COLUMBUS, Ohio – Hunters in Ohio took more than 65,000 deer during the state’s weeklong gun season last week — about 10,000 fewer than last year.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Monday that 65,485 white-tailed deer were checked last week. That was down from 75,408 in 2013.
The total number of deer checked so far in all of the state’s 2014 hunting seasons is about 14,000 fewer than at the same point last year.
The number was at the lower end of the range that officials had predicted, agency spokesman John Windau says. A variety of factors probably contributed to the decline, including rainy weather for much of the week and fewer deer in some counties because of previous culling efforts.
The top five counties for deer checked during the gun season were Coshocton (2,308), Muskingum (2,084), Tuscarawas (2,074), Guernsey (1,788) and Ashtabula (1,730).