For each Ohio county, the state lists registered deer according to the implement used. During 2024, crossbow plus longbow accounted for 45.8% of Ohio's harvest. County results ranged from Cuyahoga's 95.4% to Wyandot's 23.6%. Across the state, 26 counties out of 88 exceeded half. Counties around Ohio's major cities occupy the upper end. In the twenty counties shown in our tables, the 2025 pattern stayed within 4.9 points of the earlier shares. These records identify the implement that killed registered deer but provide no explanation for hunters' choices. We therefore limit this paper to information a hunter can put to work.
KEY FINDINGS
- Archery accounted for 769 deer out of Cuyahoga's 806 registered during 2024, putting its share at 95.4%. Wyandot came in at 23.6%, or 529 deer out of 2,238.
- Across Ohio, archery accounted for 45.8% of deer harvested during 2024. The share exceeded half in 26 counties out of 88.
- Archery accounted for less than a third of registered deer in just 4 counties. The smallest county share was still 23.6%.
- A county can have a smaller archery share and still register a large bow harvest. Huron recorded 36.4% and 1,205 deer by archery, exceeding Hamilton's 1,033 despite Hamilton's 84.1%.
IPlain terms
What counts toward archery share
In Ohio's weekly harvest report, each county's registered deer are grouped by the implement used. Its archery category combines longbow with crossbow. Shotgun, rifle, handgun and muzzleloader go in the gun category, while the total includes every implement. To calculate archery share, divide the archery count by the overall count. Our source is the 2024-25 report, with harvest reporting through February 2, 2025; throughout this paper, we label that season 2024. Ohio Division of Wildlife publishes these reports on its summary page for deer harvest.
The report groups crossbows under archery. Our use of "bow county" therefore covers both longbows and crossbows; the report does not distinguish between them.
IIThe top ten
Archery leads in big-city counties
At 95.4%, Cuyahoga ranks first. Its total of 806 included 769 taken by archery, leaving 37 deer across all gun types. Next are Hamilton at 84.1% and Summit at 83.8%, followed by Lucas at 74.0%, Lake at 73.3%, Montgomery at 66.0%, Franklin at 64.7%, Butler at 62.7%, Delaware at 61.2% and Clermont at 61.1%. The chart then lists Warren at 58.9% and Clark at 58.6%.
Those county names form a geographic pattern. Among the ten leaders, six have major-city county seats: Cuyahoga has Cleveland; Hamilton, Cincinnati; Summit, Akron; Lucas, Toledo; Montgomery, Dayton; and Franklin, Columbus. The remaining four are Lake, Delaware, Butler and Clermont, all within the metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. Each harvest record identifies the implement used. It gives no reason for a county's hunters choosing that implement, so we report the pattern without assigning a cause.
A similar divide appears in Illinois. Illinois Has Two Deer Seasons found an almost all-bow metropolitan northeast, while firearms still dominate the rural south and west.
Swipe table to see every column
| County | Total 2024 | Archery 2024 | Archery share 2024 | Archery share 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuyahoga | 806 | 769 | 95.4% | 92.9% |
| Hamilton | 1,229 | 1,033 | 84.1% | 82.5% |
| Summit | 1,823 | 1,527 | 83.8% | 84.1% |
| Lucas | 895 | 662 | 74.0% | 75.4% |
| Lake | 1,123 | 823 | 73.3% | 70.5% |
| Montgomery | 884 | 583 | 66.0% | 65.3% |
| Franklin | 638 | 413 | 64.7% | 67.6% |
| Butler | 1,478 | 926 | 62.7% | 62.5% |
| Delaware | 1,818 | 1,112 | 61.2% | 60.3% |
| Clermont | 2,675 | 1,635 | 61.1% | 59.0% |
IIIThe bottom ten
Counties where guns account for most deer
Swipe table to see every column
| County | Total 2024 | Archery 2024 | Archery share 2024 | Archery share 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seneca | 2,881 | 1,062 | 36.9% | 37.5% |
| Huron | 3,308 | 1,205 | 36.4% | 36.8% |
| Crawford | 1,775 | 638 | 35.9% | 35.7% |
| Henry | 1,109 | 384 | 34.6% | 34.3% |
| Monroe | 3,224 | 1,085 | 33.7% | 31.4% |
| Defiance | 1,468 | 493 | 33.6% | 38.5% |
| Paulding | 1,062 | 352 | 33.1% | 37.6% |
| Hardin | 1,938 | 633 | 32.7% | 30.2% |
| Marion | 1,289 | 419 | 32.5% | 32.8% |
| Wyandot | 2,238 | 529 | 23.6% | 25.0% |
At 23.6%, Wyandot ranks last: hunters registered 529 deer with archery equipment and 1,709 with guns. Shares in the nine remaining bottom-ten counties range from 32.5% to 36.9%. Only four counties were below a third: Wyandot, Marion, Hardin and Paulding. Wyandot still had 529 registered archery deer. None of the counties covered by these records had an exclusively gun harvest.
