Deer hunters came out twanging during the first few days of the archery season, which opened Sept. 26 statewide.
Early results, which include tallies from the preseason start on Sept. 12 in a number of counties northwest of Columbus, easily pushed past the initial harvest report from a year ago.
The total as of Sept. 29 stood at 8,483 checked, comprising 3,435 antlered and 5,048 non-antlered whitetails, the Ohio Division of Wildlife reported. The opening tally in 2025 stood at 5,333.
The increase of 3,150 whitetails, a jump of 59.1%, in the early going of the archery season might not count much by season’s end in early February. It’s possible only that hunters took advantage of nice weather in late September.
It’ll become more apparent as the season
unfolds, on the other hand, what outcomes suggest about possible factors that include more deer, more hunters and more use of discounted deer management permits.
During the COVID shutdown a few seasons ago, hunting participation purportedly increased as one way for homebound citizens to escape a claustrophobic closeting. This time around, high beef and grocery prices could make venison an alternative source of tasty and nutritious food for some, at least more than usual.
At any rate, counties that delivered large numbers of whitetails early included Trumbull with 364, Coshocton with 342 and Ashtabula with 302. Only Trumbull surpassed 200 a year ago during the same period, and Coshocton and Ashtabula stood a few deer shy of 200.
Licking led central Ohio counties with 192 checked deer, 41 more than a year ago, followed by Delaware with 88 (41 in 2025), Fairfield 73 (45), Union 37 (31), Franklin 32 (24), Pickaway 22 (12) and Madison 19 (11).
After last year’s severe regional outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease killed thousands of deer, season limits in several of the hardest-hit counties, including Athens, Washington, Meigs and Morgan, were reduced from three to two.
The hunting restrictions should give the deer population a chance to rebound, said Clint McCoy, deer project leader with the wildlife division.
Aerial surveys showed deer numbers in “western Athens and Meigs counties, where EHD had less of an impact, our averages were in the neighborhood of 50 deer” per square mile, McCoy wrote in an email.
How current deer densities compare with those before the EHD outbreak is not clear, he said, given that surveys that might have established a baseline weren’t done before EHD took its heavy toll. The deer biologist further observed that an “ideal” number of deer in an area is difficult to assess given the numerous variables that affect the sustainability of a healthy whitetail population.
McCoy did note that “most metroparks or other entities that manage their lands for biodiversity and ecological sustainability shoot for densities around 20-25 deer” per square mile.
The early numbers in the cluster of counties stricken by the 2025 EHD outbreak showed a significant uptick in early 2026 results.
Last year’s initial report by county showed 22 deer checked in Athens, 22 in Meigs, 33 in Morgan and nine in Washington. This year’s report puts the take in Athens at 46, Meigs at 81, Morgan 45 and Washington 43.
Coming Oct. 10-12 is an early gun season to the Deer Surveillance Area (DSA) that covers all of Marion, Hardin, Wyandot and Allen counties plus parts of Delaware, Union, Morrow and Crawford counties.
A six-deer season limit is in effect within the DSA to combat the spread of lethal chronic wasting disease, which has yet to be known to infect people.
outdoors@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio deer hunting season opens with big numbers
