Out-of-state boost
Ohio hunting license sales have increased for resident and nonresident hunters. For the period of Feb. 15 to Jan. 26 each season, here’s how they compare:
Year Resident Nonresident
2008-09 304,420 32,014
2009-10 304,523 33,495
During 2009-10, sales of nonresident licenses have produced $4,244,375, plus about $800,000 for deer permits. The license year ends Feb. 14.
Ohio has become a popular place to hunt for whitetail deer among out-of-state hunters — and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why.
Each year, it seems, Ohio has a record-setting buck taken by a hunter and people who hunt deer, no matter where they live, want to get in on a good thing.
“Deer hunting in Ohio continues to prove to be world-class,” said Todd Haines, District Five manager for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. “We are seeing the benefits of a successful whitetail deer management program.”
Not only does Ohio boast record-breaking bucks like the one taken by Brian Stephens of Clayton in November, but the overall size of Ohio deer — bucks and does — is larger than in most states.
There is good news and bad news when it comes to the increase in the number of out-of-state deer hunters in Ohio (a 45 percent increase from 2005 to 2008). The good news is it helps Ohio’s economy. Out-of-staters coming to Ohio to spend a day or a week bring in dollars.
The bad news is it adds competition for Ohio hunters when it comes to taking deer.
“Some of the people we talk to are a bit unhappy about all of the nonresident hunters,” said Dave Scott, the Division of Wildlife’s administrator for wildlife management. “They are coming into contact with more and more people hunting from out of state and they are concerned they are taking deer that they might be getting.”
When these nonresidents pick up a copy of a magazine like Whitetails Unlimited and see the photo of the Stephens Buck on the cover, they realize Ohio is turning out trophies. And it’s not just anywhere in Ohio; it seems to be the southwest counties that produce the records – such as the Stephens Buck (Highland County), Beatty Buck (Greene), Jerman Buck (Warren), Smucker Buck (Adams) and Metzner Buck (Adams). All of these deer were world class.
If you think nonresidents are coming here to hunt for horns, you’re probably right. According to Scott’s statistics, 55 percent of nonresident hunters took antlerless deer last year, compared to 45 percent taking bucks. Among residents, the percentage of antlerless deer was 65 percent, compared to 35 percent bucks.
There are several reasons for those statistics, mainly Ohio’s regulation that only one buck per year may be killed. So if you fill, say, three deer tags, two have to be antlerless.
“If you come to Ohio from another state and only have so many days to hunt, the pressure mounts to fill your tags as your time runs out,” Scott said. “So if they want to take a deer home, it may be a doe when you get down to the last day or two.”
Ohioans have been encouraged to kill does, not only by the one-buck limit, but by lower-cost antlerless permits and a campaign by the Division of Wildlife.
That management practice has improved the overall quality of Ohio deer. If there are fewer deer, they tend to have more food, are less likely to spread disease and will grow larger.
“In Pennsylvania, the deer density is much greater than Ohio, but the deer are generally smaller there,” Scott said.
A pair of Florida residents, hunting in Miami County a couple of years ago, said they come to Ohio every year to hunt because the deer are much larger than in Florida.
It’s also less expensive for nonresidents to hunt in Ohio than in many other states. A nonresident hunting license in Ohio costs $125, plus $24 for a deer permit. That’s lower than Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa and Colorado, to name a few. According to Scott, 94 percent of nonresident hunters last year came to hunt deer.
Recent trophy deer, $19 resident licenses and $24 permits and the overall quality seems to also be keeping more Ohio hunters in the Buckeye State when they hunt deer.
“When we are continually in the record books with large nontypical and typical whitetails harvested in Ohio, we attract the attention of hunters that might have hunted in another state,” Haines said. “The hunters staying and coming into Ohio is a boost to our economy. Each year, hunting has an $859 million economic impact in Ohio through the sale of equipment, fuel, food and lodging as well as supporting thousands of jobs.”
Outdoors columnist Jim Morris can be reached at www.tinyurl.com/ylh2rol or sports@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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