91 percent of the state’s entire deer
kill-harvest.
“But
that was before we had the youth firearms season, the two-day (bonus)
season and the muzzle-loader season,” Tonkovich said.
Tonkovich
said as well how such numbers are owed in more than a little measure
to changing deer hunter habitats; the general firearms season no
longer is the rooster in the barnyard. That job is increasingly being
taken over by archery hunters using crossbows and longbows.
“I
wouldn’t be surprised to see this year or next year that the
archery deer harvest will exceed 50-percent for all deer taken,”
Tonkovich said.
In
effect, anymore it appears the gun season is a way for archery
hunters to remain in the field rather than the archery season
allowing for an extension of opportunity by gun hunters.
“I
guess that’s one way of looking at it,” Tonkovich said.
Tonkovich
also questions the reluctance by some hunter-observers to believe the
state has an abundance of deer.
“We
have more deer on the landscape now (and) over the last couple of
years because of conservative regulations,” Tonkovich said.
What
hunters who are not killing deer – or even seeing deer – may be
doing wrong, Tonkovich surmises, is that they possibly are hunting
where they always did; thus, not where the deer are today.
Hunters
also are shying away from conducting drives or by still hunting,
preferring to sit tight on a stump or in a tree stand. Such
stationary tactics may lead to fewer deer being seen, let alone
taken, Tonkovich says.
Importantly,
says Tonkovich, is any pressing of the panic button so as to try and
assign deer-management strategies similarities between one county
where regulations are restrictive - and the kill-harvest numbers have
grown - to counties with more liberal bag limits and where
kill-harvest numbers have plateaued or even shrunk.
“I’d
be reluctant to draw conclusions on what we are doing in one county
and which should be applied to another county,” Tonkovich said.
During the seven-day season the state saw two non-fatal hunting-related accidents, called "incidents," in Wildlife Division lingo. One occurred December 3rd in Vinton County and the other happened December 7th in Washington County, said agency spokesman Brian Plasters..
The Vinton County incident reportedly involved a self-inflected wound to a leg and caused by a handgun. The Washington County incident allegedly involved a rifle with the injury also to a leg. That one was not self-infected, Plasters said.
"Both incidents are undergoing investigations," Plasters also said.
Here
are the preliminary county-by-county deer kill-harvest numbers with
their respective 2018 figuress in parentheses: Adams:
935 (960); Allen: 361 (250); Ashland: 1,272 (1,124); Ashtabula: 1,901
(2,028); Athens: 1,265 (1,326); Auglaize: 341 (269); Belmont: 1,196
(1,085); Brown: 797 (739); Butler: 294 (250); Carroll: 1,473 (1,454);
Champaign: 376 (337); Clark: 182 (177); Clermont: 558 (554); Clinton:
257 (185); Columbiana: 1,173 (1,133); Coshocton: 2,322 (2,180);
Crawford: 562 (497); Cuyahoga: 49 (39); Darke: 248 (215); Defiance:
768 (583); Delaware: 388 (352); Erie: 208 (224); Fairfield: 599
(620); Fayette: 139 (91); Franklin: 115 (143); Fulton: 308 (292);
Gallia: 980 (1,150); Geauga: 526 (585); Greene: 232 (196); Guernsey:
1,734 (1,732); Hamilton: 136 (147); Hancock: 487 (405); Hardin: 554
(382); Harrison: 1,408 (1,290); Henry: 380 (258); Highland: 843
(803); Hocking: 1,196 (1,117); Holmes: 1,465 (1,290); Huron: 980
(865); Jackson: 987 (1,087); Jefferson: 786 (700); Knox: 1,771
(1,513); Lake: 149 (181); Lawrence: 685 (817); Licking: 1,514
(1,423); Logan: 699 (614); Lorain: 566 (628); Lucas: 115 (117);
Madison: 165 (146); Mahoning: 493 (616); Marion: 384 (336); Medina:
568 (606); Meigs: 1,076 (1,238); Mercer: 302 (228); Miami: 217 (172);
Monroe: 1,059 (1,103); Montgomery: 137 (122); Morgan: 1,244 (1,205);
Morrow: 558 (551); Muskingum: 1,972 (1,924); Noble: 1,167 (1,264);
Ottawa: 122 (113); Paulding: 480 (333); Perry: 1,016 (1,044);
Pickaway: 306 (244); Pike: 631 (691); Portage: 584 (559); Preble: 284
(253); Putnam: 306 (232); Richland: 1,179 (1,142); Ross: 994 (940);
Sandusky: 246 (216); Scioto: 667 (781); Seneca: 814 (736); Shelby:
388 (283); Stark: 813 (810); Summit: 146 (153); Trumbull: 1,116
(1,123); Tuscarawas: 2,127 (1,996); Union: 298 (281); Van Wert: 230
(175); Vinton: 900 (943); Warren: 286 (264); Washington: 1,464
(1,411); Wayne: 801 (696); Williams: 624 (546); Wood: 333 (273);
Wyandot: 716 (596). 2019
total: 63,493;
2018
total: (60,752).
JFrischk@ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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