Hunters take fewer deer during opening week of gun season | The Columbus Dispatch
December 9, 2010
Strong start offset by deteriorating weather
By Josh Jarman
The Columbus Dispatch
Despite this year’s strong start to the state’s firearms deer season, hunters in Ohio bagged fewer deer in the opening week of gun hunting than they did last year.Hunters took 104,442 white-tailed deer during the week-long season, which ran Nov. 29 through Sunday, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Hunters killed 114,633 during the same time last year.The week started with prime hunting weather, which quickly deteriorated as the week progressed, state officials said.Several counties popular with local hunters, including Athens, Coshocton, Guernsey, Knox, Licking and Muskingum, all placed in the top 10 counties in the state for harvested deer, with Guernsey leading that pack at 3,455 deer killed. Other deer-kill totals were: Licking, 3,351; Coshocton, 3,320; Knox, 2,843; Muskingum, 2,447; and Athens, 2,395.Tuscarawas led the state with 5,513 deer taken last week.While this year’s opening week of gun hunting yielded fewer deer, it was only marginally safer with seven hunting-related injuries reported throughout the state, four of which were self-inflicted. None of the incidents were fatal. Click Link Below For Full Story!
via Hunters take fewer deer during opening week of gun season | The Columbus Dispatch.
Request for hunt suspension denied – JSOnline
December 12, 2008
Antlerless deer ruled not to be in danger
By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel
Madison – The Natural Resources Board has denied a state group’s request to suspend the December antlerless deer hunt.
Citing low harvest numbers from the recently completed gun deer hunt, the Wisconsin Hunters Rights Coalition asked the board to use its emergency rule authority to stop the antlerless-only hunt, planned statewide from Thursday to Sunday.
“It is the responsibility of the DNR and sportsmen to protect this cherished resource,” said Greg “Kaz” Kazmierski of Pewaukee, representing the Wisconsin Chapters of the Safari Club International. “To err on the side of caution seems prudent with the data that is in.”
Hunters registered 276,985 deer in the gun hunt, a 20% drop from 2007. The coalition said its request was on behalf of hunters statewide who are “concerned that the overstated population estimates by the DNR may have already resulted in an overharvest of antlerless deer. Click Link Below for Full Story!
Request for hunt suspension denied – JSOnline.
Deer-less hunters open up on DNR – JSOnline
December 6, 2008
Deer-less hunters open up on DNR
Paul Smith | Outdoors Editor
Posted: Dec. 3, 2008
Keith Warnke has been spending a lot of time on the phone this week. And its not just because hunters are dialing in with stories about the trophy buck they shot.
The big game ecologist for the Department of Natural Resources has heard a few of those happy tales, sure. He has also been contacted by hunters who were pleased to take an antlerless deer, and those who didnt shoot anything but had a good time.
But the largest volume of calls has been from hunters who came home with empty game racks and unfulfilled expectations from the nine-day Wisconsin gun deer season that ended Sunday.
“Were coming off several years of record deer numbers,” Warnke said Wednesday. “While many hunters would like to see a huge herd, we are charged with managing it to the established population goals.”
If you failed to tag a deer this gun season, you have plenty of company. It includes me I didnt see a deer in four days of hunting spread across Oneida and Eau Claire counties and an estimated 60% of the 642,419 hunters who bought a license this season. It also includes Warnke, who hunted in Adams County.
As you are likely aware, hunters harvested 276,985 deer in the recently completed gun season, a drop of 22% from the 2007 hunt.
The number of disgruntled hunters isnt tracked by any reliable survey agency. But it might well be at record levels.
Ive heard from dozens in the last several days. Some contend that the DNR was way off on its prehunt population estimates of 1.5 million to 1.7 million deer in Wisconsin.
“This was the worst deer hunt ever,” said Greg Thiele, a reader from Necedah. “The deer numbers are way down. None of us ever see any deer in the fields.”
On this count, the DNR has said it likely overestimated the herd size, in part because of lower than expected fawn production in the north and northeast because of the harsh winter last year. A new population estimate will be made in coming months that will no doubt be lower. Full Story Click Link Below!
Deer-less hunters open up on DNR – JSOnline.
White-tailed Deer Hunters Score on Opening Day of Gun Season
December 3, 2008
Statewide harvest up 70 percent from 2007
COLUMBUS, OH – Ohio hunters were on the mark for opening day of the 2008 deer-gun season. Hunters took 33,034 white-tailed deer on Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. The deer-gun season remains open through Sunday, December 7, and then reopens for two days on Saturday and Sunday, December 20-21.
The preliminary figures from deer check stations throughout the state show a significant increase from last year’s opening day total of 19,391. Monday’s weather was breezy with intermittent rain or snow across the state, a stark contrast to opening day 2007 when hunters were hampered by heavy rain.
Counties reporting the highest numbers of deer checked on Monday included Tuscarawas-1,821, Washington-1,456, Coshocton-1,307, Harrison-1,286, Guernsey-1,202, Licking-1,134, Ashtabula-1,089, Holmes-1,088, Knox-954, and Athens-828.
