COLUMBUS — Ohio’s 2022-23 white-tailed deer hunting season concluded Feb. 5, with 210,977 deer checked, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. The final total represents all deer harvested during archery, gun, muzzleloader, and youth hunting seasons since Sept. 10, 2022.
Ohio’s statewide deer harvest, by year: 2022-23, 210,977; 2021-22, 196,988; three-year average (2019-2021), 193,058.
Ohio’s 2022-23 statewide deer harvest, by individual season: Archery, 99,742; weeklong and two-day gun seasons, 87,095; four-day muzzleloader season, 13,617; two-day youth season, 9,515; controlled firearm hunts, 1,008.
The top 10 counties for 2022-23 deer harvest: 1. Coshocton, (7,590); 2. Tuscarawas, (7,028); 3. Muskingum, (5,982); 4. Ashtabula, (5,592); 5. Knox, (5,477); 6. Licking, (5,467); 7. Holmes, (5,183); 8. Guernsey, (5,073); 9. Carroll, (4,866); 10. Trumbull, (4,251).
The most popular hunting implements for deer hunting are the following: 1. crossbow, 71,701 (34%); 2. straight-walled cartridge rifle, 56,437 (26%); 3. shotgun, 36,398 (17%); 4. vertical bow, 28,041 (13%); 5. muzzleloader, 17,854 (9%) 6. handgun, 546 (1%).
Deer harvest, by type, is as follows: bucks, 86,645, 41% of the total; does, 101,141, 48%; button bucks, 19,851, 9%; bucks with shed antlers and bucks with antlers less than 3 inches, 3,340, 2%.
Permit sales Ohio hunters purchased 409,672 permits across all hunting seasons. Hunters from all 50 U.S. states purchased deer permits in Ohio for use in the 2022-23 seasons.
2022-23 white-tail deer harvest by county
A county list of all white-tailed deer harvested during the 2022-23 deer hunting seasons is shown. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for 2022-23, and the three-year average of deer taken from 2019-2021 is in parentheses.
A three-year average provides a better overall comparison to this year’s harvest numbers, eliminating year-to-year variation because of weather, misaligned season dates, crop harvest and other unavoidable factors.
Numbers are raw data and subject to change.
Adams: 3,180 (2,959); Allen: 1,288 (1,072); Ashland: 3,994 (3,575); Ashtabula: 5,592 (5,268); Athens: 3,332 (3,361); Auglaize: 1,293 (1,006); Belmont: 3,087 (2,901); Brown: 2,568 (2,497); Butler: 1,268 (1,566); Carroll: 4,866 (4,054); Champaign: 1,623 (1,356); Clark: 842 (789); Clermont: 2,547 (2,548); Clinton: 850 (682); Columbiana: 4,058 (3,393); Coshocton: 7,590 (6,883); Crawford: 1,479 (1,334); Cuyahoga: 929 (930);
Darke: 1,081 (842); Defiance: 2,060 (1,912); Delaware: 1,734 (1,597); Erie: 942 (1,003); Fairfield: 2,223 (2,043); Fayette: 416 (328); Franklin: 818 (816); Fulton: 975 (872); Gallia: 3,031 (2,417); Geauga: 2,477 (2,109); Greene: 923 (892); Guernsey: 5,073 (4,812); Hamilton: 1,193 (1,489); Hancock: 1,760 (1,534); Hardin: 1,485 (1,463); Harrison: 3,744 (3,598); Henry: 1,009 (861); Highland: 2,953 (2,749); Hocking: 2,802 (2,905); Holmes: 5,183 (4,748); Huron: 2,654 (2,448);
Jackson: 3,171 (2,727); Jefferson: 2,587 (2,219); Knox: 5,477 (5,094); Lake: 1,066 (952); Lawrence: 1,889 (1,620); Licking: 5,467 (5,224); Logan: 2,257 (2,201); Lorain: 2,368 (2,340); Lucas: 829 (754); Madison: 644 (610); Mahoning: 2,074 (2,007); Marion: 988 (974); Medina: 2,790 (2,482); Meigs: 3,437 (3,171); Mercer: 1,075 (875); Miami: 980 (863); Monroe: 2,721 (2,481); Montgomery: 861 (839); Morgan: 3,369 (3,095); Morrow: 2,085 (1,738); Muskingum: 5,982 (5,144);
Noble: 3,417 (3,095); Ottawa: 635 (565); Paulding: 1,375 (1,240); Perry: 2,940 (2,643); Pickaway: 910 (701); Pike: 2,105 (1,842); Portage: 2,825 (2,555); Preble: 1,127 (1,057); Putnam: 1,083 (887); Richland: 3,937 (3,733); Ross: 2,952 (3,033); Sandusky: 1,123 (1,016); Scioto: 2,453 (2,087); Seneca: 2,275 (2,063); Shelby: 1,355 (1,098); Stark: 3,625 (3,096); Summit: 1,889 (1,669);
Trumbull: 4,251 (3,892); Tuscarawas: 7,028 (6,081); Union: 1,114 (1,071); Van Wert: 731 (590); Vinton: 1,986 (2,327); Warren: 1,055 (1,234); Washington: 3,971 (3,302); Wayne: 2,711 (2,559); Williams: 2,053 (1,823); Wood: 1,139 (1,064); Wyandot: 1,873 (1,713).
The 2022-23 total was 210,977, and the three-year average total was 193,058.
