Ohio 2025-26 deer season stats released

Ohio hunters checked 232,142 white-tailed deer during the 2025-26 season that concluded Feb. 1, according to a Feb. 2 news release from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources 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, according to the release.
In 2024-25, hunters checked 238,137 deer. The three-year average (2022, 2023, and 2024) is 221,013.

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, according to the release. 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-highest total. The highest season totals, according to the release, are as follows:

• 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

1. 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.)
2. Tuscarawas: 7,623
3. Ashtabula: 7,161
4. Knox: 6,704
5. Muskingum: 6,283
6. Carroll: 6,077
7. Licking: 5,770
8. Holmes: 5,717
9. Trumbull: 5,324
10. Columbiana: 5,245

Permit sales and use

Ohio hunters were issued 424,241 deer permits across all hunting seasons. The number of permits used to check deer are as follows:

• Deer management permits (30,532)
• Either-sex permits (138,677)
• Landowners checked 62,933 deer hunted on their own property (no permit required).

Deer management permits were valid for antlerless deer until Dec. 21, 2025, on private land and public hunting areas, according to the release. 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 were as follows:

• Pennsylvania (6,768)
• Michigan (4,426)
• North Carolina (2,999)
• New York (2,839)
• West Virginia (2,750)