# Ohio Harvest History



## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

As some of you know I have been compiling harvest data since 2002. I have a complete spreadsheet with data from each year. I was messing around tonight and made a quick graph with 4 of the data points I track. Thought you might find it interesting


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

It's surprising that muzzleloader season has been consistently steady all these years. When they used to have it on December 27-30 every year if the season fell during mid week there was hardly any pressure. Also factor in it was not as popular as it is now. Plus now it takes place on the weekend. Goes to show that the over all deer numbers are down with more people participating in that season compared to years past.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Thanks for sharing. I always look forward to the end of the season analysis of the harvest. 
Sure puts the decline in perspective by seeing the decline on a graph like that.


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## UNCLEMIKE (Jul 23, 2014)

According to the graph last seasons total harvest was the lowest in 14 years. That was in spite of allowing the half hour after sunset for gun and the bonus gun, pc rifles and just better weapons in general. Add in trail cameras, ground blinds which were rare 14 years ago and the explosion in baiting yet the take is down. There is one heck of a lot less deer out there now days. If enough hunters find a new hobby and the youth decline to take up hunting due to smaller herd size it will be interesting to see how the state will handle the next population peak should it occur. Hunters were used to get it under control. Without the hunters not sure what will be done. Wish I could see 25 years into the future.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Would be interesting to see total hunter #'s throughout that time too during gun season...thats declined too.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

UNCLEMIKE said:


> If enough hunters find a new hobby and the youth decline to take up hunting due to smaller herd size it will be interesting to see how the state will handle the next population peak should it occur. Hunters were used to get it under control. Without the hunters not sure what will be done. Wish I could see 25 years into the future.


 ODNR will simply raise bag limits and lengthen the season, problem solved. 
Good luck and Good Hunting !


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Harvest trends with participation more than population


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## UNCLEMIKE (Jul 23, 2014)

Wonder what the primary reason is for the drop in sales? Open to interpretation no doubt.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Lundy said:


> Harvest trends with participation more than population


Just as I thought.


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## partlyable (Mar 2, 2005)

Those charts are very interesting. Thanks for sharing them, I am surprised at the total permits sold dropping as much as it has over the last 5 years.


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## UNCLEMIKE (Jul 23, 2014)

Shad Rap said:


> Just as I thought.


Participation increased as the herd increased. Those less dedicated will find other pass times or hunt other states as quality of the hunt declines. As another person noted on here today. Not gonna take a week vacation to watch squirrels so he's hunting another state next year.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

UNCLEMIKE said:


> Participation increased as the herd increased. Those less dedicated will find other pass times or hunt other states as quality of the hunt declines. As another person noted on here today. Not gonna take a week vacation to watch squirrels so he's hunting another state next year.


Not from 2012 on it hasnt...really since 2009 it hasnt...participation has went down along with the kill...and participation is still dropping rapidly to this day.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)




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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Lundy said:


> View attachment 230662


Interesting...almost 250,00 more permits sold in 2009 than 2016.


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## RMK (Feb 21, 2017)

Shad Rap said:


> Not from 2012 on it hasnt...really since 2009 it hasnt...participation has went down along with the kill...and participation is still dropping rapidly to this day.


exactly. thats also exactly what uncle mike said. just the opposite side of the trend. increasing hear-increasing hunters, decreasing heard-decreasing hunters.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Shad Rap said:


> Interesting...almost 250,00 more hunters in 2009.


There is no way to know for sure how many hunters actually hunted deer, at least that data is not reported by the ODNR. I'm sure they have it but they don't share that number. What they do share is the number of permits sold but many hunters purchase more than one tag. The big spike in tags was also due to the reduced cost doe tags and urban tags. It is impossible with the data available to me to calculate hunter decline accurately, only tags purchased decline. It is very safe however to say there has been a decline in hunter participation

We do know however that the vast majority of hunters in Ohio that kill a deer only kill one deer per year. They do post that data


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

RMK said:


> exactly. thats also exactly what uncle mike said. just the opposite side of the trend. increasing hear-increasing hunters, decreasing heard-decreasing hunters.


I thought he was referring to recently...my bad.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Lundy said:


> There is no way to know for sure how many hunters actually hunted deer, at least that data is not reported by the ODNR. I'm sure they have it but they don't share that number. What they do share is the number of permits sold but many hunters purchase more than one tag. The big spike in tags was also due to the reduced cost doe tags and urban tags. It is impossible with the data available to me to calculate hunter decline accurately, only tags purchased decline. It is very safe however to say there has been a decline in hunter participation
> 
> We do know however that the vast majority of hunters in Ohio that kill a deer only kill one deer per year. They do post that data


I would say probably 3/4 of the hunters buy one permit so that # is a bit skewed...good call, I was thinking of a permit as a license I guess.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

RMK said:


> exactly. thats also exactly what uncle mike said. just the opposite side of the trend. increasing hear-increasing hunters, decreasing heard-decreasing hunters.


Actually the harvest percentage to tags sold in 2015 do not reflect a reduced herd. Highest of the previous 5 years and very much in line with all of the previous years from 2002 to 2009. One would think the ratio would be more in line with 2011-2014 if the population was as low as many believe it to be.

We don't know the ratio for 2016 yet as the permits sold data hasn't been published yet. Car deer accidents rose almost 7% in 2015 from 2014


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## UNCLEMIKE (Jul 23, 2014)

Lundy said:


> Actually the harvest percentage to tags sold in 2015 do not reflect a reduced herd. Highest of the previous 5 years and very much in line with all of the previous years from 2002 to 2009. One would think the ratio would be more in line with 2011-2014 if the population was as low as many believe it to be.
> 
> We don't know the ratio for 2016 yet as the permits sold data hasn't been published yet. Car deer accidents rose almost 7% in 2015 from 2014


Car deer accidents recorded include the cities and suburbs where deer are not as pressured. The herd is way down in traditionally hunted areas and continues to be an issue where pressure is light.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

UNCLEMIKE said:


> Car deer accidents recorded include the cities and suburbs where deer are not as pressured. The herd is way down in traditionally hunted areas and continues to be an issue where pressure is light.


Maybe but the same unpressured cities and suburbs areas existed prior to 2015. Harvest ratio to tags sold highest in past 5 years, just better hunters in 2015? It will interesting to see where the numbers come in for 2016, maybe 2015 was an anomaly.


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## ddcollier (Feb 13, 2011)

lundy, any way to estimate coyote population in the equation? do you know what year Meade took all those hundred thousands of acres out of public to private lease.a lot of people lost thier place to hunt


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Interesting graphs for sure.
Thanks for documenting and posting.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

You should see if you can compare how many golf courses have died in the same time frame. Kids are just not going outside and the people who should be getting them involved are failing them.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Lundy, thx for sharing really good knowledge here.


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