Ohio deer kill breakdown Interesting!
Whitetail Deer
The crossgun users are hammering the deer. WOW!! More than double the number taking with a real bow and 10% more than any other weapon.
From the article "Of the harvest, 33% of the deer were taken using a crossbow(gun) and 15% were taken using a vertical(real) bow, the department said.
Muzzleloaders only made up 8% of the harvest, but 22% of the deer were taken with shotguns, 21% were taken with straight-walled cartridge rifles and less than 1% were taken with handguns."
Keep them away from CO.
Bow and arrow hunting and the associated culture is on a serious, serious decline, and will continue. Hopefully the West can postpone things a bit longer.
Not surprising. Every neighbor of mine here uses a crossbow except one. It’s definitely the predominant implement.
Michigan and Wisconsin are no different, bow and arrow hunters are in the minority and the numbers decrease annually. And, there are many closet scoped and cocked crossbow users, the actual numbers would be staggering.
In 1976 Ohio was one if not the first State to allow Xbow hunting during the archery season. I grew up in PA and guys were crossing the boarder hunting the Ohio River valley for those big bucks way before it became popular. It's a legal way of hunting these days and it is what it is.
Those dead deer contributed towards the goal of herd management and biological impact exactly the same As if they all Died of Flint and sinew cane arrows
In Ohio, or most of it, you walk 300-400 yards and set in a prehung stand or ground blind. Not so in a lot of other places.
It’s like hunting over bait. Sooner or later it just gets old. I wouldn’t carry one of things for it. And, yes I’ve owned them. They are about as cumbersome e and awkward as anything you could imagine while getting around in the woods.
You can thank the NRA for those seasons.
WV they’re not so cumbersome anymore. Just give it time. Won’t be long they’ll weigh the same as a Matthews
Shot them with my kids, just never had a desire to use one.
“ It’s definitely the predominant implement.”
And why wouldn’t it be? You buy one weapon instead of three and one license instead of four, and you get to shoot about as many deer as you can stand.
Bargain of the Century!!! Don’t even have to give a set of your fingerprints to the FBI....
One of the new Ravens is 6#, 25" long and under 5" wide.
The cumbersome part is changing fast.
A little context is in order. Note....the total archery and total firearms numbers (191,252) do not add up to the total deer harvest numbers (197,735). They may not have added the youth season numbers...5795?? Even if they did, the numbers still do not add up. Regardless.....
Total harvest: 197,735 (Suspect ODNR number)
All Archery: 94,691
All Firearms: 96,561
Taken with a crossbow: 31,377 (18.86%)
Taken by all other weapons: 166,358 (81.14%)
""COLUMBUS, Ohio – One of Ohio’s most successful white-tailed deer hunting seasons concluded Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021 with 197,735 deer harvested, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. That total is the highest since 218,910 deer were taken during the 2012-2013 hunting season. The final harvest totals represent all deer taken during archery, gun, muzzleloader, and youth hunting seasons that began Sept. 26, 2020. An average of 180,921 deer were harvested during the last three years. Since September 2020, hunters harvested 94,691 deer with archery equipment, while 86,853 deer were taken with firearms during the weeklong and two-day gun seasons. In addition, 9,708 deer were harvested with muzzleloaders. Young hunters found success during the two-day youth season with 5,795 deer harvested. “We are pleased to see an increased number of deer taken this season as Ohio’s hunters spent more time in the woods during the fall and winter,” said Division of Wildlife Chief Kendra Wecker. “Hunting provides a great connection to the outdoors as well as a direct link to a healthy and natural food source.” The top 10 counties for deer harvested during the 2020-2021 deer season include: Coshocton (6,791), Tuscarawas (6,158), Ashtabula (5,662), Licking (5,549), Knox (5,247), Muskingum (5,172), Holmes (4,833), Guernsey (4,809), Carroll (4,123), and Trumbull (4,015). Deer hunting occurs in all 88 counties and an estimated 310,000 hunters participated during Ohio’s deer seasons, and more than 409,809 deer permits were purchased or issued. Hotspots for deer hunting are found mostly in the eastern regions. Coshocton County leads the state in total deer harvests over the last five years, with 6,715 deer taken during the 2019-2020 season.
The popularity of hunting with archery equipment continues to grow, with 48% of deer taken during the 2020-2021 archery season, including 33% using a crossbow and 15% using a vertical bow.
