Ohio hunters top 232,000 deer as 2025-26 season ranks among state’s biggest harvests

Ohio hunters checked 232,142 white-tailed deer during the 2025-26 hunting season, which concluded Sunday, Feb. 1, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. The total includes deer taken during archery, gun, muzzleloader and youth seasons since Sept. 13, 2025. The harvest ranks as the seventh highest on record and marks the fourth consecutive season topping 200,000 deer.

During the 2024-25 season, hunters checked 238,137 deer. The three-year average from 2022-24 is 221,013.

Since the season opened, hunters added an estimated 11 million pounds of venison to dinner tables and freezers. A single deer can yield about 50 pounds of meat for personal use or donation to food banks.

The Division of Wildlife increased efforts to support venison donation through Deer Donation Days, partnering with Ohio Penal Industries at the Pickaway Correctional Institution to process donated deer. Hunters donated 136 deer through the program, producing 5,328 pounds of processed venison. The division also partnered with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry to support local food banks. More information is available at wildohio.gov and feedingthehungry.org.

Deer harvest totals were significantly lower than average in Athens, Meigs, Morgan and Washington counties due to an unprecedented outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease during the summer. The combined total for those four counties was 4,289 deer, compared with 15,659 last season.

The 2025-26 harvest ranks seventh all time behind 2009-10 with 260,442 deer; 2008-09 with 251,299; 2010-11 with 238,683; 2024-25 with 238,137; 2006-07 with 236,676; and 2007-08 with 232,212.

By season, hunters checked 104,731 deer during archery season, 85,448 during the weeklong gun season, 15,835 during the two-day gun season, 13,055 during the four-day muzzleloader season, 9,759 during the youth season and 3,314 during controlled firearm hunts.

Coshocton County led the state for the 24th consecutive year with 8,527 deer checked, followed by Tuscarawas with 7,623; Ashtabula with 7,161; Knox with 6,704; Muskingum with 6,283; Carroll with 6,077; Licking with 5,770; Holmes with 5,717; Trumbull with 5,324; and Columbiana with 5,245.

Ohio issued 424,241 deer permits across all seasons. Hunters used 30,532 deer management permits and 138,677 either-sex permits, while landowners checked 62,933 deer on their own property without a permit. In 2024-25, hunters validated 24,846 deer management permits and 146,769 either-sex permits.

Straight-walled cartridge rifles accounted for 78,395 deer, or 34% of the harvest, followed closely by crossbows at 77,938, or 33%. Vertical bows accounted for 29,845 deer, shotguns for 29,800, muzzleloaders for 15,602 and handguns for 562.

Of the total harvest, 111,921 were does, 95,998 were antlered bucks, 21,257 were button bucks and 2,966 were bucks with shed antlers or antlers shorter than 3 inches.

Hunters from all 50 states purchased nonresident hunting licenses during the season. The highest numbers came from Pennsylvania with 6,768 licenses, followed by Michigan with 4,426, North Carolina with 2,999, New York with 2,839 and West Virginia with 2,750.

The Division of Wildlife encourages hunters to visit Wild Ohio Harvest online for venison preparation ideas and recipes. Additional information on hunting, fishing, trapping and wildlife viewing is available at wildohio.gov, along with details on the free HuntFish OH mobile app for licenses, permits and game checking.

County-by-county harvest totals for the 2025-26 season, along with three-year averages from 2022-24, are available through the Division of Wildlife. The statewide total was 232,142 deer, compared with a three-year average of 221,013.