Ohio Deer Hunting Season 2023-2024: Everything You Need to Know to Bag Your Next Big Buck!

Are you ready for the 2023-2024 Ohio deer hunting season? Hunters prepare for fall’s most anticipated hunting season. Deer hunters from throughout the nation have traditionally visited Ohio. This year’s hunting season—what to expect? This page covers the Ohio Deer Hunting Season for latest year, including dates, rules, and recommendations to maximize your hunt. Start planning your next hunting trip!

Ohio Deer Hunting Season 2023-2024

Ohio deer hunters are preparing for the season. The 2023-2024 Ohio Deer Hunting Season shall run from September 30 to February 4. Hunting licenses, deer permits, and archery, rifle, or muzzleloader permits are required for hunters. Hunters may assure a successful and safe season by following the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ rules that are mentioned below in this post. Keep tuned for additional information and ideas to enjoy this wonderful season.

Statewide Deer Season

Disease Surveillance Area Deer Season

Bag Limit

The presumption that they are all white-tailed deer underlies the proposed modifications to the bag limit for the counties that are mentioned. Moreover, the word “controlled access opportunities” has been changed from “controlled hunts” and is solely referenced for clarification. Six more white-tailed deer would be the recommended statewide bag limit for opportunities with regulated access.

Hunting Regulations

• Deer hunting season lasts from 30 minutes before dawn to 30 minutes after dusk.

• A hunter must finish the game check procedure after taking a white-tailed deer.

• A hunter may only take one antlered deer in 2023-2024, regardless of where or how. Antlered deer have at least one 3″ or longer antler.

• Unless exempted, an Ohio hunting license and either an either-sex deer permit or a deer management permit are needed to hunt deer.

• In the disease monitoring region, the either-sex deer permit is valid from September 10, 2022, to February 5, 2023.

• In the disease monitoring region, the permit is valid from September 10, 2022, until November 27, 2022.

• The either-sex deer permit is available across Ohio and permits hunters to take either antlerless or antlered deer. Any restricted or deer hunting season may utilize this permit. The permit may be bought separately during deer season. In 2022-23, just one deer may be antlered.

• The deer management permit authorizes private landowners to hunt antlerless deer from Sept. 24 to Nov. 27, 2022, except in the disease surveillance region, where it is valid from Sept. 10 to Nov. 27. The permit is only usable on public lands for wildlife areas and supervised hunts. Hunters don’t need either-sex deer permits before deer management permits.

• Ohio public hunting zones allow one antlerless deer every license year. Wildohio.gov lists public hunting places. Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in Wyandot County and Lake La Su An Wildlife Area in Williams County are excluded, as are Division of Wildlife-authorized hunts.

• Ohio allows one antlerless deer every licence year from all public hunting locations. Wildohio.gov lists public hunting places. Two public hunting areas—Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in Wyandot County and Lake La Su An Wildlife Area in Williams County—and approved Division of Wildlife controlled hunts are free from the one antlerless deer restriction.

• Hunters (excluding waterfowl hunters) must wear hunter orange during gun and young deer gun seasons. During these seasons, hunters may hunt lawful wildlife and furbearers like coyote and feral swine. They may also use a shotgun to hunt other lawful game and ducks. Furbearers, save coyote and wild swine, may be hunted 30 minutes after dusk to 30 minutes before dawn. Except hunting deer, hunters may only use archery equipment. Deer, coyote, and wild swine cannot be hunted between sunset and morning.

• Hunters (excluding waterfowl hunters) must wear hunter orange and use licensed muzzleloaders or archery equipment to shoot deer, feral swine (wild boar), and coyote during deer muzzleloader season. Hunters need hunting and deer permits. Other lawful game (except deer, wild swine, and coyote) may be shotgun-hunted with shot No. 4 or smaller, and waterfowl can be shot with any size shot. Furbearers, save coyote and wild swine, may be hunted from 30 minutes after dusk to 30 minutes before dawn throughout the season. Hunting using rifle or shotgun slugs is illegal.

• Legal deer hunting equipment includes longbows and bows (with a minimum draw weight of 40 pounds and arrows with a minimum of two cutting edges and a minimum 3/4-inch width), crossbows (with a minimum draw weight of 75 pounds), shotguns (10 gauge or smaller with one ball or one rifled slug per barrel), straight-walled cartridge rifles (from.357 to.50), muzzleloading rifles, and (with a 5-inch minimum length barrel, using straight-walled cartridges .357 calibre or larger).

