ODNR Weekly Deer Harvest Reports

[Jackalope]

I had looked these charts earlier and never really digested what they were saying until today, maybe everybody else got it but I didn't.

This chart shows that 157,726 hunters killed a deer last year. It then breaks down the numbers of those 157,726 that killed more than one deer. The chart also at the bottom says deer killed. To me that was a little misleading because you have to multiply the number of hunters in each catagory by the deer taken to end up with a total number of deer killed.

So all of this time I thought that the extra tags beyond 3 had little impact on the harvest totals. I may have to change my opinion.

114, 789 killed 1 deer..........114,789
30,147 killed 2 deer...............60,294
8,581 killed 3 deer.................25,743
2,850 killed 4 deer.................11,400
899 killed 5 deer ....................4,495
460 killed 6 deer.....................2,760

So all deer killed above 2 per hunter accounts for 20% of the overall harvest or 44,398 deer.

All deer killed above 3 per hunter accounts for 8% of the overall harvest or 18,655 deer. I don't find this number insignificant.

Very interesting data analysis Lundy. I too thought the +2 number was insignificant. But that is eye opening. The hunters shooting more than 2 deer is half the gun season total harvest. Roughly 11,000 hunters of 420,000 kill 20% of the deer. Or 2.6% of hunters kill 20%. WOW.

 

[Ohiosam]

I've always discounted the extra tags having a big impact. I'm rethinking my stand on that.

 

[Milo]

I'm not sure if im a 1%er or a 2.6%errotflmao

 

[bowhunter1023]

I've always discounted the extra tags having a big impact. I'm rethinking my stand on that.

I'm the same. Only once since they have been instituted have I killed 3+ deer and that was the very first year when I was hunting 5-6 properties. Seems like no one I know killed 4-5-6 deer in a year, so I always assumed that the folks who did made next to no impact on the overall harvest. This shows that is not the case and that dropping the tags back to 3 in Zone C should provide a boost in deer numbers in subsequent seasons...

 

[Eye Spy]

I cannot speak for the deer numbers in the southern part of the state, but I hunt in Huron County and the numbers are definately down. I hunt 3 large farms and used to be able to see 15-20 deer a night out feeding during bow season; now I am lucky to see 5-6. I think there are a couple of reasons for the decline. First of all, like many others have said, the increase in the number of tags has taken a toll. I am also wondering how many more deer are being poached/never tagged with this new check system?