New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation released its final whitetail deer harvest estimate this month and numbers are down.
While deer in certain areas remain to be in healthy populations, across the state, harvest numbers decreased by 15 percent in 2015. Wildlife officials believe that milder weather and fewer permits are the two main reasons for the dip in harvest numbers.
“However, overall deer harvest was lower than expected, as hunting success was apparently also reduced by the unseasonably warm conditions and lack of snow during much of November and December,’’ the DEC said in a release.
Final tallies indicate that an estimated 99,572 bucks equipped with legal antler sizes, were harvested during 2015 seasons compared with 103,401 antlerless deer, each representing 8.3 and 20.5 percent declines respectively.
