Deer overharvest

Everyone knows that Deer hunting in Ohio is spectacular. Our MNR can learn a great deal from them. They have a similar habitat to Southern Ontario & have a very healthy deer population with plenty of big bucks? Ever wonder why? They don't gun hunt during the rut!! Check out the season dates below. Trophy deer in Ontario receive the most pressure during the peak of the rut (next week) and in some areas they get pounded for 2 weeks. If the big bucks have a better chance of breeding does then that = a higher fawn production. Seems too simple...lol

White-tailed Deer Hunting Ohio.




Opening Date

Closing Date

Daily Bag Limit


Deer Archery September 30, 2017 February 4, 2018 The statewide bag limit is six deer. Only one may be antlered. You cannot exceed an individual county bag limit .

Refer to the Deer Hunting Section for details on zone and bag limits.
Deer Youth Gun
November 18, 2017
November 19, 2017

Deer Gun
November 27, 2017
December 3, 2017


December 16, 2017
December 17, 2017

Deer Muzzleloader
January 6, 2018
January 9, 2018

Seedoc,
Really are you kidding us, if you hunt then you would know that the additional deer tags have been reduced drastically to accommodate the decline in deer population in a lot of areas. we have slammed the MNRF for not doing a great job on the moose population but they seem to have somewhat of a handle on the deer herd in Ontario

I hunt 87 and the deer there are as healthy and numerous as I have ever seen them in 20 years of hunting. A fellow I spoke with at the MNR says the enforcement guys keep telling the biologists that the tags need to go back up. IMO only, I would like to see a consistent 1 archery additional and your main tag that you can fill in controlled, muzzle loader etc. At one point we could get 3 additional controlled tags and an additional archery in the same WMU. But I agree that the purpose was to reduce numbers and it worked. And I have seen lots of road kill already this year, and it is not even full rut yet. I think it varies area to area, but around Kitchener and Brantford, the deer population is very healthy.

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Originally Posted by KennyT

I hunt 87 and the deer there are as healthy and numerous as I have ever seen them in 20 years of hunting. A fellow I spoke with at the MNR says the enforcement guys keep telling the biologists that the tags need to go back up. IMO only, I would like to see a consistent 1 archery additional and your main tag that you can fill in controlled, muzzle loader etc. At one point we could get 3 additional controlled tags and an additional archery in the same WMU. But I agree that the purpose was to reduce numbers and it worked. And I have seen lots of road kill already this year, and it is not even full rut yet. I think it varies area to area, but around Kitchener and Brantford, the deer population is very healthy.

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The deer population around Kitchener is way down from what it was at its peak around 2004, the population down around Stratford is also down. Not that the number are not healthy, but they are no where near the peak. Farmers though are also not seeing the losses that they used to have and car/deer accidents are a heck of a lot lower now. There may be pockets where the numbers are really high like you said, but that is probably a sanctuary, which are areas that are on the rise due to the population explosion that is continuing.

I remember hunting in 1999 down there, I watched the numbers rise and just after I moved east for school in 2003 that there were 2 really rough winters and destroyed the population, the additional tags and antlerless tags were 1 or 2 years too late to be reduced and the numbers are only now starting to really come back.

Remember when we had 1 seal for a deer in the province and outside of SW Ontario only had a 25% chance at an antlerless validation? I do.

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Remember when we had 1 seal for a deer in the province and outside of SW Ontario only had a 25% chance at an antlerless validation? I do.

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That was the normal. We all got spoiled with the population booms but now we're back to what some of us can remember and many don't.

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Originally Posted by Fox

Remember when we had 1 seal for a deer in the province and outside of SW Ontario only had a 25% chance at an antlerless validation? I do.

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Remember ? ...heck it seems like just last year..wait it's has been that way for the past 6-7 yrs ...Haha

(we have 6 guys at camp and average 2 doe tags a year..so 30%)

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Originally Posted by Articcat

Seedoc,
Really are you kidding us, if you hunt then you would know that the additional deer tags have been reduced drastically to accommodate the decline in deer population in a lot of areas. we have slammed the MNRF for not doing a great job on the moose population but they seem to have somewhat of a handle on the deer herd in Ontario

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I hunt 83A. Deer numbers are down despite the limited doe tag draw. I agree that populations can vary for different WMUs . My point is: does the extended season, particularly a special season for muzzleloaders contribute to a lower population?

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Originally Posted by seedoc

I hunt 83A. Deer numbers are down despite the limited doe tag draw. I agree that populations can vary for different WMUs . My point is: does the extended season, particularly a special season for muzzleloaders contribute to a lower population?

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Well, if 3 deer are shot one year and 4 deer are shot the next after an extended season then yes there is a contribution to a lower population. The thing you have to remember though is that it is a lot more complicated than that. In many cases the muzzle loader hunt actually removes hunt days for many hunters, the muzzle loader hunt still allows bows but those hunters need to wear orange and tend not to hunt, so the large number of bow hunters are now removed from the field for that week while the very few muzzle loader hunters are in place, their ability to take a longer shot than a bow is a fact but you still have to be there when that deer comes by, due to this I would say that the extended muzzle loader hunt reduces the take of deer by hunters in Ontario.

You also have to look at what deer are being shot, bucks have minimal impact on the population as you only need 1 buck for a large number of does. You take 1 doe out of the population and you have killed off generations (why the moose hunt is a joke). The reduction in the doe tag allocation though is always done when the population has already dropped, so it takes a few years for the bounce back, assuming good conditions for producing and raising offspring.

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Originally Posted by rick_iles

I’ll grab the popcorn !!

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yup make some for me to...

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Originally Posted by seedoc

Don't be a s spectator join the discussion

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your the only hunter I have seen talk about limiting deer more then it already is....I agree with all the posts that came after post #1. Sorry but limiting hunting season is a rediculous idea no matter how you look at it...1 tag is 1 tag is 1 tag....Plenty of deer everywhere you just gotta get out more!