The weather conditions for the most part during the just concluded deer gun season were relatively mild. A couple of rainy evenings and a windy Wednesday didn’t slow down the deer hunting as deer hunters tagged 71,932 deer during the week. That’s up about two percent from last year’s season when hunters harvested 70,413 deer. As an interesting side note, of that number, 26,355 wee bucks, 36,546 were does, 7,983 wee button bucks, and 1%, or 1,048, were bucks that had shed their antlers or bucks with antlers less than 3 inches according to ODNR.
During the youth season, which was held Nov. 19-20, 9,515 deer were checked in.
Locally, Adams County hunters bagged 1,043 deer, which is nearly identical to what was harvested during the 2021 season when 1,042 deer were tagged. Brown County hunters harvested 922, which is up from last season. Highland County deer hunters took 1,085, which is up. Pike County had 731 deer taken, which is up from last season. And neighboring Scioto County checked in 864 deer which is a surprising jump of over 26 percent from last season.
As of December 6, a total of 165,584 deer have been taken in Ohio for the 2022-23 season. In Adams County bow hunters and gun hunters have combined to take a total of 2,472 deer so far. Although I never thought I’d see the day, archery hunters in Adams County have taken more deer than gun hunters, proof of the popularity of bow hunting locally.
The top counties in the state are the usual bunch, Coshocton (2,457), Muskingum (2.326), and Tuscarawas (2,321), again leading the state in number of deer tagged.
ODNR said 55 percent of the deer checked were taken with straight-walled cartridge rifles, 38 percent with shotguns, five percent with a muzzleloader, and less than one percent with a handgun.
Although slightly down from last year, this season 376,617 deer permits were sold which non-residents purchased 38,109 of those permits. The leading states for non-residents license sales include Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, North Carolina, and New York.
An estimated 479,000 deer hunters went afield this fall in Ohio. According to the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, $866 million were generated statewide in Ohio by deer hunting. In Adams County alone, deer hunting is estimated to be near the top as one of primary generators of tourism dollars.
Next up is the “Bonus” gun season, December 17-18. After that Ohio’s muzzleloader season is open January 7-10. Archery season continues until February 5.