• High-risk corpse components from non-Ohio-harvested Cervids (deer, moose, elk, and caribou) are illegal. Only de-boned meat, chopped and wrapped meat, antlers, skull caps, upper canine teeth, skins and capes, completed taxidermy mounts, and soft body tissue wrapped and packed for diagnostic study are allowed. Out-of-state hunters may carry entire or partial cervidae corpses without unloading them. Hunters returning to Ohio or departing Disease Surveillance Zones must bring a whole cervidae corpse or components not on the list above to a trained taxidermist or processor within 24 hours.

• Hunters with a valid hunting license and deer permit can assist another hunter, take more than one deer per day as long as the harvested animal’s information is recorded and submitted to game check, leave deer or parts like antlers with a taxidermist, fur buyer, cold storage, locker plant, or meat processing plant, hunt deer over bait (except in public land and Disease Surveillance Area), possess a communication device, carry a printed or electronic co-op, During hunting, concealed handgun license holders may not shoot or kill wild animals. Archery hunters must wear hunter orange and observe all deer gun season requirements throughout all deer seasons.

• Deer hunters cannot hunt with shotguns or rifles loaded with more than three shells, use muzzleloading handguns, carry handguns, attach any mechanical, electrical, or electronic device capable of projecting a visible beam of light to a longbow or crossbow, use dogs to hunt deer, possess shotshells containing shot, or hunt coyote or feral swine (wild boar) between 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise during the deer gun season. construct, place, or use a permanent-type tree stand, or place spikes, nails, wires, or other metal objects into a tree to act as steps or to hold a tree stand on public hunting lands, or check a deer as a landowner if the hunter is a tenant of the property, unless the tenant lives on land for which he or she pays rent and whose annual income is primarily derived from agricultural production on that land.

• Chronic Wasting Disease is a deadly neurological condition of white-tailed deer. Since 2020, 25 captive deer in Holmes and Wayne counties have tested positive with CWD. Eight hunter-harvested deer in southern Wyandot and northern Marion counties tested positive for CWD in 2021, and one was targeted-shot in March 2022. A Disease Surveillance Area was formed in June 2021 and enlarged in 2022 to encompass all of Wyandot, Hardin, and Marion counties to track disease prevalence and dissemination.

• To safeguard Ohio’s deer population, double-bag all high-risk pieces of a deer corpse and throw them away with household garbage. Brain, spinal cord, eyes, and lymphoid tissues are high-risk. Unless the animal is delivered to a qualified processor or taxidermist within 24 hours, high-risk components from outside Ohio are forbidden. Contact a Division of Wildlife district office or state wildlife officer if you encounter a sick, aberrant, or ear-tagged deer. The Division of Wildlife’s Disease Surveillance Area 2021-01 comprises Ohio counties.

• Field-dressing requires rubber gloves and hand-washing. Bone the meat and avoid brain and spinal tissue. Avoid eating brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, and lymph nodes. Do not eat meat from CWD-positive deer.

• Hunting deer using bait is illegal in the Disease Surveillance Area. Feeding domestic animals and shooting deer over food plots, naturally occurring or cultivated vegetation, and agricultural crops are permitted.

• Every deer taken Oct. 8-10, Nov. 5-6, 12-13, and throughout the seven-day gun season must be sampled. During the seven-day rifle season at the Big Island and Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area Headquarters, self-serve kiosks will accept volunteer samples. Kiosks give example submission instructions.

• At the Wyandot County Fairgrounds, Ohio hunters may submit deer samples. From October 1 through January 11, 2022, self-serve kiosks are available. The kiosks and Wild Ohio website give example submission instructions.

Note: For complete deer regulation you may check it on Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) or eregulations website

Deer License

Residency, license length, and type determine Ohio hunting license costs. A 1-year hunting license costs $19 for Ohio residents and $125 for nonresidents. Residents and nonresidents pay $10 for a youth 1-year hunting or apprentice license. Multiyear and lifetime permits benefit Ohio’s wildlife by funding the Wildlife Fund.

Waterfowl hunters may require the Ohio Wetlands Stamp or the Antlerless Deer Permit in addition to the hunting license. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ webpage lists permit prices.

FAQs related to Ohio deer hunting season

Schedule Source: Ohio DNR

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John Lewis

John Lewis, the passionate founder of HuntingSeasons.org, is committed to promoting responsible hunting and a profound love for the wilderness. With years of expertise, his platform serves as a reliable guide for hunting enthusiasts, advocating ethical practices and nature preservation.

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