Local eateries give hunters a taste of Coshocton County
COSHOCTON – Deer hunters aren’t just traveling to Coshocton County for our wildlife. They also come and enjoy a bite at our dining establishments.
“This is the busiest week of the year for us,” said Amy Moran from Mayor’s Corner in West Bedford. “We get a lot of people from out of state.”
She added that cheeseburgers are a number one menu item with the hunters and she usually sees them come in around lunch time.
Josh Meiser from Meiser’s Market in Cooperdale said he ran some food specials during deer gun season, but said they also come in just to grab some snacks.
“We haven’t gotten as many as we usually do,” he said. “The ones we usually see though are from out of town. We’ve gotten some from Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia.”
Meiser believes people travel to Coshocton because of the size of our deer compared to those in other states. However, he said his business doesn’t see half the hunters it used to, but that is because deer can now be checked in with the state by phone or on the Internet.
Moran agreed that business changed when hunters stopped having to take their deer to a check station.
“It killed the camaraderie,” she said. “We used to have a wall of deer hunters’ pictures in here, but that’s gone now.”
Lunch and dinner is drawing hunters to Roberta’s Diner in Warsaw.
“We opened on Monday during gun season mostly because the hunters who came in during bow season asked if we could be open that day too,” said Keith Saylor from Roberta’s.
He said they get hunters from a variety of states, but see a lot from Pennsylvania.
“You get to meet a lot of different people and they often compare us to places where they are from,” Saylor said. “They are very appreciative too.”
The hunters enjoy the prime rib served on Saturdays at Roberta’s.
“We’ve sold out every Saturday since bow season started,” Saylor said.
Deer archery season started Sept. 30, 2017 and runs through Feb. 4, 2018. The week-long gun season ran from Nov. 27 – Dec. 3. There also was a two-day deer youth gun season plus hunters have a weekend in December to hunt deer and a muzzleloader season in January. As of Nov. 28 Coshocton County was leading all counties in Ohio with 3,903 deer harvested by hunters this year.
Category: Business
