OHIO — Hunters checked 26,667 white-tailed deer on the first day of Ohio’s weeklong gun hunting season, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said, which was the highest number of deer checked on opening day since 2012.

What You Need To Know

  • The weeklong gun hunt season runs through Sunday

  • The majority of deer harvested on opening day were does and button bucks

  • Coshocton County had the most deer harvested on opening day

The weeklong gun hunting season started Monday and runs through Sunday, Dec. 8. There’s also an additional gun hunting weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 21-22.

Of the opening day harvest, 9,602 were antlered deer and 17,065 were does and button bucks.

This year’s first-day harvest far surpassed last year’s, which was 19,363, according to ODNR.

The top 10 counties with the most deer checked on opening day this year were as follows:

  1. Coshocton (1,053)
  2. Tuscarawas (954)
  3. Knox (881)
  4. Muskingum (852)
  5. Carroll (804)
  6. Guernsey (750)
  7. Ashtabula (686)
  8. Harrison (671)
  9. Ashland (653)
  10. Columbiana (592)

As of Dec. 2, archery and firearm hunters have checked a total of 128,408. Additionally, young hunters checked 10,449 deer during the two-day youth season.

Hunting licenses are available either on the HuntFish OH mobile app or ODNR's website.

Ohio has also given licenses to those out of state. ODNR said these are the most popular states that have residents who come to Ohio to hunt:

  • Pennsylvania (6,079 licenses sold)
  • Michigan (4,477)
  • West Virginia (2,777)
  • North Carolina (2,773)
  • New York (2,655)