# Results for Muzzleloader season



## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

Heard on NPR that the season was up this year over last year. A bit of good news after a rather odd year.
Bob


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

I guess part of that could be attributed to more tags left unfilled leading in the ML season. The total season numbers will mean more. I am in Knox county and its numbers were up less than 10% whereas the entire state was up somewhere around 20%. I personally hunted about 10 hours during ML season and saw a group of 5 does on my mother's place where she has been continuing to see deer. I saw none on my place again in the 8 hours spent there.


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## wave warrior (Oct 2, 2005)

3 of us hunted all 4 days, only seen a few(2 were taken)...i think it was due to no one hunting the adjoining property...numbers seem to be down, but with such a large area we hunt and no pressure its hard to say...did see a yote but didnt have a clean shot...we plan to add a few small food plots to the area next year and see what happens...


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## BuckeyeHunter (Nov 5, 2008)

I agree with the more tags being unfilled. I rarely hunt in muzzleloader season as I typically have my two deer and I'm happy. In fact this was the first time I've gone out in Jan for deer in 6-7 years. I shot a decent 8 point though on Saturday so I can't complain. Overall though the numbers were definitely down around me. In fact I've never hunted more than one day where I go and not seen a deer, I hunted at least part of 6 of the 7 days during gun week and saw a total of 7 deer. That's an average morning most years.


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## jiggineyes22 (Mar 4, 2008)

Yes fellows it has been a strange year. I've been locally hunting in Trumbull county since last year but also have hunting camp in Noble county. When I can get away for a few days I go there but when I only have 2-4 hours to hunt I hunt Trumbull. Last year It was phenomenal in Noble on a new leased property we picked up plus I have some private property I've been hunting for 10 years that has been good every year. I had so many deer(especially bucks) on my trail cameras before I even got to hunt. The first day I got to go out was like end of 1st week of oct. and I seen 5 bucks and 4 doe before 8 am at 8 30 a real nice 8pt came in but unfortunetly I hit him high and after hours of tracking we knew he would live so he got away but the next trip down I smoked another 8pt that was with another buck before 8 am. This was all before rut. I left my cameras out and got a ton of new bucks including 2 in the 160" range and 1 in the 140's and several from 110"-125". Once I filled my buck tag I didn't hunt here in Trumbull anymore last year. This year I had 4 cameras out on the same property and all year I only got a total of maybe 15 deer! including doe. It was as dead as dead gets. We even did some deer drives and We got one deer. How the hell do you go from seeing 10-14 deer minimum a day in stand and thousands of trail cam pictures to almost nothing? I even hunted that private land 4 days that has ALWAYS been good for atleast a doe and seen nothing. But here at my spot in Trumbull which is 100 acres I had an awesome year. I passed tons of smaller bucks and doe in bow season I mean every single time out. Oct. 30th I harvested my largest buck to date a nice 10 pt. I didn't even hunt again until gun season and I went to camp thinking I would surely get a doe for the freezer. Wrong! I had to bust out my muzzleloader for the first time in 3 years. Went back to my local spot, jumped some deer in the dark around my stand in the dark in the am didn't see anything went out in the evening had 4 bucks and 4 doe come in shot a doe. So I don't know what to say about this year I've heard so many complain about their previous great spots but others rave about theirs. There is definitely something going on. Some spots are fantastic but most have declined dramatically. Who knows the answer


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## Richman (Sep 1, 2007)

Heres a link to the totals....cut n paste

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/New...eer-During-Statewide-Muzzleloader-Season.aspx

Rich


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## Mad-Eye Moody (May 27, 2008)

BuckeyeHunter said:


> I agree with the more tags being unfilled. I rarely hunt in muzzleloader season as I typically have my two deer and I'm happy. In fact this was the first time I've gone out in Jan for deer in 6-7 years. I shot a decent 8 point though on Saturday so I can't complain. Overall though the numbers were definitely down around me. In fact I've never hunted more than one day where I go and not seen a deer, I hunted at least part of 6 of the 7 days during gun week and saw a total of 7 deer. That's an average morning most years.


Ditto for me. Lost my spot last week and didn't have a place to go so didn't get out. Looks like more fishing next fall for me instead of rotting in a stand not seeing deer...l


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

I know that the warm weather affected the deer natural movement but the hunters seemed to be increased on Saturday and Sunday due to the nice weather. Monday and Tuesday were void of hunters in our area of Athens, 2 shots on Monday, zero on Tuesday. The butcher had a bunch of deer in Saturday and Sunday.

Full moon, full moon, full moon. Deer movement was nil until VERY late afternoon. Cams showed a huge increase in nightime activety until around 4AM then all disappeared.


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