Low gun-week deer kill called ‘anomaly’
Ohio’s week-long deer gun season got off to a feeble start and, hindered by inclement weather, limped to the finish. The results fell in line with conditions.
Hunters checked 60,557 whitetails during the statewide season that ended last Sunday. That represented 12,257 fewer deer than the total taken in gun week a year ago, a decline of 16.8 percent.
“Anomaly. That’s a good way to describe it,” said Mike Tonkovich, deer project leader for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Though the gunweek kills also were low in 2014 and ’14, this year’s numbers hit a sinkhole not visited in decades. The last time the toll was so low occurred in 1986, when hunters checked 55,756 deer during gun week.
In recent years, gun-week numbers trace a declining trend line, from more than 114,000 in 2009 to 60,000-plus in 2017. Years ago, a significant decline in the kill meant more in terms of deer management and hunter success than it does these days. In years past, the gunweek take accounted for most of the deer checked.
In 1985, for example, the 55,756 deer taken during gun week represented 83.8 percent of the whitetails tagged for the entire season. Bow hunters that season accounted for only about 9.6 percent of the kill.
By 2010, the last year the gun-week total surpassed 100,000, the archery count stood at 85,012, a split of 44.3 percent taken during gun week and 35.6 percent taken in the four-month bow season.
Three seasons later, the archery take topped the gun-week kill for the first time. The gunweek take has stood at less than 39 percent each year since, trailing the archery kill by a few percentage points.
Weather aside, gun week just isn’t what it used to be for many reasons, including the popularity of bow hunting, the retirement of hunters, fewer deer and decreasing access to land.
Until gun week, Ohio’s seasonal kill was in line with recent years. The take through Nov. 20 stood at 67,881, a slight increase from the 67,291 checked a year ago at the same stage.
However, the gunweek results skewed the numbers significantly. Whereas in 2017 the deer kill stood at 145,358 after gun week, this year it stood at 132,909, a decline of 8.6 percent.
Given that antlerless deer can no longer be taken on public land for the rest of the season that ends Feb. 3, 2019, the possibility come spring of an increase in the deer herd, already built into the public land regulations, appears solid.
The possibility also remains that hunters could make a strong showing at the finish, or that a harsh winter could further knock down numbers.
“We don’t have an emergency backup plan” for an unexpectedly low harvest, Tonkovich said. “There’s really nothing else to do but wait and see what happens.”
Gun hunters get two more shot at whitetails. Saturday and next Sunday mark the added weekend, and primitive firearms only may be used during the muzzleloader season Jan. 5-8.
outdoors@dispatch.com