The Adams County deer harvest this past deer gun season was 1,471, up over 50% from last year. (Photo by Tom Cross)
Adams County deer hunters are having a good season. In fact, the best in close to ten years. This past gun season (December 2-8) saw a 52 percent increase in the deer take over last year. And numbers don’t lie. Adams County’s gun harvest in 2023 was a paltry 967 deer. This year’s gun season take for the county stands at 1,471 deer harvested during the weeklong season. This is a complete reversal of the decline that started in 2016 when 1,082 deer were tagged during the weeklong gun season. Since 2016 Adams County deer numbers have declined. The Adams County deer gun harvest last peaked in 2015 when 1,585 deer were killed. So far, including archery and youth seasons, there has been a total of 3,041 deer checked in Adams County.
Despite the sub-zero temperatures and snow measured in feet instead of inches in northeast Ohio, gun season numbers are up nearly across the state with 87,192 deer harvested representing a 24 percent increase across Ohio. Last year (2023-2024) take was 70,118 deer.
From my perspective, there are simply more deer and more hunters in the field this year.
Archery hunters have shared equally in the increased deer numbers as well with bowhunters in Adams County tagging 1,570 deer so far which is up 12 percent from last year at this time.
The top three counties in the state are again Coshocton with 2,954 deer checked, Tuscarawas with 2,673 deer tagged, and Knox County with 2,525 deer taken. Of Ohio’s 88 counties only three counties, Defiance, Franklin, and Paulding, saw a decrease in the deer numbers. Across the board 85 Ohio counties saw an increase in deer gun season harvest numbers.
Locally, Brown County gun hunters checked 992 deer, that is up from 832 deer taken last season. Highland County deer hunters tagged 1,255, which is an increase from the 1,008 taken last year. Pike County had 797 deer harvested which is up from 647 deer checked last season. And the Scioto County deer gun harvest is 976, which is up too from the 718 bagged during last year’s gun season.
The breakdown of antlerless and antlered deer harvested across Ohio is currently 104,912 antlerless and 84,868 antlered. In Adams County as of December 10, there have been 1,463 antlered bucks and 1,578 antlerless deer checked.
According to ODNR, 64 percent of the deer harvested this past gun season have been taken by straight wall cartridge rifles. Shotguns accounted for 30 percent of the deer, muzzleloaders just 4 percent of the total take, archery 2 percent, and handguns accounted for only 1 percent of the total deer kill.
From out-of-state, Pennsylvania gobbles up most on the non-resident licenses, followed by Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia and New York. The total number of non-resident hunting licenses sold this season stands at 39,055. A total of 404,331 deer permits were sold this season to both residents and non-residents according to ODNR.
Next up is the “Bonus” gun season this weekend, December 21 and 22. Muzzleloader season is January 4-7 and Archery season continues until February 2, 2025.
In other news, 28-year-old Christopher J. Alexander, was sentenced in Clinton County Common Pleas Court for poaching an usually large whitetail buck back with a bow on November 9, 2023. Last year Alexander set the archery world on its ears with a buck that was set to become the new Ohio state record for a typical buck. The big 18-pointed made news around the nation but his interviews and online posts raised suspicion.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife received a tip that the deer was taken illegally and began an investigation. From what I gathered, trail camera pics of the deer turned up 10 miles from where Alexander claimed he had killed the deer. Although bucks do travel during the rut, 10 miles across country is a stretch. There were other factors too that didn’t make sense. In October Alexander pleaded guilty to 14 counts related to the poaching of the big 18-pointer and the taking of a second antlered deer during the 2023-2024 deer season.
The infractions are many including the illegal taking of two deer, hunting without a license and deer permit, selling illegally taken deer antlers, spotlighting, hunting without permission, tampering with evidence, theft (two counts), and falsification. Alexander was sentenced to pay $35,071.73 in a record-setting restitution for that buck. His trouble wasn’t over yet when the total restitution was raised to $39,696.73 to include a second unlawfully taken buck in 2023. He was ordered to complete five years of community service, six months lockup at the justice center, 10-year licenses revocation, and all property seized as evidence. Alexander was also ordered to pay $1,000 in fines, $1,000 to the TIP program, and $2,000 to media outlets and all court costs. In all over $44,000 in fines, restitution and court costs for poaching that buck.
Three accomplices connected with the case were also sentenced. Corey Haunert of Hillsboro for attempted tampering with evidence. Kristina Alexander of Blanchester for obstructing official business of a wildlife officer and Zachary Haunert of Lebanon charged with aiding a wildlife offender. This is just sad and tragic on so many levels. A young man whose life is now changed forever, and his friends and family who got drawn into the illegal act all for the fame associated with the taking of a deer and the supposed financial rewards that buck would bring.
My own reward this deer season was taking of a modest buck during the fourth day of season. It was a bitterly cold deer gun season, but I was out in it every day. Some days the wind and cold were so brutal I found a couple of windblown treetops on the ground that offered some shelter from the howling cold. It was in one of those treetops that overlooked a hillside that a buck appeared at about 4:30 p.m. that Thursday afternoon. It was the only buck I had seen all gun season.
It was out a distance, but I was relativity sure I could make the shot count, which it did. The buck ran back up the hill a short way and disappeared from sight. After about 10 minutes, I decided to take a look and jumped the buck who then ran out into a field and collapsed. Somewhat lucky in that regard, as I approach 71 years young, I’m in no mood to drag a deer half a mile. Because the ground was frozen, we drove the pickup right up to the deer, tagged it and gutted it, and delivered it to the deer processer the next morning. By this time next week, I should be enjoying a bowl of deer chili.
