Deer harvests in New York State were down 17% this past hunting season compared to the previous year, according to a recent report by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 

The NYSDEC estimated hunters harvested about 211,269 deer during the 2021-2022 hunting seasons. 

The state agency points to a few factors that may have caused such a large dip, including the resurgence of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease in certain regions of the state and fewer Deer Management Permits allocated. 

The state’s data also revealed a 36% jump in youth deer harvests and a late-season deer harvest increase, particularly among young hunters.

New York’s 2021 deer take included 110,839 antlered bucks and 100,430 antlerless deer. Statewide, this represents a five percent decrease in antlered buck harvest and a 25% decrease in antlerless harvest from the last season. 

State officials believe that the antlerless harvest decline was due to reduced allocation of Deer Management Permits and a natural correction from 2020 when antlerless harvests increased substantially (30%) from 2019.

Several new hunting opportunities were available to New York’s hunters last year. The first was a DEC implemented mid-September antlerless-only season in certain Wildlife Management Units where additional antlerless harvest was needed. This change, which was formally adopted just days before the season opened, resulted in nearly 2,000 deer harvested.

State lawmakers also established a pilot program allowing young hunters, aged 12 and 13, to hunt deer with a firearm in counties that passed a local law to participate. Fifty-two counties opted in, resulting in a 47% increase (17,346) in young hunters licensed to hunt during the special Youth Deer Hunt and a 36% jump in harvests. A report is available on the DEC’s website.