Ohio 2026 muzzleloader deer season results
Hunters harvested 13,055 white-tailed deer during Ohio’s four-day muzzleloader hunting season that ended Tuesday, Jan. 6, according to a Jan. 7 news release from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.
This total accounts for all deer taken with a muzzleloader or archery equipment during those four days. Hunters may pursue deer with a bow until Sunday, Feb. 1.
The Division of Wildlife reports the number of deer checked at notable points during the hunting season. Last year, hunters checked 13,495 deer during the muzzleloader season, according to the release. Over the past three years, hunters bagged an average of 13,269 deer in the same timeframe.
Related article: Ohio’s 2025 deer gun weekend results
Hunters checked 3,473 antlered deer (27% of deer tagged) and 9,582 antlerless deer (73%). The antlerless category includes does (7,924), button bucks (1,418), bucks with shed antlers (143), and bucks with antlers shorter than 3 inches (97).
The 10 counties with the highest totals during the muzzleloader season are as follows:
- Coshocton (557)
- Tuscarawas (491)
- Carroll (451)
- Muskingum (437)
- Knox (393)
- Harrison (391)
- Licking (388)
- Columbiana (375)
- Guernsey (356)
- Jefferson (299)
Hunters in Ohio have tagged 222,648 deer during the 2025-26 season as of Tuesday, Jan. 6, according to the release. The season total has surpassed 200,000 for the fourth consecutive year. Deer checked by season include the following:
- archery, 99,551. Ohio’s archery hunting season is open until Sunday, Feb. 1.
- youth gun, 9,759
- gun season, 84,448
- additional gun weekend, 15,835
- all deer checked with a gun, which includes deer taken during controlled hunts: 124,104
Deer harvest totals for this hunting season are lower than average in Athens, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington counties as a result of an unprecedented outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in that region over the summer. Coinciding with the start of the seven-day gun season, the bag limit in those counties was reduced in response to the disease outbreak.
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