Uh, 2.5 million acres would only represent about seven percent of the potentially huntable land in Ohio. So, even if all 250 outfitters controlled 10K acres apiece, which they don't and most are not even close to this number, it would only be a small fraction of the deer herd under control of outfitters. More realistically, we are probably looking at several hundred thousand acres of land controlled by outfitters, rather than millions of acres. So, the basic premise that "out-of-state" hunters who patronize outfitters are having a significant impact on the deer herd is pretty shaky.

Your assumption that just because land is not controlled by an outfitter it would be available for public use is kind of naive. Would imagine that plenty of private landowners have their ground posted and allow little or no access to it. Those that do may have some of the same conditions that many outfitters use in terms of what how many deer can be taken and what kind....

The bottom line is that in many states, the deer populations have risen drastically over the past couple decades on both public and private lands. If you have more deer they are going to be easier to kill. If you have more deer, the state is likely to increase the number that can be killed. Pretty easy concept...