I don’t know if I remember a week of Ohio gun season when the weather was so good. It was one of those rare occurrences when the weather was perfect nearly every day, a little bit cold but just right for hunting. And that best describes the week of Ohio’s deer gun season from November 29 through December 5. The result being Ohio hunters had a banner week with 70,413 deer checked, an eight percent increase over the last three years according to ODNR but still down a bit from the 2020 kill when 71,651 deer were tagged.
Of that number 25,263 were bucks, 36,096 does, 8,021 button bucks and interestingly, 1,033 bucks were tagged with shed antlers or antlers less than three inches which accounted for one percent of the total take. For two years in a row Coshocton County led the state in the number deer checked with 2,403.
Locally, Adams County hunters bagged 1,042 deer, that’s up only a percent and a half from last season’s 1,026 deer checked. In neighboring Brown County 887 deer were tagged. In Scioto 683 deer were checked. In Pike County hunters checked in 623 deer.
During youth season held November 20-21 a total of 7,634 deer were taken. Of that number 104 were from Adams County.
As of Dec 7, -158,609 deer have been harvested statewide in Ohio. In Adams County 2,562 deer have been tagged so far this season.
Some interesting side notes; the top five states non-resident hunters are from is Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, North Carolina, and New York. This year 383,770 deer permits were sold. Forty nine percent of the deer during deer gun season were taken with straight-walled cartridge rifles, 43 percent with shotguns, 6 percent with muzzleloaders, and 1 percent with archery, and less than 1 percent with handguns.
This weekend, December 18-19, is the “bonus” deer gun season. Come January 8-11 the statewide muzzleloader season kicks in. Archery season continues through February 6.
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