Outdoors: Ohio deer gun harvest numbers will be hard-pressed to match last year's
Deer archery season, a much-anticipated draw in parts of Ohio, begins its 4 1/2-month run Saturday.
Embedded within the archery season, which continues through Feb. 6, are a youth gun weekend before Thanksgiving, a deer gun week late November into December, a deer gun weekend in December and a four-day muzzleloader hunt in early January.
Some 300,000-plus, venison-eating hunters will give it a shot.
A year ago, hunters reported taking 197,735 whitetails during the multiple seasons, a hefty count not likely to be surpassed, or if so only slightly, surmised Mike Tonkovich, deer project leader for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
“If we don’t repeat the great hunting weather we had during our two gun seasons, we can expect our gun harvest numbers to go down,” he said.
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While 94,691 of the deer taken, or about 47.9%, were felled with bows of various legal types, the all-seasons totals were boosted by a strong gun take, Tonkovich said.
The weeklong gun season, spurred by next-to-ideal weather with snow on the ground during key days, delivered 71,659 whitetails, an increase of 8,166, or 12.9%, from the 63,493 checked in 2019.
The bonus gun weekend in mid-December surrendered 15,203 checked whitetails, some 8.6% more than the 13,995 checked during the 2019 weekend hunt.
Last year’s gun numbers resulted from pretty much a best-case scenario based on two factors, the first being atypically favorable weather conditions. The second probable contributor was a bump in the number of hunters, which has been widely attributed to a pent-up people’s need to get out of the house during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although COVID is still going strong, vaccinations and a returned sense of mask-free normalcy have made many people less fearful and homebound. How that will play into hunting participation remains to be seen.
Tonkovich said any assessment of what’s coming needs to factor in the deer population and regulatory changes.
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Tonkovich does know the overall deer population has held steady or slightly increased in most counties as the result of regulations designed to stabilize the population at target levels deemed appropriate for each county landscape.
A robust deer presence aside, harvest numbers should get a boost from the availability of a deer management permit in 88 counties, a wide expansion from the 24 counties where the permits could be used last year.
The $15 management permit, which can be used to take only antlerless deer up to the county season limit but only on private land with limited exceptions, is valid from opening day through Nov. 28, the day before the start of gun week.
The purchase of an either-sex permit is not required to purchase a deer management permit, although only an either-sex permit will be valid during gun week and beyond. Additionally, anyone who wants to take an antlered deer must purchase an either-sex permit, which costs $31.20 for adults.
Another notable change that might boost the deer harvest a bit, Tonkovich said, is the scrapping of the rule that prohibited the taking of non-antlered deer on public land after deer gun week. That said, only one antlerless deer may be taken on most public land during the season.
Hunters may harvest as many as six deer, again only one antlered, during the Ohio hunting year but not more than a county limit.
Franklin County has a four-deer season limit, while limits are three in Fairfield, Licking, Delaware and Union counties. The Madison County limit is two and Pickaway one.
outdoors@dispatch.com