Few creatures in Ohio today capture the spotlight quite like the white-tailed deer. For hunters, either these animals are something to be relished and sought after, whether it be for the accomplishment of harvesting a fully mature buck to be mounted on the wall for generations to appreciate or for the delicious lean venison of a young doe that simply cannot be beat.
For farmers, trying to raise a successful crop in already difficult conditions, such as harsh winters, spring floods and summer droughts, hungry deer looking to make a quick dinner of their hard work may pose a threat to their livelihood.
While sportsman would love for there to be an overabundance of deer, many farmers would agree that we would be better off with far fewer than we already have. This issue has sparked many debates over the course of Ohio’s statehood, leading to a near cataclysmic period for the white-tailed deer and many counter measures that still resound in the work being done for wildlife today.
While it would be impossible to determine the exact population of white-tailed deer in Ohio, we can estimate the number of deer to be somewhere around 800,000 based on the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s harvest report and observation data.
This population has ebbed and flowed throughout the history of the state with some years having higher birth rates and milder conditions, while other years see harsher drought conditions and disease outbreaks, such as last year’s extreme drought, and this year’s outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in the southeastern portion of the state. Despite some of these setbacks, the white-tailed deer has endured much tougher challenges for millions of years.
History
Fossil records suggest that the earliest white-tailed deer appeared around 2 to 5 million years ago. Too put that into perspective, it is believed that modern humans date back only around 300,000 years.
Because much of the world was encased in ice during that time, Ohio included, deer as we know them did not migrate this far north until the end of the last Ice Age, around 11,700 years ago.
During the years following, whitetails were a food source to a variety of predators such as wolves, large cats and early indigenous people. Much of the culture of Appalachian tribes such as the Miami and Shawnee were heavily influenced by the role the white-tailed deer played in their survival. For thousands of years, the white-tailed deer lived in abundance in the Ohio Valley alongside species such as elk, bison, black bear and mountain lions.
The decline of all of these species, white-tails included, came around the time that the European settlers began building their homesteads in the forests that made up their habitat. George Washington and his surveying crew first mapped out the state in 1770. The land was divided up amongst veterans of the French and Indian war, as well as active soldiers who later fought in the Revolutionary War to win our independence from Britain.
On April 19, 1775, the first shots of what would become the Revolutionary War were fired in Massachusetts. This led to a larger demand for resources from the land, such as food, furs and timber.
After the war was won and freedom from British rule won, many soldiers looked to the vast Ohio wilderness to settler down and build their homesteads. New Ohioans needed land and timbers if they were going to prosper in their newly acquired country and made quick work of clearing ancient forests that had stood since the recession of the glaciers to build their homes and feed their families. Settlers also frequently took to the woods with their muskets to hunt local deer and turkey as livestock was in short supply at the time.
The combination of overhunting and loss of habitat due to deforestation drove the once flush population of white-tailed deer to statewide extirpation by 1909. White-tailed deer along with wild turkey were nowhere to be found in Ohio until 1943. Deer hunting was outlawed in all of the 88 counties in Ohio.
The 1930s was an extremely trying time for the country with the Dust Bowl and subsequent Great Depression. There was however a glimmer of hope for Ohio’s wildlife.
Government assistance
The Pittman-Robertson Act was signed into law Sept. 2, 1937, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, placing a federal exercise tax on all sportsman equipment, such as firearms, ammunition and fishing tackle.
The money generated from this tax was used to fund state fish and wildlife conservation agencies in their mission to protect and preserve Ohio’s fish and wildlife populations and their habitats. This work included establishing areas of the state that were set aside for the sole purpose of allowing the depleted land to become a haven for wildlife.
The first of Ohio’s wildlife areas was established in Scioto County under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1922 and was aptly named the Theodore Roosevelt Game Preserve.
Because of the Pittman-Robertson Act, funding was now available for state agencies to make major moves in the way of reestablishing habitat on this area as well as the 189 wildlife areas we have in the state today for Ohio’s wildlife.
While the road to recovery was simply too steep for Ohio’s elk, bison, wolf and mountain lion populations too recover, the white-tailed deer were one of the species fortunate enough to make a comeback. Because of the reestablishment of forest lands and regulations put in place by the Division of Wildlife, Ohio’s deer herd had grown over the course of about one hundred years from statewide extirpation too the record number of deer we have today.
Although white-tailed deer still face their share of challenges from disease, resources, and no lack of human conflicts, they have remained one of the most resilient and hardy wildlife species in Ohio. Therefore, whether you are a sportsman eager to fill your freezer with some fresh, naturally sourced meat, or a farmer fighting the constant battle to keep them out of your crops, the reality is that the white-tailed deer has pulled off the ultimate comeback and will remain a staple of Ohio’s forests for many generations to come.
