A 17% increase over last year

Hunters took 24,078 deer during Ohio's four-day muzzleloader season, January 9-12, with Tuscarawas County again leading the state with 1,345 deer checked. In 2008, a preliminary total of 20,659 deer was taken during muzzleloader season, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.
Counties reporting the highest number of deer checked during the muzzleloader season included: Tuscarawas-1,345; Harrison-1,025; Guernsey-1,000; Washington-937; Athens-816; Belmont-735; Coshocton-692; Licking-679; Meigs-645; and Jefferson-616.

A total of 251,826 deer have been harvested so far this season when combining the gun seasons, early and statewide muzzleloader seasons, and the first nine weeks of the archery season. Hunters took a total of 252,017 deer during all of last year's hunting seasons.

By Greg R. Lawson

Wayne Pacelle, the president and CEO, of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) decided he needed to hit back after a recent column in the Washington Times truthfully outlined the reality of HSUS' mission.

Gene Mueller, a longtime columnist with the Washington Times recently picked up on a previous blog post where I wrote about Rush Limbaugh winning the Field & Stream online sportsmen's "villain" contest. It was a fair piece that made clear that HSUS' main mission is to raise money to, and I quote, "lobby against hunting and/or medical research in which animals are used to test medication and surgical procedures."

In a December 29 letter to the editor at the Washington Times, Pacelle goes off and attempts to defend the HSUS' anti-hunting agenda by stating: