Youthful hunters in Ohio went afield November 20th and 21st and returned with bragging rights to a deer kill 18.6 percent above the three-year average.
During this year’s presentation, youths shot 7,634 deer, compared to the three-year average for the season of 6,210 animals. The youth-only season was for those age 17 and younger and who were also accompanied by a non-hunting adult.
And of the deer taken during the 2021 youth weekend, 4,053 were bucks, 2,625 were does, and 956 were button bucks. The most deer taken during a two-day youth season was in 2007, when 10,059 deer were checked by young hunters.
All of the rules and regulations for the hunt were in place, too, including legal shooting hours, the wearing of blaze orange clothing as an outer garment, and the type of hunting implement allowed along with tagging and licensing requirements. To date, 38,356 youth deer permits have been issued, and which cost $16 for an either-sex tag compared to $31.20 for a resident adult tag.
Clint McCoy – the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s lead deer biologist – said the take of more than one thousand animals over the three-year average - and when spread out of the state’s 88 counties - translates into an average increase of 10 to 20 deer per county.
“It does appear that we had a stellar youth season despite a very rainy Sunday across much of the state,” said McCoy.
“The season’s harvest got off to a slow start most likely due to the warm-weather throughout much of October. It is likely that youth hunters and this past weekend’s archery hunters were the benefactors of the delayed harvest; the archery harvest over the youth weekend (2,658) was up 53 percent compared to youth weekend in 2020 (1,737).”
Among the fortunate youth hunters was 13-year old Avah Oehlenschlager of Ashtabula County’s Roaming Shores. Avah was mentored by her father, Tommy, and took a fawn doe on the late afternoon of the first day. This was Avah’s forth consecutive successful youth-only deer hunt and she’s managed to bag six deer in all over her short time as a huntress
In looking at the county-by-county raw numbers, of Ohio’s 88 counties, only 11 failed to exceed their respective three-year average with one matching that statistical benchmark.
The Top 10 counties for deer taken during Ohio’s 2021 youth season were: Tuscarawas (322); Coshocton (307); Holmes (250); Knox (228); Guernsey (220); Muskingum (209); Ashland (179); Washington (179); Meigs (169); and Ashtabula (167).
Ohio’s general firearms deer-hunting season runs November 29th through December 5th with a two-day, so-called “bonus” firearms deer-hunting season set for December 18th and 19th.
Youths who did not utilize their tags during the statewide two-day youth-only season may employ them during the regular firearms deer-hunting season.
“While certainly notable that we saw a sizeable youth harvest this season - and it’s always great to know we had a lot of successful kids out there - I don’t expect it to impact the statewide gun season any differently than it has in the past,” McCoy said also.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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