COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife is reporting that hunters across Ohio have checked 68,456 white-tailed deer through Sunday, Nov. 8, which includes the first seven weekends of bowhunting. The 2026-27 statewide archery season began on Saturday, Sept. 26 and continues through Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027.
Deer taken this year during the archery season include 36,984 antlered deer and 31,472 antlerless deer, a category which includes does and button bucks. The average bow harvest through the first two weekends of November over the last three years is 66,698 deer. Last year, hunters reported 64,427 deer taken over the same period.
Hunters across Ohio have checked 68,456 white-tailed deer through Sunday, Nov. 8, which includes the first seven weekends of bowhunting.
Ohio’s top 10 counties for deer harvested during the first seven weeks of the 2026 deer season include: Coshocton (2,807), Tuscarawas (2,262), Ashtabula (2,126), Holmes (2,075), Trumbull (2,015), Knox (1,920) Muskingum (1,839), Licking (1,736), Carroll (1,692), and Columbiana (1,667).
So far this season, the best day for bowhunters was Saturday, Nov. 7, when hunters checked 5,609 deer. Other successful dates for hunters were Sunday, Nov. 8 (4,411 deer taken), Saturday, Sept. 26 (3,979), Saturday, Oct. 31 (3,494), and Friday, Nov. 6 (3,241).
During the 2025-26 deer season, 107,783 of the 232,142 deer checked were taken with a bow. In each of the last three seasons, archery harvest has surpassed 100,000 deer, indicating that bowhunting continues to rise in popularity. The 2025-26 archery total included 77,938 deer taken with a crossbow and 29,845 with a vertical bow.
Bowhunting is available on both public and private land. Archers have additional opportunities to hunt private land through the Ohio Landowner-Hunter Access Partnership which provides incentives to landowners to open their property to hunters.
A list of available properties and instructions for obtaining access, available by permit only, are available at wildohio.gov.
Ohio offers many other opportunities for deer hunters to spend time in the field in the coming weeks. Young hunters can use firearms during the youth gun season Saturday, Nov. 21 and Sunday, Nov. 22.
A seven-day gun season opens statewide to all hunters on Monday, Nov. 30, and continues through Sunday, Dec. 6.
An additional gun weekend occurs Saturday, Dec. 19 and Sunday, Dec. 20.
The muzzleloader hunting season will be Saturday, Jan. 2 through Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027.
For more information, you can go online to the ODNR, Divsition of Wildlife at:
https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-ODNR/wildlife
Last Updated on November 12, 2026 by AVC News