IVShare versus volume
A smaller share can still mean many bow-killed deer
A county's share shows the balance of implements rather than the count of deer registered by bowhunters. Huron ranks among the bottom ten with 36.4%, but its archery count of 1,205 tops Hamilton's 1,033. Hamilton's share ranks second statewide. Monroe registered 1,085 deer by archery and Seneca registered 1,062, both exceeding Hamilton's count. Clermont led the top ten in archery registrations at 1,635; Summit followed at 1,527.
A county can post a large archery percentage on a small harvest. Franklin's 64.7% makes it a bow county, and its total for 2024 was 638 registered deer. Clermont's share was 61.1%, with 2,675 deer overall.
VMethod and limits
Our reason for focusing on 2024
These shares include all 88 counties. For 2025, Ohio's weekly county counts and final county counts disagree in 52 counties out of 88, totaling a difference of 85 deer. Because those 2025 totals remain incompletely reconciled, our main results use 2024. We include 2025 to check consistency. In the twenty tabulated counties, no change exceeded 4.9 points relative to 2024. The largest shifts were in Defiance, from 33.6% to 38.5%, and in Paulding, from 33.1% to 37.6%.
Archery share tells us what fraction of registered deer were killed using archery equipment. It does not count hunters. The reports cannot tell us how many people hunt a county with bows or whether bowhunting is their preference; they identify only the implement used for deer that were registered. A harvest count is different from a deer population count. These shares therefore give no information about how many deer live in a county. Our county comparison covers a single season. Earlier years were not tested.
VIIn the field
Match your hunting implement to the county
Look first at what you hunt with. For crossbow or longbow hunters, the 26 counties exceeding half already get most of their registered harvest from archery. Hamilton with 1,033, Summit with 1,527, Delaware with 1,112 and Clermont with 1,635 combine high shares with the four biggest archery counts within the top ten. Gun hunters need a different figure than the share. Take the total harvest and subtract the archery count to find the gun count. That leaves Cuyahoga with 37 deer across every gun type and Wyandot with 1,709. Archery accounted for less than a third in Paulding, Hardin, Marion and Wyandot.
Next, look at the overall harvest count. The share shows which implement category accounts for more deer; the total shows how many deer hunters registered altogether. Franklin combines a high archery percentage with a small harvest, while Huron combines a modest percentage with a large harvest. Neither figure tells you about access or hunting pressure. Check both before settling on a county.
To see how harvest unfolds each week in these same reports, Watching the Rut Happen charts Ohio's harvest week by week across the season.
NOTES AND SOURCES
- Data source: deer harvest summaries published by Ohio Division of Wildlife.
- Reference: Ohio Division of Wildlife's <em>Weekly Deer Harvest Report 2024-25</em>, covering harvest reported as of Feb. 2, 2025.
- Calculate archery share by dividing deer killed with archery equipment by a county's harvest total for every hunting implement. Ohio's 'Archery Harvest' category includes longbow along with crossbow.
- For Ohio's 2025 county counts, weekly reports disagree with final reports in 52 counties out of 88, with an overall difference of 85 deer. The primary reporting year here is 2024.
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. Fully Drawn Research is an independent data and analysis desk. This paper reports FDR's analysis of public agency data. Harvest figures describe animals reported or estimated as harvested, not population size, and reflect hunter effort and regulations as well as animal numbers.
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