Advertisement

KY Deer Harvest Breaks Last Year's Record

KY Deer Harvest Breaks Last Year's Record
Advertisement
By West Kentucky Star Staff
Dec. 06, 2019 | KENTUCKY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 06, 2019 | 12:57 PM | KENTUCKY
A record number of deer were harvested during the latest deer hunting season.

According to the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife, a record number of 107,039 deer were harvested during the 16-day modern gun season that ended November 24.

During last year's modern gun season, hunters harvested 106,804 deer.

“Season timing and weather conditions before opening day made us think we should have a good season,” said Kyle Sams, acting Deer and Elk Program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “We had a poor mast crop this year, which puts deer on the move. We also had perfect weather: not too cold and not too warm.”

Sams said hunters harvested 35,143 deer during the opening weekend of the modern gun season, 19,234 on the second weekend, and 11,576 on the third weekend.

Some of the increased antlered deer harvest during modern gun deer season over the past two seasons relates to regulation changes which increased the modern gun deer season in counties within zone 3 and zone 4 from 10 days up to 16 days, which made all zones have the same season length. The change had been requested by many hunters and had strong support which was documented in a recent deer hunter survey as well as online questionnaire.

“Those six extra days includes a weekend and that is big for those hunters,” Sams said. “It is one reason why that third weekend harvest was so high. Zone 4 hunters had six extra days to harvest an antlered deer.”

Some hunters might be concerned about the possible over-harvest of deer with two consecutive record modern gun season harvest totals. However, the statewide one-buck limit, coupled with a reduced bag limit of antlerless deer in zone 4, will ensure that it doesn't adversely affect the herd.

Sams says he expects the good hunting to continue through the December muzzleloader season which opens December 14 and goes through December 22.

If the current trends are maintained, the 2019-2020 deer season looks to be the second highest harvest totals ever. The current record is 155,730 which took place in the 2015-2016 season.

You can learn more about deer hunting at the Kentucky Fish & Wildlife page linked below.

On the Net:

The Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement
ADVERTISEMENT