COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s 2024-25 deer hunting season ended Sunday, February 2 with the final numbers showing hunters checked in a bit over 238,000 deer.
The final total represents all deer bagged during archery, gun, muzzleloader, and youth seasons since Sept. 14, 2024.
That’s the fourth largest haul for hunters in Ohio ever, working out, according to the Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife to around 12 million pounds of venison harvested. A deer can yield 50 pounds of nutritious meat for hunters to share with friends and families or donate to food banks around Ohio.
Guernsey, Muskingum and Carroll were in the top 10 counties in Ohio for deer harvests with Coshocton County coming in a number one.
Historic deer hunting totals
The number of deer bagged in 2024-25 is the highest since 2010-11. Ohio’s five highest deer season totals:
- 2009-10: 260,442
- 2008-09: 251,299
- 2010-11: 238,683
- 2024-25: 238,137
- 2006-07: 236,676
Ohio’s 2024-25 deer checked, by individual season
- Archery: 106,269
- Weeklong and two-day gun seasons: 104,565
- Four-day muzzleloader season: 13,476
- Two-day youth season: 10,449
- Controlled firearm hunts: 3,378
Top 10 counties
- Coshocton: 8,196 (Last season, Coshocton County also led the state with 7,740 deer checked.)
- Tuscarawas: 7,373
- Knox: 6,730
- Muskingum: 6,269
- Ashtabula: 6,042
- Guernsey: 5,762
- Carroll: 5,759
- Licking: 5,754
- Holmes: 5,684
- Richland: 5,028
Most popular hunting implements
- Crossbow: 78,254 (33%)
- Straight-walled cartridge rifle: 77,027 (32%)
- Shotgun: 34,338 (14%)
- Vertical bow: 30,839 (13%)
- Muzzleloader: 17,092 (7%)
- Handgun: 587 (less than 1%)
Deer type checked this season
- Does: 115,683 (49%)
- Antlered bucks: 97,618 (41%)
- Button bucks: 21,689 (9%)
- Bucks with shed antlers or antlers shorter than 3 inches: 3,147 (1%)
Permit sales
Ohio hunters were issued 431,660 deer permits across all hunting seasons. Hunters from all 50 U.S. states purchased nonresident hunting licenses for use during the 2024-25 seasons, many of them for deer. States with the highest nonresident license sales include:
- Pennsylvania (7,898)
- Michigan (5,205)
- West Virginia (3,625)
- North Carolina (3,287)
- New York (3,170)
Editor’s Note: A county list of all white-tailed deer taken during the 2024-25 hunting season is shown below. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for 2024-25, and the three-year average of deer taken from 2021-23 is in parentheses. A three-year average provides a better overall comparison to this year’s numbers, eliminating year-to-year variation because of weather, misaligned season dates, crop harvest, and other unavoidable factors. Numbers below are raw data and subject to change.
Adams: 3,637 (3,139); Allen: 1,650 (1,264); Ashland: 4,678 (3,906); Ashtabula: 6,042 (5,557); Athens: 3,663 (3,265); Auglaize: 1,415 (1,226); Belmont: 4,023 (3,177); Brown: 2,719 (2,500); Butler: 1,478 (1,383); Carroll: 5,759 (4,700); Champaign: 1,864 (1,535); Clark: 945 (845); Clermont: 2,675 (2,470); Clinton: 1,027 (794); Columbiana: 4,639 (3,944); Coshocton: 8,196 (7,491); Crawford: 1,775 (1,466); Cuyahoga: 806 (910); Darke: 1,278 (994); Defiance: 1,468 (2,034); Delaware: 1,818 (1,692); Erie: 1,178 (971); Fairfield: 2,403 (2,125); Fayette: 551 (393); Franklin: 638 (808); Fulton: 1,243 (983); Gallia: 3,293 (2,757); Geauga: 2,790 (2,454); Greene: 1,043 (898); Guernsey: 5,762 (5,132); Hamilton: 1,229 (1,260); Hancock: 2,127 (1,765); Hardin: 1,938 (1,520); Harrison: 4,841 (3,938); Henry: 1,109 (970); Highland: 3,381 (2,869); Hocking: 2,929 (2,764); Holmes: 5,684 (5,137); Huron: 3,308 (2,661); Jackson: 2,962 (2,870); Jefferson: 3,601 (2,668); Knox: 6,730 (5,464); Lake: 1,123 (1,064); Lawrence: 1,955 (1,747); Licking: 5,754 (5,380); Logan: 2,673 (2,265); Lorain: 3,040 (2,457); Lucas: 895 (757); Madison: 804 (646); Mahoning: 2,537 (2,198); Marion: 1,289 (1,011); Medina: 3,000 (2,701); Meigs: 3,614 (3,273); Mercer: 1,307 (1,048); Miami: 1,074 (940); Monroe: 3,224 (2,692); Montgomery: 884 (857); Morgan: 3,890 (3,295); Morrow: 2,446 (2,006); Muskingum: 6,269 (5,700); Noble: 3,690 (3,339); Ottawa: 821 (642); Paulding: 1,062 (1,380); Perry: 3,179 (2,825); Pickaway: 1,181 (848); Pike: 2,193 (1,915); Portage: 3,059 (2,806); Preble: 1,225 (1,101); Putnam: 1,242 (1,078); Richland: 5,028 (3,966); Ross: 3,338 (2,918); Sandusky: 1,364 (1,106); Scioto: 2,512 (2,256); Seneca: 2,881 (2,262); Shelby: 1,485 (1273); Stark: 4,114 (3,484); Summit: 1,823 (1,803); Trumbull: 4,852 (4,316); Tuscarawas: 7,373 (6,785); Union: 1,372 (1,159); Van Wert: 953 (707); Vinton: 2,156 (2,042); Warren: 1,275 (1,122); Washington: 4,492 (3,716); Wayne: 3,359 (2,779); Williams: 2,443 (2,022); Wood: 1,354 (1,120); Wyandot: 2,238 (1,789).
2024-25 total: 238,137
3-year average total: 207,295
