Brent McGlone with his new state record Bigmouth Buffalo sucker weighing 45.84 pounds. (Photo credit OWO)
You can almost put a fork in it. Once the statewide muzzleloader closes, 98 percent of the deer checked in Ohio for the 2023-24 deer season are in the books. Sure, they’ll be a few archery hunters braving the January weather for a last chance to fill the freezer, but for all intents and purposes, Ohio’s deer season is in the can.
The just released 2024 muzzleloader take from ODNR shows that 13,611 deer were taken in the state during the four-day season, that’s only six deer less than last year, of which 3,327 were antlered deer, 9,081 were antlerless for 72 percent of the total take, and interestingly 304 were bucks with shed antlers or antlers less than three inches long. During the 2023 muzzleloader season hunters checked in 13,617 deer.
Surprisingly, with the weather as it was in Adams County, local muzzleloader hunters check in 209 deer, that number down exactly 20 deer from last year’s muzzleloader take of 229. Brown County had 145 deer checked. Highland County muzzleloader hunters tagged 181. Pike County hunters checked 106 deer and Scioto County had 124 deer checked in.
Across the state a total of 203,608 deer have been harvested during the 2023-24 deer season. Of that number, 95,079 were archery kills.
In Adams County, hunters have taken 2,988 total deer this deer season, down just 2 percent from last year. Archery hunters in Adams County have tagged 1,483 deer so far. Last year’s total deer harvest in Adams County was 3,056.
According to ODNR this season’s take is only the second time in 10 years that the deer harvest surpassed the 200,000 mark. Last year’s deer take also surpassed the 200,000 mark.
There were 412,956 deer permits issued this season. Another fact is that hunters from all 50 states purchased licenses in Ohio for the 2023-24 season. If an average deer yields 60 pounds of meat, then hunters have added 12 million pounds of venison to their freezers this past deer season.
In other news, the Outdoor Writers of Ohio (OWO) have certified a new state record fish. A monster 45.85 lb. Bigmouth Buffalo sucker was arrowed by Brent McGlone of Marysville, Ohio, on November 6, 2023, in a Lake Erie tributary at 3 a.m. in the morning while bow fishing at night. The monster fish was over 37 inches long and had a girth of 32 inches. Helping certify the catch were ODNR fisheries biologist Nick Radabaugh, Ethan Simmons, and Tim Parker from the Division of Wildlife district one office in Columbus.
