Favorable weather helps opening deer gun totals
Fine weather on Monday rendered first-rate results on the opening day of Ohio’s weeklong deer gun season.
Hunters checked 22,366 whitetails on day 1, almost 3,600 more than on opening day a year ago.
The string of goodweather days should mean this year’s deer week totals will be strong by hunt’s end, one-half hour after sunset on Sunday.
Mike Tonkovich, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s deer specialist, predicted a kill of about 200,000 deer between the late September season opening and the early February closing. That would easily eclipse last year’s harvest of about 182,000.
The first two days of gun week pushed the combined gun and archery totals to 107,113 through Tuesday — slightly better than the 106,969 whitetails checked at the same point a year ago.
Gun hunters will get another shot at Ohio whitetails Dec. 16-17. After that, only archery hunting is permitted, with the exception of the four-day muzzleloader hunt in early January.
Nearly all Ohio counties topped last year’s opening day deer count. Coshocton County led with 924 checked, followed by Ashtabula (821), Muskingum (780), Tuscarawas (768) and Knox (705).
Licking, as usual, led central Ohio counties with 577 checked, followed by Fairfield (213), Delaware (135), Union (103), Pickaway (96), Franklin (45) and Madison (40). All central Ohio counties easily topped numbers from a year ago.
At least two huntingrelated deaths occurred Monday, both in Ashtabula County. A Florida man, 62, was hunting in his native county when he was shot to death. Details have yet to emerge on how the shooting occurred.
A 65-year-old hunter died of apparent natural causes while in his tree stand, Ashtabula County authorities said.
Turkey toll
Despite the addition of 11 counties open to wild turkey hunters during the fall season that ended last Sunday, hunters checked fewer birds than during several recent years. With 67 counties open, hunters checked 1,053 birds, a huge tumble from the 2,168 turkeys taken in 56 open counties a year ago. That’s a decline of 51.4 percent.
Two years ago, hunters checked 1,537 turkeys in the fall when one bird of either sex may be taken.
Wild turkey numbers surged temporarily in many of Ohio’s mosthunted eastern and southeastern counties as the result of a cicada hatch in 2016 that occurs every 17 years.
Coyote workshop
A workshop detailing the ins and outs of trapping coyotes is scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 16 at the Trap History Museum, 6106 Bausch Road, Galloway. Ohio Division of Wildlife personnel will cover topics including coyote life history, applicable laws and trapping techniques.
The free workshop will be limited to 30 registered participants age 18 or older. Register by phoning Wildlife Division District One headquarters at (614) 644-3925 or emailing derek.klein@ dnr.state.oh.us.
The hands-on instructions will be conducted outdoors.
Parting shots
President Trump is expected to travel to Utah on Monday to announce he is shutting down significant portions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, a move backed by mining, drilling and grazing interests and opposed by a number of hunting, fishing and conservation groups. … A bird hike is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at Stage’s Pond State Nature Preserve in Pickaway County. For details, phone Jim Osborn at (740) 969-4964.