While hunters are excited about the start Monday of the season when guns can be used, Mike Tonkovich, deer project leader at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, says he doesn’t expect a record deer harvest this year.“The early archery season is a fairly good predictor of how the overall season is likely to go,” he said. “Through the first six weeks of the season, the harvest was off 11 percent.”A number of factors will play into the total, Tonkovich said. For example, standing corn serves as a hiding spot for deer. About 34 percent of the corn picked for grain has been harvested — compared to 94 percent this time last year.And, based on license sales, there are fewer hunters this year.“It is also entirely possible that we have made progress toward reducing the deer herd and the harvest is down because of fewer deer,” Tonkovich said.One of the things that points to a reduction in herd is fewer complaints of crop damage caused by deer in Southeast Ohio, he said. But many who live in this area would argue that there seem to be a lot more deer roaming our neighborhoods. Hudson, for instance, recently decided to issue permits to bow hunters under a new municipal law seeking to cull the local deer population.Archers can kill deer through Feb. 5 on approved residential properties, provided they are hunting on properties that are at least 5 acres, have a permit, have completed an archery proficiency test at Gander Mountain in Twinsburg and meet other requirements.“When you consider that harvest is the principal means by which we manage the [deer] population, one cannot expect a great deal of progress — in terms of maintaining or reducing locally abundant herds — where hunting is limited or nonexistent,” Tonkovich said. “As you might imagine, there isn’t a great deal of hunting in Summit, Stark and, to a lesser extent, Portage counties.“As for Wayne and Medina counties, the data hint that we may be making progress there, particularly in Medina.”However, hunter Kenny Montgomery, 40, of Copley Township, believes the season will be promising. He already killed a doe with an arrow two weeks ago and thinks the gun season will be productive, too.“I think it’s going to be up only because of the number of hunters and the number of deer,” he said.