COLUMBUS — Hunters in Ohio tagged 13,055 white-tailed deer during the four-day muzzleloader deer hunting season, which ended Tuesday, Jan. 6, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife said on Wednesday. The count includes deer taken with muzzleloaders and those taken with bows during the same time.
This year’s total was slightly below last year’s count, when hunters checked 13,495 deer during the muzzleloader season. The three-year average for deer taken during the same period is about 13,269.
Out of the deer checked during the muzzleloader season, 3,473 were antlered deer — about 27% — and 9,582 were antlerless deer, or 73% of the total. The antlerless category included does, button bucks, bucks with shed antlers and bucks with very short antlers.
The ODNR also shared the top 10 counties with the most deer taken, led by Coshocton County with 557 deer, followed by Tuscarawas (491), Carroll (451) and Muskingum (437). Other counties in the top 10 included Knox, Harrison, Licking, Columbiana, Guernsey and Jefferson.
Hunters can continue pursuing deer with archery equipment through Sunday, Feb. 1, the end of the statewide archery hunting season. So far this season, Ohio hunters have tagged 222,648 deer. This keeps the total above 200,000 for the fourth year in a row.
The number of deer checked by season so far includes 99,551 taken by archery hunters, 9,759 during youth gun season, 84,448 during the regular gun season, and 15,835 in the additional gun weekend. All gun harvests, including controlled hunts, totaled 124,104 deer.
This season the Division of Wildlife has also worked with groups to donate deer meat to food banks. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s meat processing facility at the Pickaway Correctional Institution has helped process venison from deer donated by hunters. So far, more than 3,870 pounds of venison have been turned into food for people in need.
Hunters may bring deer they want to donate to one of 34 certified processing shops across the state. The Division of Wildlife is also working with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry to support food banks with donated venison.
Last month, Ohio hunters reportedly checked 15,835 white-tailed deer during the state’s two-day gun hunting weekend held Dec. 20–21.
