Record Number Of Deer Harvested In Maryland

The annual white-tail deer hunting season is winding down and state officials say the harvest is close to normal.

''The season this year is similar to the previous two years," said Brain Eyler, Deer Project Leader for the Maryland. "We are harvesting record numbers of deer in Maryland. In 2008 and 2009 we harvested more than 100,000 deer each year for the first times ever. This year we will be close to 100,000 again, but it's too early to tell exactly what it will be."

The Deer Project is responsible for managing deer in the state, both white-tailed and sika deer. The project is using deer management techniques from their 10-year deer management plan.

Over the last couple of decades, the Deer Project has been trying to slow and then reduce a rapidly growing deer population. Hunting is the most cost-effective population control used in the state.

The last available numbers show deer hunting generated over $113 million in retail sales in 2006.

Some hunters have complained that the harvest is down this year. ''Firearm season was down about 8% due to weather and a lot of acorns which make deer hard to pattern," said Eyler. "Overall for the year, we are currently down about 2% compared to last year.''

He said weather isn't an issue for the entire season. Weather may effect for a time, but there is such long season, that weather isn't a factor.

Eyler said that there haven't been any problems in Carroll County this year and that the deer herd remains strong in the area. He added that Maryland has very healthly deer and weights remain steady year to year.

One issue that may effect the harvest is the amount of hunters.

''License sales have been steady for the past five years, but are nearly half of what they were when they peaked in the 1970s. Hunters are getting older and unfortunately it is difficult to recruit new hunters,'' said Eyler.

To show how times have changed in 1975 there were 122 deer harvested in Carroll and they were all bucks, as doe hunting was not allowed. Last year, 5,173 deer were harvested in Carroll, which broke down as 1,779 bucks and 3,394 antlerless.

If a person hunted all the seasons, bow, firearm and muzzleloader they could harvest 35 deer. The season continues with a two-day firearm season this Friday and Saturday for Region B, all counties except Garrett, Allegany, and western Washington. Bow season runs until January 31.

For those wondering about road kill, in 2009, 895 deer were killed by vehicles in Carroll County.