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Opening day  of deer season has light action

Amy Albright of Anglers Bait and Tackle in Englewood checks in a deer killed by Robert Petering of Lewisburg (right). He shot the buck Monday, Nov. 30, the first day of the 2009 deer gun season.

Staff photo by Jim Morris Amy Albright of Anglers Bait and Tackle in Englewood checks in a deer killed by Robert Petering of Lewisburg (right). He shot the buck Monday, Nov. 30, the first day of the 2009 deer gun season.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Scott Phillips, a manager with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, inspects a deer Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, at B&B Carry Out near Waynesville. The six-point buck was shot by Jeremy Dittelberger of West Carrollton on the opening day of gun deer hunting season.

Staff photo by Apryl Pilolli Scott Phillips, a manager with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, inspects a deer Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, at B&B Carry Out near Waynesville. The six-point buck was shot by Jeremy Dittelberger of West Carrollton on the opening day of gun deer hunting season.

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Shaun Singleton, a meat cutter at Schaefer's Deer Processing, inspects a buck before it is processed Monday Nov. 30, 2009, next to, from left, Ramsey and Ron Skeens and Carl Hartman.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy Shaun Singleton, a meat cutter at Schaefer's Deer Processing, inspects a buck before it is processed Monday Nov. 30, 2009, next to, from left, Ramsey and Ron Skeens and Carl Hartman.

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Mike Calvin, of Carlisle, unhooks two deer from the back of his Jeep at Schaefer's Deer Processing, on Jacksonburg Road. Mike and his uncle were able to each shoot a deer Monday, on the first day of Deer-Gun Season in Ohio.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy Mike Calvin, of Carlisle, unhooks two deer from the back of his Jeep at Schaefer's Deer Processing, on Jacksonburg Road. Mike and his uncle were able to each shoot a deer Monday, on the first day of Deer-Gun Season in Ohio.

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Updated 12:49 AM Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Robert Petering bundled up, put on his hunter orange and headed for his tree stand in the woods at his parents’ farm near Lewisburg.

Monday, Nov. 30, was a crisp, almost frigid morning, but, fortunately, the overnight rain had stopped, so spending part of the day hunting deer from a tree stand wouldn’t be as bad as Petering might have expected.

But he never made it to his tree stand.

“I was walking out to the stand when I noticed two bucks standing in the field,” Petering said. “I stopped and crouched down by a bush. I watched them and then I started to crawl slowly out into the field to try to get a shot.

“Both bucks started coming toward me. There was a larger one and this one,” he said, pointing to the animal in the bed of his pickup truck. “This one turned broadside, so I had a great shot. So I took it.”

The larger buck scampered away, but soon Petering heard a shot and the buck had been taken down by another hunter.

When Petering got up and walked over to his deer, he noticed it would have been an eight-pointer had not one side of its antlers been knocked completely off sometime in the past.

“That doesn’t matter,” said Petering, 24, a heavy equipment operator. “I go deer hunting for the meat. So I will take any deer I can get.”

Petering was one of many deer hunters out for the first day of deer gun season, which runs through Sunday, Dec. 6 and then returns for another weekend, Dec. 19-20.

Despite the dry weather, hunters did not appear to be very successful on Monday. By mid-day the check station at Buckeye Pheasant Hunting Preserve in New Lebanon had checked in only four, the same number tagged by late afternoon at the Gander Mountain store in Huber Heights. Anglers Bait and Tackle in Englewood, where Petering took his buck, had the most in Montgomery County with six.

“Opening day isn’t what it used to be around here before people started archery hunting,” said Trent Weaver, the Ohio wildlife officer assigned to Montgomery Country. “More and more people are hunting with bows. By the time the gun season starts, there aren’t as many deer.”

Some of the hunters who spent the day at Sycamore State Park in Trotwood said they saw more people than deer. Jim Watson of Bellbrook reported walking to his deer stand before dawn and while he was walking, a doe crossed his path not more than a few feet in front of him. He didn’t see another deer the rest of the morning.

Weaver said more than 500 deer will be taken in Montgomery County before the last day of the bow season on Feb. 7.

“That number goes up every year,” Weaver said. “When I first started here in 1996, there were a little more than 200-250 taken in the county each year.”

While Montgomery County totals might not seem overwhelming, wildlife officials expect between 115,000 and 125,000 whitetails to be killed this week, statewide. Last year the gun season total was 117,468. For the entire season, a record 252,017 deer were taken.

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Yesterday morning (opening day) down in southern Ohio was cold and damp. I shot my 8 pointer at 0810 and am back home now in Dayton with my deer. I hunt for meat and will take the first deer I see. It was a short trip, but a sweet trip.

Buckamasta
11:17 AM, 12/1/2009

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