Hunters take full advantage of Ohio's 2022 two-day "bonus" firearms deer-hunting season - and then some

Largely good to exceptional hunting conditions and an abundant supply of white-tails led to a well-above typical kill during Ohio’s recently concluded two-day - so-called “bonus” - firearms deer-hunting season.

This season ran December 17th and 18th and saw a preliminary total deer kill of 15,163 animals. That figure is 5,771 more deer than were shot during the 2021 two-day bonus gun season in which 9,392 animals were killed. And the 2022 figure is also 2,219 more deer than is the three-year average of 12,944 animals.

In fact, so successful were this year’s two-day bonus season hunters, that only five of Ohio 88 counties - Butler, Hamilton, Lucas, Shelby, and Warren - saw declines this time around verses their respective 2021 bonus gun season results.

And a number of counties experienced a doubling or near doubling of their respective 2022 bonus gun season results over their respective 2021 bonus gun season figures. Among them were Ashtabula, Columbiana, Jefferson, Morrow, and Pickaway counties.

“Conditions for deer hunters were pretty favorable over the weekend, with low- to mid-30 temperatures across much of the state, and with a little bit of the white stuff blowing around,” said Clint McCoy the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s lead deer management biologist.

McCoy said the take for the two-day “bonus” season was 17 percent above the three-year average, “but pretty comparable to the two-day seasons of 2019 (14,009 deer) and 2020 (15,203 deer),” McCoy said.

Likewise, McCoy said, the to-date all-seasons’ total up through the two-day weekend now sits at 182,832 animals. Meanwhile, the three-year average total through the same time period is 169,406 deer, “so we’re ahead by about 8 percent,” McCoy said.

“When looking at historical data, we’ve harvested about 88 percent of the season total by the end of the two-day gun season. If that trend holds true this year, we’re looking at a season total that should eclipse the 200,000 mark and be somewhere in the neighborhood of 205,000 to 210,000 deer,” McCoy says.

If so, this would make the 11th time in Ohio deer-hunting history that more than 200,000 animals were shot in a single season. The last time that more than 200,000 animals were taken in a season was during the 2012-2013 season with 218,910 animals shot. The largest number of deer taken in Ohio was during the 2009-2010 season with 216,260 animals.

Here are the county-by-county totals for Ohio’s two-day, commonly called “bonus” firearms deer hunting seasons. The first set of figures are the preliminary 2022 numbers, the second set of numbers was the 2021 preliminary two-day season totals, and the third set of numbers is the current three-year average for the two-day firearms deer-hunting season.

Adams: 253/164/186; Allen: 100/52/80; Ashland: 368/210/280; Ashtabula: 473/232/448; Athens: 265/159/20); Auglaize: 94/55/68; Belmont: 282/153/224; Brown: 182/130/169; Butler: 89/90/102; Carroll: 404/220/340; Champaign: 122/79/100; Clark: 60/36/44; Clermont: 181/112/153; Clinton: 55/38/50; Columbiana: 345/161/284; Coshocton: 517/307/423; Crawford: 115/71/88; Cuyahoga: 15/6/14; Darke: 59/47/60; Defiance: 145/101/147; Delaware: 102/69/82; Erie: 59/47/also 59; Fairfield: 159/110/146; Fayette: 22/12/18; Franklin: 53/29/37; Fulton: 57/41/49; Gallia: 187/132/154; Geauga: 154/74/135; Greene: 51/46/64; Guernsey: 382/236/327; Hamilton: 38/41/47; Hancock: 119/76/104; Hardin: 106/67/108; Harrison: 283/156/265; Henry: 60/47/52; Highland: 229/147/188; Hocking: 233/137/173; Holmes: 331/208/312; Huron: 207/113/187; Jackson: 215/150/170; Jefferson: 227/115/171; Knox: 396/229/352; Lake: 40/25/45; Lawrence: 102/89/108; Licking: 403/256/354; Logan: 184/132/156; Lorain: 187/111/156; Lucas: 16/21/22; Madison: 49/38/51; Mahoning: 173/106/142; Marion: 84/55/79; Medina: 221/165/166; Meigs: 230/184/227; Mercer: 77/49/60; Miami: 48/47/56; Monroe: 177/141/182; Montgomery: 52/20/39; Morgan: 226/157/180; Morrow: 152/88/117; Muskingum: 431/219/298; Noble: 230/160/198; Ottawa: 47/25/39; Paulding: 106/72/90; Perry: 227/112/163; Pickaway: 92/44/48; Pike: 145/67/94; Portage: 175/108/156; Preble: 85/67/80; Putnam: 55/32/47; Richland: 310/172/256; Ross: 217/150/189; Sandusky: 61/45/56; Scioto: 152/126/148; Seneca: 161/111/167; Shelby: 77/80/86; Stark: 272/134/205; Summit: 66 /29/57; Trumbull: 342/161/296; Tuscarawas: 513/287/439; Union: 63/58/68; Van Wert: 56/28/34; Vinton: 149/120/145; Warren: 68/69/73; Washington: 274/162/224; Wayne: 211/133/168; Williams: 159/96/131; Wood: 61/55/69; Wyandot: 143/98/112. 2022 Total: 15,163/ 2021 Total: 9,392/ 3-Year Average Total: 12,944.

