New York Hunters Harvested More than 231,000 Deer
Hunters in New York harvested
an estimated 231,961 deer during the 2022 hunting seasons,
a 10-percent increase from last year, New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos
announced today.
"DEC established several
new deer hunting opportunities in 2021 and hunters took greater advantage
of these opportunities during the 2022 season, including another safe,
successful youth hunt," said
Commissioner Seggos. "Increased
hunter success combined with recovering deer populations contributed to
an overall increase in total deer harvest."
The 2022-23 estimated deer
take included 116,425 antlered bucks and 115,536 antlerless deer.
Statewide, this represents a five-percent increase in antlered buck harvest
and a 15-percent increase in antlerless deer harvest from last
season. Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) affected
areas of the Hudson Valley and eastern shores of Lake Ontario in 2020 and
2021, resulting in reduced deer hunting success in these areas. Increases
in buck harvest, which DEC tracks as an index of deer population
abundance, during the 2022-23 seasons indicate that deer populations in
affected areas are recovering.
Hunters also took greater
advantage of several new deer hunting opportunities established in 2021.
More than 2,000 antlerless deer were taken during the mid-September
antlerless-only season. This is a nine-percent increase from
2021. This season was established to increase harvest of antlerless deer
in wildlife management units (WMUs) where deer populations need to be
reduced based on DEC's deer population objectives.
Nearly 2,300 deer, a
38-percent increase from 2021, were harvested by youth hunters during the
Youth Hunt Weekend. The increase was due in part to increased success of
12- and 13-year old hunters participating in the
second year of a pilot program established by the State Legislature that
allows hunters aged 12-13 to hunt deer with a firearm. A summary report of deer hunting by 12- and 13-year-old
hunters in 2022 (PDF) is available on DEC's website.
Lastly, Southern Zone hunters
expanded their participation in the Holiday Deer Hunt, a second portion
of the late bow and muzzleloader season that spans from Dec. 26 to Jan.
1, designed to provide additional hunting opportunity when students are
on school break and families are gathered for the holidays. Nearly 4,000
deer, representing an 11-percent increase from 2021, were harvested
during the 2021-22 Holiday Hunt. Young hunters also reported taking more
deer during the Holiday Deer Hunt than during the traditional portion of
the late bow and muzzleloader season.
Across the state, hunters
continued to voluntarily pass up young bucks, and about 64 percent of the
antlered bucks harvested were 2.5 years old or older. DEC's Let
Young Bucks Go and Watch Them Grow educational
campaign promotes individual choice and voluntary restraint to shift the
age composition of bucks harvested in New York State towards older age
classes, while still providing hunters the freedom to harvest any buck
they desire. Since the campaign's implementation, DEC has documented a
steady increase in the proportion of bucks harvested by hunters that are
2.5 years old or older.
Notable Numbers
·
16.6 and 0.6 - number of deer taken per
square mile in the units with the highest (WMU 8R) and lowest (WMU 5F)
harvest density.
·
64% - portion of the adult buck harvest
that was 2.5 years or older statewide, up from 45 percent a decade ago,
and 30 percent in the 1990s.
·
46.4% - portion of successful deer
hunters that reported harvest as required by law. This is below the
five-year average of 49.3 percent.
·
13,568 - number of hunter-harvested deer
checked by DEC staff in 2022 to determine hunter reporting rate and
collect biological data (e.g., age, sex, antler characteristics).
·
2,727 - deer tested for Chronic Wasting
Disease (CWD) in 2022-23; none tested positive. DEC has tested 63,012
deer for CWD since 2002.
Deer harvest data are gathered
from two main sources-harvest reports required of all successful hunters,
and DEC's examination of harvested deer at meat processors and check
stations across the state. Harvest estimates are made by
cross-referencing these two data sources and calculating the total
harvest from the reporting rate for each zone and tag type. DEC's 2022 Deer Harvest Summary (PDF) report
provides tables, charts, and maps detailing the deer harvest around the
state and can be found on DEC's website. Past
harvest summaries are also available on DEC's website.
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