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DEC Announces 2025 Deer Harvest Estimates
Published: May 20, 2026 at
05:45 p.m.
By: Press Release
from NYS DEC
DEC Announces 2025 Deer Harvest Estimates
Crossbow Expansion Widely Adopted by Archery Hunters
First Time in Modern New York History that Mature
Buck Harvest Exceeds Yearling Buck Harvest
New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton
today announced that hunters harvested an estimated 227,032 white-tailed
deer during the 2025-26 hunting seasons, approximately 2% more than the
2024 season and within 1% of the 5-year average.
“It is clear that
deer hunters took advantage of expanded crossbow hunting opportunities this
past season,” said Commissioner Lefton. “We are pleased
that more hunters can participate in New York’s archery deer seasons and
contribute to effective deer management into the future. The results from
this past season continue to demonstrate that New York has much to offer
for deer hunters.”
Following
an amendment to the Environmental Conservation Law in
2025 that allowed deer hunters to use a crossbow in the same seasons,
places, and manner as a vertical bow, DEC documented widespread adoption of
crossbows. In 2025, crossbows accounted for 55% of the total archery season
deer harvest. For comparison, in 2024, crossbows accounted for 33% of the
total archery harvest. Crossbows are a more approachable hunting implement
for hunters who are new to archery or have difficulty drawing a vertical
bow. In 2025, archery hunters who harvested a deer using a crossbow were on
average 9 years older and were more than twice as likely to be female than
those who harvested a deer with a vertical bow.
The 2025 antlered
buck harvest of 120,909 was 1% less than 2024, but finally passed a
landmark in buck age structure. For the first time in modern
history, New York hunters harvested as many 3.5-year-old or older bucks
(28.1%) as yearling bucks (28.0%). For comparison, 25 years ago only 10% of
harvested bucks in New York were 3.5 years old or older and 67% were 1.5 years
old.
The 2025
antlerless deer harvest of 106,123 was up 5% from 2024. However, antlerless
deer harvest throughout much of New York was still below what is necessary
to achieve deer population objectives. Sufficient harvest of
antlerless deer is necessary to keep deer populations in balance with
available habitat and at levels that are acceptable to all members of the
public. To encourage hunters to harvest more antlerless deer in future
seasons, DEC recently proposed Changes to Hunting Regulations to Increase Harvest
of Antlerless Deer.
Notable Numbers
from the 2025 Deer Seasons:
- 0: The
number of positive results from 3,050 wild deer tested for Chronic
Wasting Disease, as efforts continue to “Keep NY’s wild deer CWD-free.”
- 530,808: The number of licensed NY hunters during the 2025 deer
hunting seasons, an estimated 85% of whom actively participated in
deer hunting.
- 11%: The estimated percentage of hunters who used the
newly-offered E-tags for all of their 2025 deer hunting. An
additional 19% of hunters used a combination of E-tags and paper tags
throughout the hunting seasons.
- 63%: The portion of successful deer hunters reporting their harvest
as required by law. This is well above the five-year average of 49%.
Harvest reporting was likely increased through hunters adopting
E-tagging, which requires immediate reporting as part of the tagging
process.
- 2,567: The
estimated deer harvest by 12–15-year-old hunters during the Youth Firearms Season.
- 17.1 and 0.7: The estimated number of deer harvested
per square mile in the Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) with the
highest (WMU 8R) and lowest (WMU 5F) harvest density.
- 12,385: The number of harvested deer checked by DEC field staff
to gather data such as deer age, sex, and hunter reporting rates. This check data,
along with hunter harvest reports, allows DEC to estimate the total deer harvest and monitor
trends in deer populations.
DEC’s 2025 Deer Harvest Summary report provides
tables, figures, and maps detailing the deer harvest around the state. Past
harvest summaries are also available on DEC’s website. DEC’s White-tailed deer Management Plan provides
information on how DEC determines deer population objectives throughout the
state.
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