Hunters in New York Harvested More than 253,000 Deer in 2020-2021
The 2020 estimated deer take included 137,557 antlerless deer and 116,433 antlered bucks. Statewide, this represents a 30-percent increase in antlerless harvest and a three-percent decrease in buck harvest from the last season.
Across the board, whether with a bow, muzzleloader, or rifle, hunters targeted antlerless deer more in 2020 than 2019, supporting DEC’s management objectives to maintain stable deer populations in most of the State and to reduce deer abundance in a few areas. Hunters took 33,260 deer in the Northern Zone, a 10-percent increase from 2019, primarily due to increased antlerless harvest. Southern Zone hunters took 220,730 deer, a 14-percent increase from 2019, also because of increased antlerless harvest.
Young woman dragging harvested buck in forest clearingIncreased antlerless harvests may have been due, at least in part, to additional hunters and renewed motivation to harvest venison during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the number of licensed big game hunters increased to just over 588,000, approximately seven percent more than 2019. The number of bowhunters increased 10 percent, reaching a new high of more than 251,000, and the number of muzzleloader hunters increased six percent to more than 253,600. And after several years of declining participation, the number of youth deer hunters ages 14 to 15 increased by 23 percent. With these additional hunters, DEC issued approximately six percent more Deer Management Permits (antlerless tags) than in 2019, and hunters were more successful filling DMPs at a greater rate than prior years, resulting in a 34-percent increase in DMP harvest.
Harvest of 2.5-year-old bucks exceeded that of yearling bucks (1.5-years-old) for the second year in a row, as hunters continued to voluntarily pass up young bucks. The goal of DEC’s Let Young Bucks Go and Watch Them Grow campaign is to preserve hunter freedom of choice while advancing the age structure of harvested bucks, and this is happening. Notably, in the portions of southeastern New York without mandatory antler point restrictions, 70 percent of the bucks taken were 2.5 years or older, demonstrating that the voluntary choices of hunters are effective at providing opportunity for hunters to take older bucks.
See DEC’s 2020 Deer Harvest Summary (PDF) for a full report with tables, charts, and maps detailing the deer harvest around the state. You can find past harvest summaries on DEC’s website.
