Buckeye Reporter

Hunters in Ohio reported checking 13,476 white-tailed deer during the state's muzzleloader hunting season from January 4 to 7, according to a release from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. This total includes deer taken with both muzzleloaders and archery equipment.

In comparison, hunters checked 12,714 deer during last year's muzzleloader season. The average number of deer checked over the past three years is approximately 13,081. During this season, hunters tagged 3,629 antlered deer and 9,847 antlerless deer. Among these were does (8,127), button bucks (1,445), bucks with shed antlers (172), and bucks with antlers shorter than three inches (103).

The counties reporting the highest numbers of deer checked include Coshocton with 544, Muskingum at 462, and Tuscarawas recording 450. Other notable counties are Guernsey (440), Carroll (430), Knox (407), Licking (373), Harrison (351), Washington (334), and Columbiana (321).

By January 7, Ohio hunters had tagged a total of 225,911 deer for the entire 2024-25 season. This marks the third consecutive year that the total has exceeded 200,000. The breakdown by hunting method includes archery with 97,421 deer—archery season remains open until February 2—youth gun at 10,449, gun season tallying at 87,192, and an additional gun weekend contributing another 17,373. All gun-related hunts combined resulted in a total of 128,546 deer checked.