Ohio updates hunting numbers
COLUMBUS — The extra weekend of gun hunting for white-tailed deer in Ohio concluded on Sunday, Dec. 20, with 15,203 deer taken by hunters, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.
Over the last three years, hunters checked an average of 12,461 deer during the same two-day period, the department announced in a news release. After 71,650 deer were checked by Ohio hunters during the weeklong deer-gun season, Nov. 30-Dec. 6, the total harvest during for all nine days of the 2020 gun hunting season was 86,858 deer. Hunters harvested an average of 78,027 deer during the nine days of gun hunting over the past three years. Deer hunting occurs in all 88 counties and an estimated 310,000 hunters participated during Ohio’s deer-gun seasons. Ohio hunters have purchased 399,466 deer permits through Dec. 20. “Hunting license and deer permit sales are on the upswing this year as more people are going out to deer hunt in Ohio,” Division of Wildlife Chief Kendra Wecker said. “Our state’s deer herd is in excellent condition and it is great that this valuable resource is doing so well.”
The top 11 counties for deer taken during the two-day deer gun season include: Tuscarawas (598), Ashtabula (572), Coshocton (521), Knox (442), Licking (442), Carroll (422), Guernsey (421), Harrison (369), Columbiana (367), Muskingum (364), and Trumbull (364). Ashtabula County was tops in the state during the 2019 extra gun hunting weekend with 529 deer checked, while hunters took 13,703 deer statewide. Straight-walled cartridge rifles became legal deer hunting implements in Ohio in 2014, and continue to grow in popularity. During the deer-gun week and two-day gun weekend, straightwalled cartridge rifles were used for 45% of checked deer. Shotguns accounted for 44% of the total. In addition, 8% were taken with a muzzleloader, 2% with archery equipment, and 1% with a handgun.
Through Dec. 20, Ohio archery hunters had taken 82,125 deer and Ohio’s youth hunters checked 5,795 whitetails during the two-day youth season, Nov. 21-22.
Hotspots for deer hunting are found mostly in the eastern regions, including Ashtabula, Coshocton, Tuscarawas, Muskingum, Guernsey, and Knox counties.