POMEROY — Nearly ideal weather contributed to an increase in the deer killed here and statewide Monday, the first day of the week-long deer gun season.

Meigs County reported a first-day harvest of 717 deer, up from 569 on the first day of the 2009 season. Hunters took 37,805 white-tailed deer on Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. Hunters in Gallia County bagged 607 deer on Monday, up from just a total of 455 on the first day of the 2009 gun season. The season remains open through Sunday and then reopens for two days on Dec. 18-19.

The preliminary figures from deer check stations throughout the state show an increase of 12.5 percent from last year's opening day total of 33,607.

Tuscarawas County had the highest deer harvest on opening day, with 1,806.

Combining the results of Monday's harvest with those from the early muzzleloader season, the first six weeks of archery season and the recent youth deer-gun season, a preliminary total of 96,725 deer have been killed so far this deer hunting season. That number compares to 97,371 harvested last year at this time.

In all, hunters took a total of 261,314 deer during all of last year's hunting seasons.

Approximately 420,000 hunters are expected to participate in the statewide deer-gun season. Ohio's deer population was estimated to be 750,000 prior to the start of the fall hunting seasons.