Deer kills plummet as gun season opens

Years have slipped into the annals — and not a few hunters with them — since Ohio last had an opening day of deer gun week the likes of Monday.

The count on a windy and rain-spattered day totaled 13,614 whitetails, a decline of 8,752, or 39.1 percent, from the 22,366 taken opening day a year ago.

During nine previous gun weeks starting with 2016 and moving backward through 2008, opening-day counts totaled 18,776, 22,256, 17,512, 22,619, 29,297, 23,600, 37,805, 33,607 and 33,034. Hunters faced weather challenges, though less severe, on at least a couple of those opening days.

Any attempt to draw conclusions from Monday’s weak showing presents comparison difficulties, said Mike Tonkovich, deer project leader for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

“In terms of absolute numbers, you’d have to go back a long way” to find an opening day with fewer deer killed, he said. “Maybe to a time when 100,000 was the total take for the year.”

A fair appraisal would require making comparisons based on percentages of the total take for the weeklong hunt, which doesn’t end until Sunday at one-half hour after sunset. The last time bad weather indisputably and dramatically undermined an opening day occurred in 2007 when a statewide, all-day downpour resulted in a kill of about 19,000, which at the time approached about half the typical take.

A big downturn on opening day, moreover, doesn’t necessarily signify anything other than an anomaly. Trends tell a truer tale.

Although opening day remains a huge draw, hunters shut down by weather early tend to work a little harder to fill a tag by week’s end. Despite the bad start in 2007, Tonkovich reminded, harvest Jeff Davis rests on the tailgate of his pickup truck after a successful pheasant hunt in southwestern Minnesota. He was with Susie, left, a German shorthaired pointer, and Blue, a Labrador retriever. numbers crept close to normal by the end of that week.

This year, unlike 2007, don’t blame rain.

“Everybody was talking about the wind,” Tonkovich said.

Wind rattling branches creates undetermined noises apt to keep wary deer hunkered down, presenting a problem for hunters that groups on drives could do a lot to overcome. Trouble is, deer hunting is not the group activity it used to be.

Drives, in short, “are a thing of the past for most of us,” Tonkovich noted.

County counts were down from a year ago, occasionally dramatically.

Coshocton led all counties with 587 whitetails checked, down from 924 a year ago. Tuscarawas recorded 511, down from 769; Muskingum totaled 489, down from 780; Ashtabula reported 488, down from 821; and Knox tallied 424, down from 705.

Licking topped central Ohio counties and stood among the state leaders with 395 deer checked, down from 577 last year. Fairfield was next with 126 reported, down from 213, followed by Delaware with 72, down from 135; Union with 56, down from 103; Pickaway 51, down from 96; Franklin 29, down from 45; and Madison 22, down from 40.

Through Tuesday, hunters had checked 97,939 whitetails since the start of the archery season in late September. The total stood at 107,113 at the same point of the season a year ago. The difference can largely be attributed to the difference in the deer counts between the two years’ opening days.

Gun hunters get a second shot at whitetails during the two-day gun weekend on Dec. 15-16.

After Sunday, hunters may take only antlered deer on most public land.

Turkey take

Hunters checked 1,117 wild turkeys during the state’s fall season that began Oct. 13 and ended last Sunday. The total represented an increase of 64, or 6.1 percent, from the 1,053 taken a year ago.

Seventy of Ohio’s 88 counties, three more than in 2017, were open to fall turkey hunting. Those three, Hancock, Erie and Lucas, accounted for 22 birds checked.

Coshocton led all counties with 54 wild turkeys reported, followed by Guernsey with 41, Tuscarawas with 40 and Ashtabula with 39. Licking led central Ohio counties with 25, followed by Fairfield with 12 and Delaware nine. Madison, Union and Pickaway counties remained closed to fall turkey hunting in 2018.