Combining the results of Monday’s harvest with those from the early muzzleloader season, the first six weeks of archery season and the recent youth deer-gun season, a preliminary total of 95,074 deer have been killed so far this deer hunting season. That number compares to 84,161 harvested last year at this time. In all, hunters took a total of 232,854 deer during all of last year’s hunting seasons.
Approximately 400,000 hunters are expected to participate in the statewide deer-gun season. Ohio’s deer population was estimated to be 700,000 prior to the start of the fall hunting seasons.
The white-tailed deer is the most popular game animal in Ohio, frequently pursued by generations of hunters. Ohio ranks 6th nationally in annual hunting-related sales and 4th in the number of jobs associated with the hunting-related industry. Each year, hunting has a $1.5 billion economic impact in Ohio. Hunting related retail sales in Ohio total more than $700 million.
Hunters are encouraged to kill more does this season using the reduced-priced antlerless deer permit (valid in Zone C through December 7) and donate any extra venison to organizations assisting Ohioans in need. The Division is collaborating with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry to help pay for the processing of donated venison.
Hunters who give their deer to a food bank are not required to pay the processing cost as long as the deer are taken to a participating processor and funding for the effort lasts. Counties being served by this program can be found online at www.fhfh.org.
Hunters who wish to share their success can submit a photo of themselves and the deer they killed this year for publication on the ODNR Division of Wildlife’s Web page.
A detailed listing of deer-hunting rules is contained in the 2008-2009 Ohio Hunting Regulations, available wherever licenses are sold, and online at wildohio.com.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR web site at www.ohiodnr.com.
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EDITORS NOTE: The following is a list of the number of deer checked and tagged by hunters during the first day of deer-gun hunting season. The number taken during the 2007 season is marken in ( ): 2008 (2007)
Adams -377 (273); Allen -130 (67); Ashland -577 (324); Ashtabula -1,089 (588); Athens -828 (649); Auglaize -102 (78); Belmont -612 (372); Brown -336 (227); Butler -55 (28); Carroll -625 (338); Champaign -193 (147); Clark -67 (40); Clermont -236 (190); Clinton -109(82); Columbiana -722 (331); Coshocton -1,307(659); Crawford -265 (171); Cuyahoga -32 (8); Darke -50 (24); Defiance -323 (93); Delaware -188 (120); Erie -82 (46); Fairfield -452 (279); Fayette -50 (34); Franklin -81 (38); Fulton -150 (69); Gallia -501 (466); Geauga – 326 (111); Greene -54 (35); Guernsey -1,202 (871); Hamilton -40 (32); Hancock -83 (103); Hardin -133 (129); Harrison -1,286 (732); Henry -108 (63); Highland -409 (294); Hocking -683 (416); Holmes – 1,088 (621); Huron -288 (220); Jackson -648 (391); Jefferson -771 (466); Knox -954 (304); Lake -113 (57); Lawrence -343 (265); Licking -1,134 (494); Logan -169 (155); Lorain -165 (120); Lucas -75 (59); Madison -53 (23); Mahoning – 198 (152); Marion -74 (43); Medina – 158 (96); Meigs -702 (451); Mercer -63 (64); Miami -38 (18); Monroe -672 (373); Montgomery -27 (32); Morgan -556 (347); Morrow -308 (190); Muskingum -670 (471); Noble -645 (531); Ottawa -9 (18); Paulding -139 (80); Perry -580 (340); Pickaway – 161 (135); Pike -261 (126); Portage -164 (90); Preble -43 (45); Putnam -157 (101); Richland -364 (201); Ross -597 (280); Sandusky -54 (35); Scioto -380 (206); Seneca -242 (187); Shelby -123 (117); Stark -440 (235); Summit -79 (61); Trumbull -657(333); Tuscarawas -1,821 (833); Union -125 (90); Van Wert -74 (33); Vinton – 497 (216); Warren -102 (90); Washington -1,456 (540); Wayne -186 (133); Williams -264 (146); Wood -108 (78); Wyandot -176 (172); TOTAL: 33,034 (19,391)
Hunters kill 22% fewer deer on opening weekend – JSOnline
November 25, 2008
By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel
Hunters killed 22% fewer deer during the opening weekend of the nine-day gun deer season, the Department of Natural Resources reported Monday.
The number of hunters injured in shootings increased to four, in addition to the single fatality on Sunday that had been previously reported.
A preliminary count of the first two days of the season showed that hunters killed 133,828 deer.
The buck harvest was down 25%, and antlerless harvest fell 20%.
Last year, the preliminary count totaled 171,584.
The DNR said several factors have contributed to a lower harvest.
They included a smaller deer population after several years of regulations to drive down the population, cold hunting conditions in northern Wisconsin, a late opening weekend that missed the peak of the rutting season and hard 2007-’08 winter conditions after a string of mild winters. Click Link Below for full story!
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