LeRoy Smith

Are you guys sure Muskingum co. is a good place to hunt?? We flew from Ariz to ohio in Nov (20/24) and bow hunted on 7farms that are available too us and in 4 days one 1 buck(spike) and NO does even came under my stand! My partner never even had that! We only have 2 deer per sq mile here in AZ and I see alot more deer everytime I go out! What is going on ? Is this a good county or not?? I noticed this years stats it went from 1st to 7th in counties with most deer takn, are you running out of deer in Muskingum co.? I hope someone that hunts this county will help me out, I would be willing to give it another chance next year if I thought it was worth it!

OhioDuckHunter

LeRoy,

I have hunted in Morgan County right beside Muskingum County for the past 8 years. Most of the bow hunters I know hunt weeks before getting a shot at a buck. This is common as far as I know. I do not bow hunt (too many other hunting expenses), but I do gun hunt.

Our deer population is not as good as say Michigan, but we do have a pretty strong population here in Ohio. What types of areas are you hunting? Fields, woods, marshes? I personally have found the high agricultural area better for populations as the deer have more food there. The problem here though is most farmers are tilling under everything that they can get a blade in. If you can find some CRP land near a big cropland, you might do better.

You might also try Athens, Vinton or Meigs counties in southeastern Ohio. Big woods there and some nice deer populations. Good luck

Good Luck with the Duck!

TreestandEd

No Leroy Muskingom Is top county and is by far is top trophy county. It has been a consistent top 5 deer kills since I can remember. If you really look at the numbers you can see their not huge difference between 1-10. The problems you are having could be just that particular area you are hunting.
Be patient and stick with it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2002

Deer checked and tagged by hunters during the deer gun hunting season
COUNTY 2002 2001
Adams 1566 1248
Allen 594 451
Ashland 1852 1257
Ashtabula 1948 1238
Athens 4697 3667
Auglaize 252 232
Belmont 3056 2400
Brown 1543 1140
Butler 533 312
Carroll 1857 1523
Champaign 920 499
Clark 580 392
Clermont 1560 1088
Clinton 472 472
Columbiana 1820 1234
Coshocton 4484 3229
Crawford 661 505
Cuyahoga 81 70
Darke 283 246
Defiance 487 344
Delaware 1057 715
Erie 248 167
Fairfield 2073 1564
Fayette 275 235
Franklin 416 389
Fulton 308 312
Gallia 3217 2705
Geauga 993 708
Greene 472 269
Guernsey 4844 3383
Hamilton 419 341
Hancock 422 210
Hardin 566 432
Harrison 4049 2794
Henry 197 149
Highland 1968 1651
Hocking 2930 2306
Holmes 3226 2033
Huron 1095 904
Jackson 3569 2966
Jefferson 3728 2638
Knox 2605 1985
Lake 514 347
Lawrence 2351 1920
Licking 4095 2890
Logan 872 550
Lorain 842 601
Lucas 382 286
Madison 343 193
Mahoning 787 467
Marion 379 254
Medina 593 384
Meigs 3018 2685
Mercer 274 223
Miami 135 135
Monroe 3613 2582
Montgomery 219 184
Morgan 2967 2000
Morrow 873 702
Muskingum 4366 3614
Noble 2891 1971
Ottawa 127 94
Paulding 460 461
Perry 3401 2518
Pickaway 1069 967
Pike 1517 1257
Portage 723 599
Preble 323 308
Putnam 378 252
Richland 1440 961
Ross 3352 2650
Sandusky 272 184
Scioto 1924 1264
Seneca 735 594
Shelby 488 352
Stark 1261 1075
Summit 356 222
Trumbull 1640 1240
Tuscarawas 5056 3423
Union 757 546
Van Wert 95 88
Vinton 2319 1950
Warren 828 739
Washington 4869 3377
Wayne 580 553
Williams 851 795
Wood 228 181
Wyandot 677 558
Total 133,163 99,599

OHIO DEER GUN SEASON HARVEST
NEARLY BREAKS RECORD
Harvest up 34 percent from last year
during second-highest season on record

COLUMBUS, OH-- Hunters took 133,163 deer during last week’s deer gun season in Ohio, the second highest ever and a record for a one-week deer season, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

The preliminary total number of deer taken was 34 percent above last year's preliminary deer gun season total of 99,599. The deer gun season was open December 2 through 8. The state record was set in 1995 when Ohio had a two-week deer gun season that produced 137,811 whitetails. The first week of the 1995 season accounted for 115,063.

