By 1812Blockhouse
A late-fall tradition stayed strong across Ohio this year, and Richland County hunters played a clear part in that momentum. Newly released numbers from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources show a statewide total of 85,448 deer harvested during the weeklong gun season that wrapped up on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 8:00 PM. While that figure sits slightly below last year’s tally of 87,191, it remains well above the three-year average of 76,409.
What’s striking locally is how much Richland County outpaced its own recent history. Hunters here checked 1,887 deer this season, a healthy jump from the county’s three-year average of 1,492.
Season Snapshot
The Division of Wildlife breaks the numbers down through the season to give a clearer view of deer activity across the state. During the seven-day gun window, hunters checked 27,934 antlered deer and 57,514 antlerless deer. The ratio was about two-thirds antlerless, which is consistent with long-term trends.
Some southeastern counties told a very different story. Athens, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington all saw harvest totals dip well below average after this summer’s severe outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease. Bag limits in that region were reduced just as gun week began to protect the herds moving into winter.
How Hunters Took Their Deer
Ohio’s mix of legal equipment has been stable for years, and straight-walled cartridge rifles continue to dominate the season. The breakdown this year:
Straight-walled cartridge rifles: 67% (57,623 deer)
Shotguns: 27% (23,217 deer)
Muzzleloaders: 3% (2,630 deer)
Archery equipment: 2% (1,544 deer)
Handguns: less than 1% (434 deer)
The archery season, which opened in September, continues to add thousands of deer to the statewide total. Through Dec. 7, combined archery and firearm harvests reached 187,283.
More Opportunities Ahead
Hunters aren’t finished yet. Two more firearm windows remain on the calendar: the bonus gun weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 20–21, and the annual muzzleloader season from Jan. 3–6, 2026. Archery season runs until Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
Those longer seasons reflect the continued demand for opportunities. So far, 397,907 deer permits have been issued statewide. Nonresident interest remains strong too, with 34,147 hunting licenses sold to visitors. Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia, and New York led the list.
Why All This Tracking Matters
Every harvested deer in Ohio is required to be checked into the Ohio Wildlife Licensing System. It’s more than bookkeeping. Over years, those entries form a long-range dataset that biologists rely on to track herd health, movement, and population shifts. Hunters can check deer using the HuntFish OH mobile app, at ohiogamecheck.com, by phone, or through authorized sales agents.
Weekly harvest updates are posted each Wednesday at wildohio.gov, and a final report arrives once the archery season closes in February.
Source, Photo: ODNR
