To Ohio hunters the opening of deer archery season is akin to Christmas as no other date is looked more forward too than the opening of deer season.
Ohio’s 2021-2022 deer season officially kicks off Saturday, Sept 25 and doesn’t close until Feb. 6, making Ohio archery season one of the longest, if not the longest, bow season in the U.S. In between those dates is Youth Gun Season –Nov 20-21. Statewide gun season Nov. 29-Dec. 5, and Dec.18 & 19. Statewide muzzleloader season Jan 8-11. Then it’s back to bow season until Feb. 6 when Ohio’s deer season officially closes the books on 2021-22 deer season.
Local hunters might find it a bit more crowded in the woods this season as three Adams County bucks made headlines in national magazines. The biggest, Shawn Clark’s 24-point non-typical buck, scored 239-7/8 B&C points and was the largest buck tagged in Ohio last year. His story and photos of the buck graced the cover of the latest issue of North American Whitetail magazine.
Not far behind was local hunter Corey Richmond’s big 17-point non-typical buck that scored 217-6/8 B&C points. It too was featured in the North American Whitetail hunting issue.
Another local hunter, Lear McCoy bagged was is believed to be the largest typical buck taken in Ohio last year, a massive 10-pointer that scored 190-3/8 B&C points putting it among the top typical whitetails even taken in Ohio. His story will be featured in an upcoming issue of North American Whitetail magazine. The national recognition of Adams County as the go-to-place for trophy whitetail is no longer a secret; the downside is more hunters will be knocking on doors looking for a place to hunt. What’s in store for Adams County bow hunters this season is anybody’s guess.
According to ODNR, Ohio hunters can expect to see about the same amount of deer as last season and ODNR does not expect any increase in the harvest of deer this season. Although Mike Tonkovich, Ohio’s deer biologist, said Ohio hunters might see a slight uptick in the deer take for the upcoming season.
There has been corvid detected in Ohio’s deer herd although Tonkovich, in a radio interview I recently had with him, said the deer display no symptoms as do humans. Is it transmitted to humans, probably not said Tonkovich, but this is a relativity new development and awaits more study.
Shawnee State Forest has recently grown by 404 acres, adding to the 64,700 acres that make up Ohio’s largest state forest. The property was purchased with federal grants from the Forest Legacy Program with the USDA Forest Service. The additional land purchased is on Shawnee’s western edge in Adams County and links to the TNC’s Edge of Appalachia Preserve providing a valuable wildlife corridor between the two areas.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife has proposed a reduced limit for the 2022 Spring Wild Turkey Season to one gobbler instead of two. Due to the decline and apparent tanking of the 2021 spring turkey season harvest, Ohio hunters almost unanimously wanted to reduce the bag limit on spring gobblers. No movement or regulation changes to the fall season when hens can be legally taken were put on the table. Whether this has any effect on the wild turkey population is doubtful, however I’ll give the Division credit for doing something and listening to concerned voices.