Deer
hunters in Ohio scored a respectable seven percent increase
in the number of animals they killed during the just-completed
2019-2020 season when stacked up against the respective 2018-2019
season.
In
all, a preliminary 184,465 deer were taken. This compares to the
172,670 deer killed during the previous season.
For
further comparison, during the combined 2017-2018 deer hunting year,
hunters shot 186,247 animals. Meanwhile,
the 2016-2017 combined tally was 182,169
deer, and the 2015-2016 season produced a deer kill of 188,335
animals.
Still,
the 2019-2020 combined count is being heralded as
a success by
Ohio Division of Wildlife officials.
Especially since only
11 of Ohio’s 88 counties encountered declines in the number of deer
killed in each of them.
Also,
for
the fifth or sixth conservative year, more
deer total
were
shot by hunters using archery tackle than by firearms hunters during
the combined seven-day general firearms season and the two-day,
so-called, bonus season: 88,860 animals for the former and 77,187
deer for the latter.
However,
adding the results of the youth-only firearms season and the
muzzle-loading season and all firearms still beat all archery tackle
in total number
of deer
killed.
“Like
I said at the beginning of the season, you’d have to work NOT to
shoot a year this year,” said Mike Tonkovich, the Wildlife Division
Division’s deer management administrator.
“And
I think contributing to it was some of the best deer-hunting weather
the state has seen in at least a decade,” Tonkovich said,
continuing.
As
a result, Tonkovich says also, he anticipates “an uptick” in
reported deer hunter satisfaction in various participant
surveys;
some of which are still on-going.
These
surveys include one offered to volunteer archery hunters, one that
randomly sought out deer hunters, an on-line “open” survey
available to anyone, and an intensive survey conducted by The
Ohio
State University.
“These
surveys are of great importance in helping us set deer-hunting
regulations,” Tonkovich said also.
Even
so, wrinkles in the whole fabric of the state’s deer hunting
landscape do appear. And these folds may show themselves once the
agency stitches together its 2020-2021 deer-hunting season proposals.
Such proposals are slated for presentation to the eight-member Ohio
Wildlife Council on February 19th,
Tonkovich says.
Among
the creases is that
while hunter success rose this past year a decline of roughly eight
percent was encountered in the number of deer licenses sold. Such
drops translates into fewer dollars for the agency.
“But
I am still expecting an increase in hunter satisfaction for the forth
year in
a row,” Tonkovich said, countering the
negatives demonstrated by a
decline in deer tag sales.
Other
trouble
spots are there for the looking, Tonkovich willing admits:
places where the deer herd simply has not sustained itself or is on a
decline for whatever reason.
Which
is why
the agency’s staff of biologists and law enforcement personnel will
go over the deer
kill results
carefully, looking for those threads that may continue to unravel,
Tonkovich said.
In
such incidents “it may time to make a few adjustments” to
deer-hunting regulations, particularly in regards to bag limits,
Tonkovich says.
“It
would be done selectively, not wholesale, with perhaps some
adjustments in some counties to address the deer populations in
them,” Tonkovich said.
Compounding
matters is that the agency does not have a county-by-county way of
determining hunter satisfaction in each of those political
subdivisions, though the various surveys will help provide some
clues, Tonkovich says.
Regarding
a potential switch
from the present county-oriented deer management approach to adopting
a deer zone management approach, Tonkovich declined to comment on any
plans nor speculation.
Here
is the preliminary 2019-2020 county-by-county Ohio deer hunting kill
total with their respective 2018-2019 figures in parentheses:
Adams:
2,793 (2,965); Allen: 1,118 (878); Ashland: 3,378 (2,962); Ashtabula:
4,949 (4,895); Athens: 3,360 (3,455); Auglaize: 960 (826); Belmont:
2,936 (2,629); Brown: 2,315 (2,278); Butler: 1,454 (1,273); Carroll:
3,843 (3,476); Champaign: 1,266 (1,115); Clark: 761 (748); Clermont:
2,412 (2,308); Clinton: 772 (703); Columbiana: 3,180 (2,799);
Coshocton: 6,715 (6,063); Crawford: 1,256 (1,123); Cuyahoga: 903
(930); Darke: 809 (687); Defiance: 1,763 (1,588); Delaware: 1,519
(1,408); Erie: 1,058 (1,021); Fairfield: 1,857 (1,799); Fayette: 340
(290); Franklin: 735 (736); Fulton: 795 (707); Gallia: 2,191 (2,499);
Geauga: 1,922 (1,858); Greene: 842 (809); Guernsey: 4,524 (4,307);
Hamilton: 1,550 (1,549); Hancock: 1,387 (1,145); Hardin: 1,459
(1,163); Harrison: 3,594 (3,214); Henry: 783 (675); Highland: 2,565
(2,283); Hocking: 3,163 (2,803); Holmes: 4,507 (3,934); Huron: 2,291
(2,104); Jackson: 2,821 (2,855); Jefferson: 2,077 (1,684); Knox:
4,746 (4,271); Lake: 849 (799); Lawrence: 1,552 (1,806); Licking:
4,878 (4,587); Logan: 2,163 (1,949); Lorain: 2,134 (2,080); Lucas:
778 (721); Madison: 555 (484); Mahoning: 1,884 (1,908); Marion: 926
(788); Medina: 2,141 (2,084); Meigs: 2,910 (3,083); Mercer: 814
(674); Miami: 879 (735); Monroe: 2,472 (2,282); Montgomery: 770
(701); Morgan: 2,920 (2,940); Morrow: 1,596 (1,487); Muskingum: 4,929
(4,663); Noble: 2,914 (2,909); Ottawa: 517 (476); Paulding: 1,114
(969); Perry: 2,570 (2,447); Pickaway: 800 (727); Pike: 1,901
(1,877); Portage: 2,503 (2,295); Preble: 1,036 (979); Putnam: 849
(699); Richland: 3,469 (3,263); Ross: 2,974 (2,758); Sandusky: 880
(832); Scioto: 2,030 (2,162); Seneca: 2,054 (1,776); Shelby: 1,100
(901); Stark: 2,848 (2,788); Summit: 1,498 (1,469); Trumbull: 3,668
(3,462); Tuscarawas: 5,781 (5,245); Union: 960 (923); Van Wert: 553
(495); Vinton: 2,439 (2,392); Warren: 1,213 (1,130); Washington:
3,292 (3,110); Wayne: 2,411 (2,082); Williams: 1,660 (1,558); Wood:
1,050 (909); Wyandot: 1,562 (1,451). 2020
total: 184,465. 2019
total: (172,670)
- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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