Cold, snow expected for deer gun season

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Weather conditions, including snow and temperatures in the teens and 20s, may pose some challenges this week, but Ohio’s weeklong deer gun hunting season gets underway on Monday and runs until Sunday, December 7. The gun season traditionally begins the Monday after Thanksgiving and is open to all hunters, 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. An additional deer gun weekend will follow December 20-21.

Accoring to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, Ohio’s first deer gun season was in 1943, and excitement has remained high for white-tailed deer hunting ever since.

During last year’s weeklong deer gun season, Ohio hunters checked 87,192 white-tailed deer during the weeklong gun season, making it the highest total since 2011 (90,282). During the week, hunters checked 28,606 antlered deer (33 percent of the total reported) and 58,586 antlerless deer (67 percent). According to the Division of Wildlife, antlerless deer includes does and button bucks. 

Deer gun harvest totals are typically highest in eastern Ohio. Last year, the top 10 counties for deer taken during the gun season were: Coshocton (2,954); Tuscarawas (2,673); Knox (2,525); Muskingum (2,515); Carroll (2,399); Ashtabula (2,281); Guernsey (2,201); Washington (1,970); Ashland (1,893), and Licking (1,860).

More recently, hunters ages 17 and younger checked 9,759 white-tailed deer during ODNR’s youth gun hunting season, held November 22-23, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. Each fall, youth hunters enjoy a weekend of deer hunting with a firearm before the statewide gun season begins.

During all deer gun seasons, all hunters, regardless of implement, must have a valid hunting license and are required to wear hunter orange clothing. Legal hunting implements during the gun seasons include shotguns, straight-walled cartridge rifles, muzzleloaders, handguns, and archery equipment. Ohio’s deer muzzleloader hunting season is January 3-6, 2026, when muzzleloaders and archery equipment are legal hunting implements.

All deer harvested in Ohio are required to be checked in the Ohio Wildlife Licensing System. This gives the Division of Wildlife a long-term dataset that aids wildlife biologists in monitoring deer health, distribution, and relative abundance. Hunters can check game by using the HuntFish OH mobile app, visiting ohiogamecheck.com, calling 1.877.TAG.IT.OH (1.877.824.4864), visiting a license sales agent, or calling 1.866.703.1298 (landowner operator-assisted, fees apply).

The free HuntFish OH mobile app can be downloaded from the app store to purchase fishing and hunting licenses, view wildlife area maps, check county bag limits, and much more. Users can access the Division of Wildlife’s online system to check harvested deer while out in the field, even without a Wi-Fi connection.