Gun harvest attributed to 52% of the harvest. This includes 22% with shotguns, 21% with straight walled cartridge rifles, 8% with muzzleloaders, and less than 1% with handguns. Across all deer seasons, hunters harvested 80,003 bucks, accounting for 40% of the total harvest. Does represented 48% of the harvest with 94,771 taken, while 19,629 button bucks were taken, for 10%. Bucks with shed antlers and bucks with antlers less than 3 inches long accounted for 3,332 deer, or 2% of the harvest. Deer harvest summaries can be found on the Deer Harvest Summary page at wildohio.gov. Anyone interested in learning to hunt or becoming a mentor to a new hunter can visit the Wild Ohio Harvest Community page for information on how to get started, hunting-related workshops as well as special hunting opportunities for mentors and new hunters. Follow the Division of Wildlife on Twitter and Facebook for instant news stories, outdoor recreation ideas, local wildlife information, and so much more. The Your Wild Ohio Explorer page provides wildlife success stories and ways to help wildlife throughout the seasons. Visit wildohio.gov to find locations to hunt, fish, trap, and view wildlife. Follow us on Instagram to view the best of Ohio’s wildlife photography. And don’t forget about the HuntFish OH mobile app, available for Android and iOS users through the app store. Users can purchase licenses and permits as well as view wildlife area maps.""
How much less than an average Mathews bow, do they weigh now, APauls? ;-)
The tranquility of bowhunting here no longer exists, at least in my area having the highest kill stats... Xbows turned Ohio bowseason into a 4-month pseudo gun season years ago polluting the woods without the blaze orange... The state has been using these devices for years as a management tool and our so called archery kills first surpassed firearm kills during the 2016-2017 season...
JL - They'll likely publish the annual summary in a few months were the final exact numbers will add up... There are decades of the annual summary on their website with the final numbers to the last dead deer... About the only stat they don't list are those killed on (crop) damage permits and auto collisions...
Public land in ohio is max two deer in most situations. One doe statewide and the one buck. Most hunters I crossed paths with used xbows. I had no issues filling both my tags on public with a compound I bought in 06.
Remember ohio has the most logical gun season of most midwest states. Its after the peak rut and very short. Its not the end of the world.
Thedude is spot on.
Not a huge fan of crossbows but I’ll take the one week gun season in December and the crossbows over New York with no crossbows and six weeks of rifle starting in October.
Think about that logic?
I have said this many times: If today you were to somehow outlaw crossbows in Ohio, the losers would be the true bowhunters. Crossbows are now an integral part of the deer management plan here. So many deer are taken with crossbows that, without them, true bowhunters would not be able to take up the slack and meet the state's annual harvest objectives. The result would be expanded opportunities for firearms in the form of liberal bags limits, additional season time and other adjustments to bring the harvest numbers back up.
That's all in theory anyway because the crossbow isn't going away here, period. I argued against their inclusion many years ago. Today I don't give them a second thought because they're like the coyote....here to stay and I've still got deer. Lots of them.
Kevin I have never hunted OH. In a state like that where most hunting is done on private property and assuming you have to many deer. I guess the crossgun does cause the problems it can cause in states such as CO. Here there are not to many deer and elk. Also most hunting is on public. The public here is either overly crowded (OTC) during the archery season or it a draw tag. Most of the draws units that are worth hunting you are going to be waiting at least a few years and some of them well over 20 years to draw a tag. Crossguns would have a very negative effect on archery hunting here by adding to the crowding and point creep. I would like to see more restrictions on archery hunt. Maybe 3-4 pins that are not moveable for example. I don't like the long range game I am seeing archery become. With that said I know it is almost impossible to but the cat back in the bag and that why we as bowhunters need to be very careful supporting things that allow more cats or of the bag.
It is important to stand up for our sport to keep it what it was intended to be a lower percentage success, harder way to hunt. Even if that means going against the grain and butting heads with fellow bowhunters from time to time.
With the xguns, you have a long gun season anyway. You mean High powered gun is only a week, can't even say multi-shot anymore as the xguns have double shot capability now.
JohnMC: No argument. I just framed my reply in the context of what's happening in Ohio. Every state has a different set of dynamics at work. I've never shied from the fact that I have a dislike of the crossbow being used in archery seasons. But then again, I have little use for 3/4 of my own species, which simply means I've learned to live with what I cannot change. If I could eliminate the crossbow from Ohio's seasons...would I do it? Not without a plan to keep bowhunters from losing additional days to firearms. I'd rather have all possible hunting days and share them with crossbow guys versus shotgun and .45-70-toting zombies marching through the woods. It's like choosing which bitter medicine you will swallow.
why couldn't an arbitrary fps limit be put on bows - ex. 300 IBO or 350 IBO . if so, it may help limit the range/ability of "primitive" hunting implements?