“This year’s deer gun season began and ended with excellent weather,” said Mike Budzik, chief of ODNR’s Division of Wildlife. “The three deer bag limit in much of eastern and southeastern Ohio provided expanded opportunities for Ohio’s hunters, and the elimination of Sunday hunting restrictions gave working hunters an extra day in the field.”

At the beginning of deer season, the statewide deer population was estimated to be 575,000, 15 percent higher than last year. Approximately 450,000 hunters were expected to participate in the statewide deer gun hunting season.

Counties reporting the highest numbers of deer brought to Ohio check stations last week included:

Tuscarawas - 5,056
Washington - 4,869
Guernsey - 4,844
Athens - 4,697
Coshocton - 4,484.


TrestandEd

"Hard work ... conviction ... pride ... responsibility ... class ... character ... success...BOWHUNTING

Deleted User

[Deleted by Admins]

mallett84

I have hunted Muskingum County for over twenty years. I have spent weeks in the stand without see any really nice bucks. Then the next trip see three or four. You just never know what the day will hold for you. Check out this link to see some of the bucks that my family, friends and I have taken over the years. All were taken in Muskingum County.
http://mallett84.tripod.com/deer.html

vc1111

Sounds like a streak of bad luck.

Muskingum rocks. Has some big boys in there too.

OhioDuckHunter

By the way, there will be a whole bunch of Bucks in Tempe on say January 3rd, 2003. LOL

Good Luck with the Duck!

Master Hunter 2010988

It takes time to get a shot at a deer with a bow. I hunt in Lorain County and it only took me 4 evenings before I saw any deer. They were only does but I got a shot. It took me 2 years of bowhunting before I saw a buck. A few days before gun season I saw 31 deer when I was bowhunting in 3 days. I saw the buck in the group three times. It just takes time.

TheBuckeyeOutdoorsman

I will just add this. Deer hunting in Ohio is generally tough. These deer in most any county have been pressured hard, even the bow hunting pressure has really increased tremendously in the last 5 to 10 years. Also, the deer here, especially the bucks have expanded patterns that are difficult to fully understand. From what I have seen in videos the deer hunting out west is a little different due to isolated feeding and bedding areas. Deer here can bed and feed nearly anywhere. Thus, they are likely to travel vastly different ways in a given area. I truly feel that Ohio is in the top 3 for deer hunting(1.Iowa 2.Ohio 3.Canada) . Not to take anything away from places like Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin or Missouri, but I truly feel that Ohio is one of the elite. However, it is certainly not the easiest place to hunt for trophy bucks! Stay with it Leroy and you cold bag the buck of a lifetime. Good luck next year!

TBO

nodose

i've hunted lorain county (flat land) most of my life. the past 5 yrs i've been going to vinton, hocking, and ross county (apalatian country) w/a group of guys which is very close to muskingum. its taken me until this yr to figure out whats going on down there, but i finally did. and man did i ever have an awsome week this yr. had bucks running does every day. i saw 7 bucks and 4 does in 5 days of bowhunting. now to put this in perspective the previous 4 yrs i saw a total of 3 deer.

so i would say if this is your first yr be patient its gonna take a while. give me the conditions that you were hunting in..ie terrain, food source etc and i will give you some pointers on how to hunt down there....i was stuck in the same frustrating rut (no pun intended) that you are for my first 4yrs in that area.