Buckeye Reporter

Ohio hunters reported checking 87,192 white-tailed deer during the weeklong gun season that ended on December 8. This is the highest number since 2011 when 90,282 deer were checked, according to a December 10 news release from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. Last year, hunters reported 70,103 deer during the seven-day gun season, with a three-year average of 70,806.

During this year's deer gun week, hunters checked 28,606 antlered deer and 58,586 antlerless deer. The top counties for deer taken were Coshocton with 2,954 deer, Tuscarawas with 2,673, and Knox with 2,525.

Legal hunting equipment included shotguns, straight-walled cartridge rifles (legal since 2014), muzzleloaders, handguns, and archery equipment. Straight-walled cartridge rifles accounted for the majority of checks at 64%, followed by shotguns at 30%.

For all hunting seasons combined from September 28 to December 8, archery and firearms hunters have reported a total of 188,931 deer. An additional gun weekend is scheduled for December 21-22. The muzzleloader season will run from January 4-7 in the following year.

By December 8 this year, Ohio issued a total of 404,331 deer permits. These include both management and either-sex permits. Deer management permits are valid through December 22 while either-sex permits remain valid until February's end of the archery season.

Nonresidents purchased over thirty-nine thousand hunting licenses in Ohio. The most common states they traveled from include Pennsylvania with over six thousand licenses sold and Michigan with more than four thousand five hundred licenses sold.