Photo Provided A white-tailed buck featured on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website spies a photographer capturing his picture. Ohio hunters checked 28,606 antlered deer during the gun hunting season that ended Sunday.

OHIO HUNTERS checked the highest total number of white-tailed deer in 15 years during last week’s gun season that ended Sunday.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, hunters checked 87,192 white-tailed deer, which is the highest total since 2011 at 90,282.

Nearby Guernsey County was among the top 10 counties where the most deer were harvested with 2,201.

Coshocton led Ohio counties taking 2,954, with Tuscarawas, Knox, Muskingum, Carroll, Ashtabula, Washington, Ashland and Licking counties following. More than 1,800 deer were taken in each of those counties.

Shotguns, straight-walled cartridge rifles, muzzleloaders, handguns and archery equipment are all legal hunting equipment that can be used during the gun season week , according to ODNR.

Percentages of equipment used included: straight-walled cartridge rifles at 64% taking 55,611 deer, shotguns at 30% taking 26,286 deer, muzzleloaders at 4% taking 3,271 deer, archery equipment at 2% taking 1,357 deer and handguns at less than 1% taking 467 deer.

There will be an additional gun season weekend this month on Dec. 21-22, allowing hunters to have another opportunity to use a firearm.

Belmont County’s harvest number for opening day was 1,677 deer checked, with Harrison County at 1,804 and Monroe at 1,480. By the end of the week, Belmont County hunters had checked 2,267 deer, with 2,946 checked in Harrison and 1,788 in Monroe.

Ohio hunters checked 58,586 antlerless deer, which is 67% of the total reported, and 28,606 antlered deer, which is 33%. Antlerless deer include does and button bucks.

According to ODNR, nonresidents from other states traveled to Ohio to take part in the gun hunting season. They came from places such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia and New York.

ODNR states that 404,331 permits were issued through Sunday, which includes sales of deer management permits for antlerless deer and either-sex permits.

Management permits are available for purchase and valid through Dec. 22 under a newly expanded timeline. Licenses and permits can be purchased at wildohio.gov or any authorized sales agent. People can also download the HuntFish OH app where hunters can check their game, explore public hunting areas, purchase hunting licenses or deer permits and see county bag limits.