On the cusp of Ohio's deer gun season, archery hunters are taking their share of animals

 

My wife, Bev, has gotten hers, along with 74,891 other Ohio deer, though I am still looking for mine.

Still, I have a lot of time left in Ohio’s archery deer-hunting season; one of the nation’s longest. I’ll be able to stick with it clear through to February 7^th. In fact, I’ll even try and do it the hard way during the state’s seven-day statewide firearms deer hunting season. I’ll be using my Wicked Ridge crossbow instead of my shotgun. Don’t ask Long story. Just wish me luck.

In any event, Ohio’s 2020 white-tailed deer archery hunting season has proven to be bountiful for many Buckeye State hunters, with 74,892 deer taken through Tuesday, Nov. 25, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. This represents an 11% increase from the average harvest total from the same date during the past three seasons, which is 67,318.

Ohio’s top 10 counties for deer taken by archery hunters so far during the state’s 2020 archery hunting season include: Coshocton (2,689), Licking (2,232), Tuscarawas (2,146), Ashtabula (2,021), Knox (1,910), Holmes (1,856), Muskingum (1,806), Trumbull (1,748), Guernsey (1,599), and Richland (1,505).

The top five days for bowhunter success so far in 2020 were Saturday, Oct. 31st (4,374 deer checked); Saturday, Nov. 14th (3,995); Saturday, Nov. 7th (3,475); Saturday, Sept. 26th (2,687); and Friday, Nov. 13th (2,552)

Participation remains high for all hunters, with 299,573 permits sold or issued through Wednesday, Nov. 24. Ohio’s deer-archery season began in September and is open until Feb. 7, 2021.

Ohio remains a go-to deer-hunting hunting destination for many out-of-state hunters. The top five states for purchasing a nonresident hunting license in Ohio include: Pennsylvania (6,954 permits sold), Michigan (4,515), West Virginia (3,321), North Carolina (2,955), and New York (2,335).

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com