By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

One for the books - Ohio's 2022 firearms deer-hunting season a success, with a few important exceptions

 Hunters participating in Ohio’s recently concluded 2022 week-long firearms deer-hunting season managed to exceed the total number of deer taken when compared to the same season in 2021.

This seven-day firearms deer-hunting season ran November 28th through December 4th. A two-day firearms (often called a”bonus”) deer-hunting season is set for December 17th and 18th.

What’s more, the preliminary 2022 firearms deer-hunting season total of 71,932 animals exceeded the three-year average by five percent. And that gain was hardly unexpected or unwelcome by the Ohio Division of Wildlife biologists tasked with managing the state’s thriving herd of white-tailed deer.

“Overall, we had a solid season deer gun season and harvest fell in line with pretty much what we would have expected,” said Clint McCoy, the Wildlife Division official who is pegged as the agency’s deer management primary care biologist.

Looking at the individual counties, McCoy said those hit hardest with epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) were among the season’s casualties.

“EHD is continuing to show up with lower harvests compared to their respective three-year averages.  For the week of gun season: Butler County saw a 23- percent decline, Hamilton County saw a 21-percent decline, and Warren Couny saw an 11-percent decline, and each of them are southwest Ohio,” McCoy said.

Meanwhile, Vinton County - anchored in southeast Ohio - experienced a 12-percent drop, McCoy said also. 

 

Also, the three counties in the Wildlife Division’s so-named chronic wasting disease  “Disease Surveillance Area” likewise came in with lower gun season harvests. This drop, “most likely due to the fact that many hunters had already filled some tags during the early, three-day gun season that was held in those counties in early October,” McCoy said.

The fall-off was a decline of 26- percent in Marion County, a 16 percent decline in Hardin County, and an 8 percent decline in Wyandot County.

“On the other end of the spectrum, three northwest Ohio farmland counties saw the most significant bumps in the gun season harvest,” McCoy said.

Among them were Auglaize County - up 30 percent, Putnam County - also up 30 percent, and Henry County - up 29 percent.

Similarly said McCoy, the three counties that increased from 1-deer to 2-deer this year “were also up significantly.”

These counties were Clinton - up 19 percent, Pickaway - up 22 percent, and Fayette - up 28 percent.

Southern Ohio had a few big gainers, as well, said McCoy with Jackson County

experiencing a 17 percent increase, Gallia County seeing a 23 percent increase,  and Scioto noting a remarkable 24 percent increase.

The situation was a bit different in Northeast Ohio’s fabled Snow Belt region. Opening day saw large swaths of lake-effect cold drizzle that would turn to rain and back again. And Saturday saw near gale-force winds across a good portion of this region.

