Hunters in Ohio make fine use of the just-concluded firearms deer-hunting season

 

By any statistical metric, an eight-percent gain in the deer kill during Ohio’s firearms hunting season can rightly claim success.

That is the harvest increase size recorded during the just-concluded firearms season when compared to the state’s three-year average. In all, preliminary statistics show that 70,413 deer were taken during the seven-day season, November 29^th through December 5^th, up from the three-year average of 65,280 animals.

And to facilitate the taking and checking in of many of these deer, the Ohio Division of Wildlife issued 383,770 permits through December 5th.

Consequently, Clint McCoy – the Wildlife Division’s lead deer biologist - says the state experienced a largely “very normal deer gun season”, all things being considered.

“Even without widespread snow we saw relatively good hunting conditions for most of the state for the majority of the week with temperatures that remained generally stable,” McCoy said.

Interesting as well, perhaps, McCoy says, it appears that a “significant shift in harvest in favor of hunting during the archery season” is underway.

“We set a new archery harvest record in 2020 with 93,576 deer. In 2013, the percentage of the harvest occurring during archery season saw a significant bump that rose from a previous 39 percent to 45 percent,” McCoy said.

That archery-favorable statistic has remained in the 44 percent to 48 percent range, “subsequently reducing the harvest during the traditional gun week,” McCoy said.

Commenting further on the shift in hunter preference dynamics, McCoy noted that fifteen years ago the seven-day firearms season accounted for more than half of the total all-seasons’ take of deer. And in 1995 that figure was 75 percent, McCoy said.

“Things have certainly changed; since 2013 the gun week has only accounted for an average of 37 percent of the all-seasons total,” McCoy said.

The Wildlife Division says as well that straight-walled cartridge rifles have become increasingly popular. During the week-long deer-hunting season, straight-walled cartridge rifles were used for 49 percent of the checked deer. Meanwhile, shotguns accounted for 43 percent of the total, the Wildlife Division says.

Rounding out the implement type, six percent of the checked deer were taken with a muzzleloader, one percent by archery equipment, and less than one percent with a handgun.

In examining the number of deer shot in each of the state’s 88 counties, 74 saw their week-long take of deer exceed their respective three-year average. Meanwhile, 15 counties each posted a gain of 20 percent or more above their respective three-year average.

“At first glance, a majority of the big gainers were in the western portion of the state: Auglaize, Paulding, Montgomery, Madison, and Mercer all posted gains of 30 percent or more over their respective three-year averages,” McCoy says.

On the other end of the spectrum “we saw just two counties, Lucas (minus-19.7 percent) and Hamilton (minus-8.7 percent), with a week-long harvest significantly below their respective three-year average,” McCoy said.

Here is a county-by-county list of all white-tailed deer checked by hunters during the just-concluded week-long firearms deer-hunting season. The first number following the county’s name shows the deer harvest numbers for 2021, and the three-year average from 2018, 2019, and 2020 is in parentheses. A three-year average provides a better overall comparison to this year’s numbers, eliminating year-to-year variations. Numbers are raw data and subject to change.

Adams: 1,042 (973); Allen: 352 (338); Ashland: 1,444 (1,311); Ashtabula: 2,039 (2,032); Athens: 1,327 (1,281); Auglaize: 431 (332); Belmont: 1,154 (1,173); Brown: 887 (846); Butler: 352 (318); Carroll: 1,767 (1,530); Champaign: 469 (394); Clark: 209 (192); Clermont: 609 (638); Clinton: 208 (220); Columbiana: 1,362 (1,216); Coshocton: 2,403 (2,260); Crawford: 646 (568); Cuyahoga: 49 (44); Darke: 303 (275); Defiance: 802 (778); Delaware: 441 (383); Erie: 327 (261); Fairfield: 765 (681); Fayette: 117 (119); Franklin: 159 (147); Fulton: 407 (331); Gallia: 1,113 (1,048); Geauga: 700 (568); Greene: 246 (230); Guernsey: 1,968 (1,784); Hamilton: 140 (153); Hancock: 606 (520); Hardin: 640 (534); Harrison: 1,318 (1,371); Henry: 438 (351); Highland: 1,118 (933); Hocking: 1,102 (1,130); Holmes: 1,645 (1,468); Huron: 1,166 (1,008); Jackson: 986 (1,003); Jefferson: 866 (787); Knox: 2,023 (1,764); Lake: 164 (176); Lawrence: 677 (713); Licking: 1,712 (1,605); Logan: 780 (711); Lorain: 783 (646); Lucas: 103 (128); Madison: 234 (171); Mahoning: 614 (571); Marion: 446 (382); Medina: 682 (650); Meigs: 1,261 (1,148); Mercer: 422 (298); Miami: 256 (214); Monroe: 1,103 (1,092); Montgomery: 206 (153); Morgan: 1,298 (1,253); Morrow: 633 (620); Muskingum: 2,107 (1,993); Noble: 1,249 (1,240); Ottawa: 173 (141); Paulding: 598 (455); Perry: 1,112 (1,052); Pickaway: 259 (258); Pike: 623 (666); Portage: 719 (607); Preble: 334 (290); Putnam: 370 (308); Richland: 1,346 (1,270); Ross: 1,056 (1,024); Sandusky: 305 (278); Scioto: 683 (729); Seneca: 927 (800); Shelby: 400 (357); Stark: 929 (859); Summit: 206 (175); Trumbull: 1,241 (1,165); Tuscarawas: 2,204 (2,107); Union: 380 (331); Van Wert: 268 (229); Vinton: 930 (896); Warren: 317 (305); Washington: 1,483 (1,411); Wayne: 893 (798); Williams: 719 (633); Wood: 340 (339); Wyandot: 722 (739). 2021 total: 70,413; Three-year average total: (65,280).

Also, through December 5th, 80,178 deer have been taken by Ohio archery hunters. Plus, Ohio’s youth hunters checked 7,634 deer during their two-day youth gun season.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com