Ohio deer hunting will lose some of its flavor after this year’s deer gun season. The popular hunting season opens Monday and runs through Dec. 5, with an extra weekend Dec. 18-19. Hunters who tag a deer throughout Ohio’s deer seasons and during the short gun campaign — when more than 130,000 bucks and does are expected to be...
Ohio deer hunting will lose some of its flavor after this year’s deer gun season. The popular hunting season opens Monday and runs through Dec. 5, with an extra weekend Dec. 18-19.
Hunters who tag a deer throughout Ohio’s deer seasons and during the short gun campaign — when more than 130,000 bucks and does are expected to be killed — are required to take their deer to a check station. It will be the last season hunters will have to do it, with an updated check-in system arriving for the 2011-12 Ohio deer seasons.
For many of us who enjoy visiting check stations during the busy deer gun week, it will be a sad change. Starting next year, checking deer or wild turkey can be done with a telephone call or Internet visit to the Ohio Division of Wildlife website.
The deer check stations have been a beacon for hunters, a social setting where sportsmen can admire the big bucks and hear great stories of success. The check-in stations have been the places where young hunters can show off their first deer, enjoy a soft drink and have their pictures posted on bulletin boards.
Sitting in the Raider Restaurant in Freeport earlier this week, pondering whether I could handle the Big Raider burger, deer news swirled around the Harrison County check station and social hot spot. The week’s big news from our waitress was a 17-point buck checked by a hunter.
“The antlers were really something,” said the waitress. “We’re up this year on the number of deer checked during the archery season.”
Wildlife officials are implementing the new system to save money. Many hunters will welcome the convenience of electronically checking their deer. The change will steal some of the flavor of the big deer gun season, and will be sorely missed.
Youth season totals:
The two- day youth deer gun season last weekend in all of Ohio’s 88 counties was a success, with an estimated 40,000 young hunters killing 9,024 deer. It was a slight decline from the 9,331 deer killed last year.
The leading counties were: Tuscarawas (434 deer checked); Knox (416); Holmes (337), Washington (274), Licking (267), Guernsey and Harrison (265), Belmont (222) and Ashland and Coshocton (196). The youth season totals for Cleveland-area counties were: Ashtabula (149); Cuyahoga (11); Erie (31); Lake (14); Lorain (84); Mahoning (58); Medina (49); Stark (119); Summit (26); Trumbull (97) and Wayne (52).
Questions answered: The Division of Wildlife is staffing its deer season hotline today through December for hunters needing information during the deer gun week. The 1-800-WILDLIFE telephone line is being staffed today from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; 8 a.m.-7 p.m. on Monday through Friday; and noon-5 p.m. on Dec. 4-5.
Hunters can report poaching violations around the clock at 1-800-POACHER.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: degan@plaind.com, 216-999-5158