BENNINGTON, Vt. -- Deer season is over and the nearly complete harvest reports show what biologists had been expecting: an increase this season in the number of deer taken by hunters.
According to Debby Wood, secretary for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Office in Rutland, this year during the regular rifle season, 4,897 deer were harvested compared to 4,070 last year. In Bennington County, 425 deer were taken compared to 431 last year.
A mild winter is largely being attributed to the size of the herd, which allowed for high fawn survival rates and healthy adult deer, according to Fish and Wildlife Deer Biologist Adam Murkowski.
"The general consensus across the state is people are seeing more deer," he said, adding that the state understands deer populations are not evenly distributed and some places saw more, others less.
"I’m happy with how the season has gone and hunters seem happy with how the season has gone."
Rifle season is the most popular among deer hunters, followed by archery season. This year, archers took 2,991 deer compared to 2,342 last year. In Bennington County, archers got 192 deer this year, and 152 in the previous year. Each year has two archery seasons in the fall and the numbers reflect both, Wood said.
Wood said she receives the figures from the hundreds of check stations scattered across the state. Some are late to report and she said not all the muzzleloading records are in
The weekend preceding the regular November rifle season is Youth Deer Hunting Weekend, where young people meeting certain requirements can get an early start on the herd. This year, statewide, 1,738 deer were harvested on that weekend with 86 being from Bennington County.
Statewide numbers for the previous year were 1,431 and 94 in Bennington County.
The department makes a complete report on the harvest totals available on its website and it should be posted by March.
Murkowski said the number of antlerless deer harvested was also up, but he expects the deer population will continue to grow all the same. This winter should be interesting, he said, as the department’s studies indicate less high-nutrient, high-carbohydrate foods such as apples and acorns were in the forest this fall. This edible material is called "mast."
"This year the numbers are very low, very low indeed," said Murkowski. "Mast production this year was almost nonexistent in some places."
He said this is not cause to fear for the deer herd, as deer do their heavy grazing in the warmer months and their metabolism slows in the winter.
Abundant food in the fall and early winter, however, does help fawns survive into spring.
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