Ohio’s white-tailed deer hunters finished the weeklong gun season in the plus-column with 63,493 deer taken during the annual deer-gun week that ran Dec. 2-8, and Highland County paralleled the trend with 843 deer, a 5 percent increase over what the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife said was taken in the county last year.
During the 2018 season, 60,752 deer were harvested statewide during the same period.
Regionally, the only county that was down from last year’s harvest count was Adams, which finished with 935 deer, compared with 960 from the previous year.
Ross County showed a 6 percent increase over last year’s harvest with Brown County increasing by 8 percent, but both Clinton and Fayette counties increased dramatically with deer harvest figures up by 39 and 52 percent, respectively, over one year ago.
The top 10 counties for deer harvest during the weeklong deer-gun season were Coshocton, 2,322; Tuscarawas, 2,127; Muskingum, 1,972; Ashtabula, 1,901; Knox, 1,771; Guernsey, 1,734; Licking, 1,514; Carroll, 1,473; Holmes, 1,465; and Washington, 1,464.
“Ohio hunters took full advantage of a great week of deer hunting,” Mike Tonkovich, Ohio Division of Wildlife deer program administrator, said in a news release. “The fall weather has been the most hunter-friendly we’ve seen in a long time, and this year’s harvest is certainly proof of that. The deer harvest is a direct result of our ongoing efforts to align Ohio’s wild deer herd with the interests of the majority of Ohio’s farmers and hunters. This has been and will continue to be the backbone of Ohio’s deer program.”
Through Dec. 1, 76,822 deer were taken by Ohio archery hunters, and Ohio’s youth hunters checked 6,234 white-tailed deer during the 2019 two-day youth gun season that ran the weekend before Thanksgiving.
An ODNR news release stated that Ohio offers many more opportunities for hunters to pursue deer in the coming weeks.
The deer-archery season is already in progress, and extends through Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020.
The deer-gun season resumes for two days next weekend, Dec. 21-22, and deer-muzzleloader season will open up the New Year Saturday, Jan. 4, through Tuesday, Jan. 7.
Hunters can find complete details about the 2019-2020 hunting and trapping regulations by going to wildlifeohio.gov, and can read summaries of past deer seasons by visiting wildohio.gov/deerharvest.
Editor’s Note: A list of all white-tailed deer checked by hunters during the 2019 weeklong deer-gun hunting season is shown below. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for 2019, and the 2018 harvest numbers are in parentheses. Harvest numbers below are raw data and subject to change.
Adams: 935 (960); Allen: 361 (250); Ashland: 1,272 (1,124); Ashtabula: 1,901 (2,028); Athens: 1,265 (1,326); Auglaize: 341 (269); Belmont: 1,196 (1,085); Brown: 797 (739); Butler: 294 (250); Carroll: 1,473 (1,454); Champaign: 376 (337); Clark: 182 (177); Clermont: 558 (554); Clinton: 257 (185); Columbiana: 1,173 (1,133); Coshocton: 2,322 (2,180); Crawford: 562 (497); Cuyahoga: 49 (39); Darke: 248 (215); Defiance: 768 (583); Delaware: 388 (352); Erie: 208 (224); Fairfield: 599 (620); Fayette: 139 (91); Franklin: 115 (143); Fulton: 308 (292); Gallia: 980 (1,150); Geauga: 526 (585); Greene: 232 (196); Guernsey: 1,734 (1,732); Hamilton: 136 (147); Hancock: 487 (405); Hardin: 554 (382); Harrison: 1,408 (1,290); Henry: 380 (258); Highland: 843 (803); Hocking: 1,196 (1,117); Holmes: 1,465 (1,290); Huron: 980 (865); Jackson: 987 (1,087); Jefferson: 786 (700); Knox: 1,771 (1,513); Lake: 149 (181); Lawrence: 685 (817); Licking: 1,514 (1,423); Logan: 699 (614); Lorain: 566 (628); Lucas: 115 (117); Madison: 165 (146); Mahoning: 493 (616); Marion: 384 (336); Medina: 568 (606); Meigs: 1,076 (1,238); Mercer: 302 (228); Miami: 217 (172); Monroe: 1,059 (1,103); Montgomery: 137 (122); Morgan: 1,244 (1,205); Morrow: 558 (551); Muskingum: 1,972 (1,924); Noble: 1,167 (1,264); Ottawa: 122 (113); Paulding: 480 (333); Perry: 1,016 (1,044); Pickaway: 306 (244); Pike: 631 (691); Portage: 584 (559); Preble: 284 (253); Putnam: 306 (232); Richland: 1,179 (1,142); Ross: 994 (940); Sandusky: 246 (216); Scioto: 667 (781); Seneca: 814 (736); Shelby: 388 (283); Stark: 813 (810); Summit: 146 (153); Trumbull: 1,116 (1,123); Tuscarawas: 2,127 (1,996); Union: 298 (281); Van Wert: 230 (175); Vinton: 900 (943); Warren: 286 (264); Washington: 1,464 (1,411); Wayne: 801 (696); Williams: 624 (546); Wood: 333 (273); Wyandot: 716 (596).
2019 total: 63,493
2018 total: (60,752)
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
