I highly doubt the early season ever gos away. It will most likely be expanded statewide in the future. Its hard to take away once there. Look how long it took them just to reduce a turkey bag limit when the writing had already been on the wall for years.. Alot easier and more popular to expand opportunity then take it away. . DOW is all about creating opportunity, regardless if its at the detriment of our resources or not. They know most hunters aren't smart enough to think for themselves and they count on that fact. Its predatory honestly.
Proposed '22/23 Deer Hunting Regs
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My predictions aren't going to happen overnight. Everything is going towards lease anyways. I believe this will just speed things up and is a way to put NW Ohio on the radar. I also agree with Seth about it going statewide, which is to my point of the my early comment "the state is going to like what they see"
Ohio already has one of the longest archery seasons in the country. Its ridiculous. Im sorry i know this is a plus to some of you guys but there's no reason we need to hunt deer in September or February.
If the average hunter only kills 1.2 or 1.3 deer per year, what does it matter anyway? Sure, extra days could result in more successful hunters getting that one deer. But my guess is, if folks aren’t crafty enough to kill a deer within the already lengthy timespan we have available currently, adding a month isn’t going to make much of a difference.
Well with that mindset why not make season August to March? Not trying to be a smartass here (okay maybe a little) but I think you answered your own question. Line must be drawn somewhere.
Bigcountry40
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bigten05
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they did away with the early antlerless muzzleloader years ago instead of making it either sex like kentucky or kansas, so i dont see why they would open the whole state early. but if they see those counties numbers and money go up from it i could see it happening. all i know is if they opened ohio up early it would be flooded with hunters and there would be some giants shot in velvet. im positive i could kill a 140s or better every year if the season opened early.
Deer are much easier to pattern in the summer, temperatures be damned. If they didn't think it would result in more dead deer they wouldn't bother to change anything.
Bigcountry40
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I wasnt referring to the deer, I was referring to the hunters, a lot of guys won't hunt when its hot or cold especially bow, I'm guessing the majority of guys on this site being the exception. After opening weekend, a lot guys wait till end of October or cooler weather then after gun season its a ghost town.
Bigcountry40
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When I lived in NC opening day was September 1st or labor day (@Tipmoose correct me if I am wrong on any of this), if I remember correctly shooting a velvet deer on opening day was still pretty rare as most were hard horned by the beginning of september. I think labor day fell early one season on the calender and guys were excited because it gave them a few more possible velvet days. Point being velvet bucks would only be possible for about the first 5 days.
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I don't disagree in this instance. I don;t see it being much of an impact. But it is just one more area of additional opportunity. They could simply be doing it as a pilot with expansion plans later on. Opportunity increases success in the face of reduced availability. Increasing opportunity is what gets deer killed and numbers reduced. Adding things like bonus gun seasons, the ability to use rifles, expanded archery seasons, early muzzle loaded seasons, cheaper tags etc.
I always use the analogy of 20 deer in a100 acre woodlot and I'm allowed one deer.
Give me a spear and a one week season with a density like that, and the odds are good that I'll kill one.
Now if there were only 4 deer in that 100 acre woodlot, my odds of success go way down if I'm hampered by the same weapon and season restrictions. So they increase opportunity and let me use a bow and give me an extra week and I hunt 4 extra days. Now I'm back to having pretty good odds of harvest.
At the end of the season the numbers killed and success rate remained the same, but the reality is ,there are only 20% of the deer left in that woodblock. That's precisely why we can't count deer by counting dead deer, especially if we continue to add opportunity. Expand that added opportunity method across the state with hundreds of thousands of hunters and they can maintain individual success rates despite a much smaller population of animals. Whereas if opportunity remained constant there would be a noticeable and drastic reduction is success.
Deer management follows the same logic. The less deer you have, the less you need to kill to continue reducing the population. The less deer you have the more opportunity you need to maintain a consistent success rate. If you look at the final numbers it'll look apples to apples. But there are huge factors to that success that aren't being accounted for and mask reality.
Not accounting for an increase in vehicles and licensed drivers Ohio's Deer vehicle accident rates are half of what they were 15 years ago. Either Ohio's drivers got 100% better at missing deer, or we have half the population of deer.
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If I was to take a personal gain look at this. I would see the opportunity for kids and elders. It is much easier for them to hunt in the heat than the cold. Add the chance of velvet and it kinda makes me smile inside. I'd even travel to make it happen. Get to camp in good weather with my kids, hunt and share a campfire with others. Sign me up for an opening weekend! How much is it to lease that 20 acres for that weekend? We will have a room full of velvet basket racks and a lifetime of memories.
While dreaming, if results don't work like ODNR sees it, let's open it for straight walls. Gonna have to put an extra tax on that though. Early season only gun tags ain't cheap.
While dreaming, if results don't work like ODNR sees it, let's open it for straight walls. Gonna have to put an extra tax on that though. Early season only gun tags ain't cheap.
Bigcountry40
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I was looking at velvet rack studies-"The antler growing process ceases approximately by Aug. 10. This is when blood flow ceases to the velvet-clad antlers and the drying process begins. Key word there is “begins.” "The antler drying/hardening process takes about 20 to 25 days" . You do the math
Factors that Determine When Bucks Peel Velvet | Deer & Deer Hunting
What causes bucks to shed / peel their velvet? Do older bucks normally peel before younger bucks? What factors cause bucks to shed their velvet early or later than normal? The whitetail velvet shedding process is one that has fascinated deer hunters for centuries and it seems that more and more...
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me either. I killed a nice mule deer buck in velvet during their early archery season (August) I paid good money and went to great lengths to package it well enough to get it to my taxi here overnight from California without it getting destroyed. all of that worked out well as it got here in good shape. I thought it would be a really cool trophy. I was mistaken.
Okay, take velvet out of this and I still would love it for reasons listed above. But what I would love and what is better for the herd isn't the same. If I could get all my kids tagged out in September and then hunt for myself for 4 months! How much better could it get for personal gain?! Then as the kids get more and more hooked I get to share the entire 5 months with them!!! That makes me want to buy some land. 
