Deer & Dollars: Hunting season a bonanza for many area businesses
By Sam Shawver, sshawver@mariettatimes.comArticle Photos
Fact Box
Facts
In Ohio, spending by hunters and anglers directly supports 33,000 jobs paying a total of more than $934 million to working residents around the state.
Spending by hunters and fishermen generates more than $195 million in state and local taxes annually.
The economic stimulus of hunting and fishing equates to $5.3 million a day being pumped into the state's economy.
Annual spending by sportsmen in Ohio totals more than $1.9 billion.
Sources: The Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, www.sportsmenslink.org, National Shooting Sports Foundation, www.nssf.org, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov
You can buy anything from camoflauged gloves to pink guns at the Southeastern Trading Post in Waterford.
"We have four daughters, so we sell some pink shotguns and rifles that are designed to help get girls interested in hunting," explained trading post owner Ted Offenberger who opened the store three years ago.
"Business is up this year, and we've been busy since before bow season began in September," he said. "We expanded our inventory and sold a lot more bows this year than last. But we're also expanding our gun inventory a little."
Offenberger's trading post is among many Ohio businesses that share in more than $859 million spent annually by hunters throughout the Buckeye State, according to information from the latest U.S. Fish and Wildlife economic impact survey.
The state's deer gun season opens Monday, and Sherry Sampson, manager of the Lakeside Motel along Ohio 60 near Beverly, expects the 38-room facility will be booked to capacity by hunters looking to bag a trophy-sized whitetail from the Southeast Ohio herd.
"We see lots of hunters from the Dayton and Cleveland areas, but many come from Pennsylvania, too," she said. "I've been here for 23 years, and this happens every year. A lot of hunters have a standing reservation during hunting season."
Charlotte Keim, executive director of the Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce, said the area's other motels and hotels also benefit from the numbers of hunters who travel to Southeast Ohio during deer season.
"They spend money in our motels and eat in the local restaurants," she said. "But a lot of local hunters' wives also use this time to do holiday shopping while their husbands are out in the field."
Carlton Schramm, employee at the Workingman's Store on Putnam St. in Marietta, said that shop also receives a fair amount of hunting season-related business.
"We sell a lot of insulated boots, blaze-orange vests, and camoflauge clothing," he said. "There's usually a pickup in business during this time."
Susie Vance with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the state is rated sixth among the top 10 or 12 states that receive the most economic impact from hunters and fishermen.
"Our state is really appealing to hunters from all over," she said. "We have a very healthy deer herd with no CWD (chronic wasting disease), and we have a four-month archery season, and have added an extra weekend to our deer gun season."
Vance added that although the state's hunting license sales had been declining over the last 10 to 20 years, those sales have increased by 5 percent this year.
Alan Babb, 46, of Rinard Mills was purchasing his hunting license and a deer tag at the Marietta Kmart on Pike Street Monday afternoon.
"I was laid off from my job as a contractor in June," Babb said. "So this license will help put food on our table this winter."
Kmart sales associate James Everson said he's heard the same story from many customers purchasing hunting licences this year.
"We're seeing more business this year," he said. "A lot of them just like to hunt, but some are hunting to feed their own families or to provide meat for others."
In addition to sales of knives, binoculars, camoflauge clothing and blinds, ammunition and archery supplies, Everson said he sells many licenses to hunters from out of state.
"One fellow brought a camera crew here from North Carolina to film a deer hunt," he said.
Everson said the influx of hunters from out of state is interesting, especially since an out-of-state deer hunting license costs $125, while in-state hunters pay only $19 for a license. Tags, attached to each kill, are an additional $24 for both in- and out-of-state hunters.
Wendy Wharff, executive director of the Marietta Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, says there's no question that hunting has an economic impact on the Marietta area and all of Southeastern Ohio.
"I used to help run a deer-checking station, and I've been to hunting expositions and trade shows throughout the nation and state of Ohio," she said. "Our county and surrounding counties are highly sought after for our large deer, and the hunters come from all over.
