Hunting not only provides valuable funds for conservation but it makes highways a little safer for drivers, too. Take the seven-county area of northeast Ohio for example.
Statistics from the Ohio Department of Public Safety and the Ohio Department of Transportation indicate vehicle-deer collisions decreased by about 600 since 2015, and by 2,650 statewide. During that same time, hunters took more than 2,400 deer in the same region and 186,000 across Ohio.
“Those are all deer that are not out there on the roads to get hit,” John Windau, Ohio Division of Wildlife spokesman, told the Plain Dealer. “And if they’re females, those are deer that won’t be creating more deer.”
The Division of Wildlife also reports the state’s deer population boomed from 17,000 in 1970 to 700,000 in 2016.
(Photo source: Ohio Division of Wildlife)