Ohio’s Final 2025-26 Deer Hunting Season Report
Article presented by Rathkamp Financial …
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio hunters checked 232,142 white-tailed deer during the 2025-26 season that concluded on Sunday, Feb. 1, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. The season total includes all deer taken during archery, gun, muzzleloader, and youth seasons since Sept. 13, 2025. This is the seventh highest total on record, topping 200,000 for the fourth consecutive season.
In 2024-25, deer hunters checked 238,137 deer. The three-year average (2022, 2023, and 2024) is 221,013.
Since the deer season opened, Ohio hunters added approximately 11 million pounds of venison to dinner tables and freezers. A deer can yield 50 pounds of nutritious meat for hunters to share with friends and families or donate to food banks around Ohio.
The Division of Wildlife has increased its efforts to help hunters donate their harvested deer to food pantries through Deer Donation Days. The Division of Wildlife partnered with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s (ODRC) Ohio Penal Industries’ (OPI) meat processing facility at the Pickaway Correctional Institution to process donated deer. Hunters donated 136 deer through the Deer Donation Days, producing 5,328 pounds of processed venison.
The Division of Wildlife is also partnering with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH) to support local food banks with donated venison. Visit wildohio.gov or feedingthehungry.org for more information.
Deer harvest totals are lower than average in Athens, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington counties as a result of an unprecedented outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) over the summer. The combined total of those four counties for the 2025-26 season is 4,289 deer checked. Last season, that number was 15,659.
Historic deer hunting totals
The number of deer bagged in 2025-26 is Ohio’s seventh largest total. The highest season totals:
- 2009-10: 260,442
- 2008-09: 251,299
- 2010-11: 238,683
- 2024-25: 238,137
- 2006-07: 236,676
- 2007-08: 232,212
- 2025-26: 232,142
Ohio’s 2025-26 deer checked, by individual season
- Archery: 104,731
- Weeklong gun season: 85,448
- Two-day gun season: 15,835
- Four-day muzzleloader season: 13,055
- Two-day youth season: 9,759
- Controlled firearm hunts: 3,314
Top 10 counties
- Coshocton: 8,527 (Coshocton County has led Ohio in the number of deer checked for 24 years in a row. Last season, hunters in Coshocton County tagged 8,196 deer.)
- Tuscarawas: 7,623
- Ashtabula: 7,161
- Knox: 6,704
- Muskingum: 6,283
- Carroll: 6,077
- Licking: 5,770
- Holmes: 5,717
- Trumbull: 5,324
- Columbiana: 5,245
Permit salesand use
Ohio hunters were issued 424,241 deer permits across all hunting seasons. The number of permits used to check deer:
- Deer management permits (30,532)
- Either-sex permits (138,677)
- Landowners checked 62,933 deer hunting on their own property (no permit required)
Deer management permits were valid for antlerless deer until Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025 on private land and public hunting areas. In 2024-25, hunters validated 24,846 deer management permits and 146,769 either-sex permits.
Most popular hunting implements
- Straight-walled cartridge rifle: 78,395 (34%)
- Crossbow: 77,938 (33%)
- Vertical bow: 29,845 (13%)
- Shotgun: 29,800 (13%)
- Muzzleloader: 15,602 (6%)
- Handgun: 562 (less than 1%)
Deer checked
- Does: 111,921 (48%)
- Antlered bucks: 95,998 (42%)
- Button bucks: 21,257 (9%)
- Bucks with shed antlers or antlers shorter than 3 inches: 2,966 (1%)
License sales
Hunters from all 50 U.S. states purchased nonresident hunting licenses for use during the 2025-26 seasons, many of them for deer. States with the highest nonresident license sales:
- Pennsylvania (6,768)
- Michigan (4,426)
- North Carolina (2,999)
- New York (2,839)
- West Virginia (2,750)
Check out Wild Ohio Harvest for kitchen inspiration on how to prepare this season’s deer. The Wild Ohio Harvest Cookbook shares excellent venison recipes.
Keep up with the Division of Wildlife on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for instant news stories, outdoor recreation ideas, local wildlife information, wildlife photos and videos, and so much more. Visit wildohio.gov to find locations to hunt, fish, trap, and view wildlife. In preparation for the 2026-27 hunting seasons, download the free HuntFish OH mobile app to purchase licenses and permits, check game, and view wildlife area maps.
