OHIO — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is reminding residents that the state's weeklong deer gun hunting season starts on Monday and runs through Sunday, Dec. 8. 

Each year, the gun season begins the Monday after Thanksgiving and is open to all hunters. There's an additional deer gun weekend on Dec. 21-22. 

During last year's gun seasons — including gun week, the gun weekend in December and youth weekend — hunters harvested more than 95,000 deer. More than 70,000 of those deer came from the seven-day gun season, according to ODNR. It was higher than the three-year average from 2021 to 2023, which is 93,207. 

So far this year, youth hunters checked a little over 10,400 deer during the Ohio youth gun weekend last week. 

ODNR said deer gun harvest totals are typically higher in eastern Ohio. During last year's gun season, the following counties had the most deer harvested:  

• Coshocton (2,440)
• Tuscarawas (2,260)
• Ashtabula (2,189)
• Muskingum (2,076)
• Knox (1,878) 

For more information on permits and the state's hunting seasons, click here.