Because we need more laws that are arbitrary....
How anyone can even think that they are comparable to a vertical bow is ridiculous. Have compounds evolved, yes, but even with let-off, the bow is still hand drawn and hand held. A crossbow offer so many distinct advantages that make it so similar to a rifle, just as RAVIN's Ad says, "Meet Your Next Rifle." May as well start with the RAVIN R500E, 500 fps, 3.6" axle to axle when cocked, and a battery powered cocking and uncocking mechanism. The TenPoint Garmin Vapor has a Garmin Xero Scope attached to it, which can rangefind game up to 250 yards away, and generates a single aiming point out to 175 yards. The Excalibur Twin Strike has 2 sets of limbs and 2 triggers, that offer the ability to "lock and load" 2 bolts and fire them in "milliseconds" according to Excalibur. So I ask again: IS THIS ARCHERY?
Can also shoot the scoped and cocked placed in a gun shooting vice, do not have to hold on to them. And yes, many shooting towers and ground blinds have a bench rest and some have shooting vices.
Agree with all the sentiments above but Kevin’s point is an excellent one as it pertains to Ohio - and that is if they were to remove crossbows during the 5 months of archery season they would most definitely need to expand the gun season. One of my compelling reasons for me to buy land here was the exceptional archery season structure with archery running September to February and a short 7+2 day shotgun/straight wall season.
I would definitely prefer an archery season free from crossbows but I also recognize reality, not fantasy.
First hand experience tells me the crossbows are not decimating anything in Ohio. I had 50 deer in range one week ago and over 40 rack bucks on my land that survived the hunting season.
In NY every buck I watched got killed in rifle. Be careful what you wish for.
Pat, Iowa has short gun seasons too and not until December . A crossbow is not a rifle by any stretch of the imagination. I’ll take a crossbow weapon inclusion over a vastly expanded rifle season.
Just food for thought....
I realize a lot of deer get taken with xguns, but how many are immature deer? Meaning less than 3.5 both does and bucks?
Just wondering if the amount of deer taken with the xguns are young deer.
We know how hard it is to take a mature buck.
I wouldn't think that crossbow hunters tend to kill younger deer. Maybe the opposite is true....could the crossbow actually be an advantage in killing older and smarter deer?
My all-in bet is that the crossbow kill is no different (on average) than the rest of the archery take, based on animal age/maturity. I think there's an idea out there that crossbow users aren't as serious and experienced about deer hunting as you or me. Based on what I've seen in the 40+ years Ohio has had crossbows, that's NOT true. As hunting deer goes, they (crossbow users) aren't any more or less serious about deer hunting than the average vertical bow user. What they are not ...is committed (or able) to meeting the abilities and skills of shooting and hunting successfully with a compound, recurve or longbow. Their weapon and skill set to use it are different. The fact that it is the hands-down archery tool of choice for success in Ohio tells you all you need to know about how popular it is, and how much of an advantage it provides.
K Dill’s last paragraph bout sums it up. Not to steal the OP’s thread but a Simple observation. Ever notice especially on FB how post/pics labeled “Bow” kill rarely show the weapon in the photo when it’s Xbow? Vertical/trad bows always seem to appear in the photo but not so much w Xbows hum?
There are many closet scoped and cocked users, I know several. I am not sure why, I guess they want to still be thought of as bowhunters. I also heard of a crossbow kill that found it's way into the P&Y record books, perhaps that should tell us something.
I went back to visit family in Ohio about 10 years ago and took my bow with me and hunted not far from Coshocton. I also hunted up in NE Ohio near where I grew up. The folks in all 3 places I hunted (private property) all had crossbows. They also had compounds, recurves, shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns and rifles. A well armed bunch of people in the Buckeye State.
i Live in WA state, crossbows are evading as well. I could get a permit due to r injury. (tore shoulder after being bucked off a young horse. I have used my recurve since I was kid in WVA. I am working to repair the shoulder and gain the strenth to shoot my 58Lb blacktail. even ordered lower weight second blacktail. If the only way to hunt is with a crossbow I will not do it.
