Mary Alice Reporting –
A roughly 13,000 more deer were harvested during Ohio’s 2023-24 hunting seasons.
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 213,928 white-tailed deer were checked as hunting concluded on Sunday.
During all seasons, it’s estimated that hunters took an estimated 12 million pounds of venison, with some being donated to food banks across the state.
This is the second year in a row that Ohio’s deer harvest has surpassed 200,000, and the 12th time overall since 2000.
Top counties were Coshocton at 7,740, followed by Tuscarawas at 7,023. Rounding out the top five was Ashtabula, Muskingum, and Knox counties.
The most popular hunt equipment was the crossbow, straight-walled cartridge rifle, and shotgun.
In addition, over 415,000 Ohioans were issued a hunting permit with non-residential permits issued for over 8,000 hunters from Pennsylvania, almost 6,000 from Michigan, and about 4,000 from North Carolina.
ODNR also notes that last year, hunters generated $1.9 billion in economic spending in Ohio.
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