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During the 2018-2019 deer hunting season, an estimated 227,787 white-tailed deer were killed, according to new numbers released by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
In the previous deer hunting season, hunters harvested 203,427 deer, which had been a 4.5 percent decrease from 2016, the NYSDEC noted. Regionally, hunters killed 28,642 deer in the Northern Zone and 199,145 deer in the Southern Zone. Approximately 60 percent of the targeted animals were more than two and a half years old, which is a record.
"Whether through organized deer hunting cooperatives or due to personal decisions, it's exciting to see how the voluntary choice of hunters to Let Young Bucks Go and Watch Them Grow is shifting our buck harvest," DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. "Many hunters desire to see older, large bucks on the landscape, and as hunters choose to pass on shots at young bucks, that change is happening."
The estimated state deer take included 114,402 antler-less deer and 113,385 antlered bucks. Statewide, this represents a 20 percent increase in antler-less harvest and a 5 percent increase in buck harvest from last season.
Seggos said that, “hunting benefits all New Yorkers by reducing negative impacts of deer on forests, agricultural crops, and communities, while contributing an estimated $690 million to the state's economy through hunting-related expenses and license purchases, which helps support conservation and resource management efforts at DEC.”
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