Not surprisingly therefore, the counties of Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, Ashtabula, Geauga and Trumbull all experienced slippage in their respective 2022 deer kills verses their 2021 deer kills. Some of these Northeast Ohio counties more so than others within the Snow Belt group.

Stll, all told, McCoy said one-half of Ohio’s 88 counties “recorded a gun week harvest increase at least 5 percent above their respective three-year averages.”

“And 33 counties ended up pretty similar to recent seasons, being up or down less than 5 percent, while 11 counties had a gun season harvest that was at least 5 percent lower than their respective averages,” McCoy said.

 

Here are the county-by-county preliminary firearms deer-hunting totals, first phase for 2022/followed by the preliminary 2021 totals/and lastly the preliminary Three-Year average:

Adams: 1,043/1042/1,002; Allen: 442/352/372; Ashland: 1,440/1,444/1,418; Ashtabula: 1,987/2,039/2,036; Athens: 1,250/1,327/1,282; Auglaize: 503/431/386; Belmont: 1,204/1,154/1,197; Brown: 922/887/896; Butler: 270/352/also 352; Carroll: 1,902/1,767/1,635; Champaign: 500/469/438; Clark: 214/209/203; Clermont: 652/609/658; Clinton: 270/208/227; Columbiana: 1,446/1,362/1,293; Coshocton: 2,457/2,403/2,336; Crawford: 669/646/618; Cuyahoga: 45/49/48; Darke: 365/303/304; Defiance: 923/802/851; Delaware: 428/441/413; Erie: 271/327/296; Fairfield: 737/765/729; Fayette: 164/117/128; Franklin: 162/159/153; Fulton: 387/407/370; Gallia: 1,280/1,113/1,037; Geauga: 603/700/608; Greene: 265/246/247; Guernsey: 1,848/1,968/1,864; Hamilton: 119/140/151; Hancock: 658/606/587; Hardin: 520/640/620; Harrison: 1,365/1,318/1,380; Henry: 532/438/411; Highland: 1,085/1,118/1,038; Hocking: 1,151/1,102/1,126; Holmes: 1,521/1,645/1,587; Huron: 1,158/1,166/1,109; Jackson: 1,135/986/970; Jefferson: 930/866/843; Knox: 1,909/2,023/1,934; Lake: 163/164/170; Lawrence: 751/677/667; Licking: 1,729/1,712/1,729; Logan: 758/780/766; Lorain: 661/783/698; Lucas: 130/103/124; Madison: 191/234/201; Mahoning: 548/614/ 571; Marion: 312/446/419; Medina: 724/682/675; Meigs: 1,270/1,261/1,156; Mercer: 431/422/363; Miami: 257/256/242; Monroe: 1,218/1,103/1,093; Montgomery: 183/206/181; Morgan: 1,387/1,298/1,285; Morrow: 706/633/648; Muskingum: 2,326/2,107/2,056; Noble: 1,331/1,249/1,234; Ottawa: 177/173/162; Paulding: 544/598/543; Perry: 1,183/1,112/1,075; Pickaway: 321/259/263; Pike: 731/623/644; Portage: 683/719/661; Preble: 315/334/317; Putnam: 461/370/354; Richland: 1,300/1,346/1,338; Ross: 1,076/1,056/1,063; Sandusky: 333/305/307; Scioto: 864/683/696; Seneca: 945/927/864; Shelby: 483/400/397; Stark: 1,030/929/899; Summit: 187/206/193; Trumbull: 1,104/1,241/1,206; Tuscarawas: 2,321/2,204/2,176; Union: 374/380/364; Van Wert: 283/268/260; Vinton: 786/930/892; Warren: 289/317/324; Washington: 1,628/1,483/1,436; Wayne: 858/893/863; Williams: 770/719/691; Wood: 359/340/362; Wyandot: 719/722/781. Preliminary 2022 Total: 71,932/ Preliminary 2021 total: 70,413/ Preliminary Three-Year Average Total: 68,534.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com