The Ohio Department of Natural Resources shared that the agency's Division of Wildlife noted a drop in the statewide deer harvest during Ohio's extra gun-hunting weekend of Dec. 15-16. Hunters checked 14,365 white-tailed deer during the period, according to DNR. The total reflected a 14.3% decline from 2011, when hunters harvested 16,766 deer. In 2010, hunters bagged 20,916 deer over the same time period.
"The overall size of the deer herd is smaller, and the harvest is aligned with that decrease," Mike Tonkovich, ODNR Division of Wildlife deer project leader, said in a release. "We anticipated the 2012-2013 deer season harvest would be down 5 to 10 percent from last year. Most of Ohio's counties are above their target deer harvest number, and we have worked to get those numbers closer to the target through generous harvest regulations."
The counties reporting the highest numbers of deer checked during the 2012 deer-gun hunting weekend: Coshocton (489), Tuscarawas (483), Muskingum (474), Licking (444), Harrison (390), Belmont (387), Guernsey (382), Carroll (375), Ashtabula (372) and Knox (356). The top five counties remained unchanged from last year.
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