"I know one man from Canada who has family here and comes back every year," Wharff added. "And just last week during a meeting at The Galley downtown, I saw several guys dressed in camo gear who stopped in to buy dinner. These are hunters who spend money in our local economy."
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bulldog
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11-25-09 3:42 PM
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Talking about big city hunters. For the past five years I have run three hunters from columbus off of my property. During the youth hunt I took my daughter hunting and what did I find this piece of garbage and his kid on my property and they see me comming towards them and they jump over my fence onto the neighbors property and hide in the brush and take off their orange. Next time I will make their butt cheeks permanate ear muffs. Stay on your own property and you will be fine. I have started carrying a camera with me and I will be calling the game warden for now on. No more being civil.
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JPC1965
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11-25-09 9:14 AM
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Hunting is like any other activity, there are some people that are good at it, safe, law-abiding, responsible, etc. and others that are not. In my experience, where someone resides or what kind of vehicle they drive doesn't have anything to do with their skills or likelihood of abiding by the hunting laws. The laws regarding hunting on someone else's land are straightforward in Ohio. If a hunter is hunting on someone else's land, they must have the landowner's permission. If you are a landowner and find someone hunting on your land illegally you can have the trespasser/hunter arrested. If you have been given permission to hunt on someone else's land, it is your responsibility to know the land's boundaries so you don't wander onto someone else's property. If you're not the landowner, it's also important to know whether there will be other people hunting on the same property. If there will be, you can then decide whether you want to hunt on the same land as other hunters.
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Indian
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11-24-09 4:31 PM
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I wouldn't label them all either, but darn close. Even the out of town boaters are rude and don't follow the rules. Why do they come to our area? Is it the lack of manpower to enforce the law in this large area? Not in my backyard. I call for enforcement officers everytime I see them breaking the law.
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armybrat
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11-24-09 3:10 PM
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We can't label every out of town hunter. That is to unfair. Hunting brings in business to this area. I know some hunters who bring their wives and the wives do alot of shopping in this town. It is wrong to label all of a group just because a few are bad.
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wjb331
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11-24-09 2:46 PM
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if they are breaking laws and/or trespassing, have them arrested!
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norton1
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11-24-09 2:34 PM
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I agree with TheGuyNextDoor. I live in Pennsylvania, and have had interaction from the city hunters from Philadelphia. They should not be in the woods at all, they really do pose a risk. I've gone to gamelands at 5am, seen them sleeping in their cars (most don't even have trucks, they're bringing their VW Jettas or whatever), and when I come out at noon for lunch, they're still sleeping. BTW, I don't come to Ohio to hunt, so I'm not "one of those out of staters". I just happen to really enjoy the Marietta area, and would one day like to move there. So much better than Northeastern PA.
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Roscoe
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11-24-09 2:14 PM
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Wouldn't welcome anyone who doesn't respect another person's property or follow established laws & regulations - money or not.
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hilltop
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11-24-09 12:54 PM
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Don't want them here when they come in my yard and steel to keep from getting caught being where they are not suppose to be in the frist place.
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wjb331
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11-24-09 12:47 PM
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Gee, welcome to Washington County. I guess these guys don't want your dollars here!
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Baseball
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11-24-09 9:31 AM
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I agree...It's the weekend warriors who go out with no regard for anyone’s safety and who come in from out of state shooting all over the place…hard to find a place to hunt where there aren’t 20 other people tromping through your stand or blind pushing the deer away from you.
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TheGuyNextDoor
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11-24-09 9:24 AM
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I wish the out-of-town hunters would stay away. The state should charge $1000 for a non-resident hunting license and we should shun the hunters from the bigger cities in Ohio. The big-city hunters, generally speaking, are often unsafe and put many of us local hunters at risk. They come in and lease the land we used to hunt on for free and shoot at anything that moves. Yea...I know that I might be over dramatizing it a bit, but ask any local hunter who has had a direct interaction with these people and they will most likely agree with what I said.
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