Hunters collectively recorded a near record harvest of deer during Kentucky’s just concluded 2024-25 season.

Hunters took 149,868 deer – the state’s second-highest harvest ever recorded. Additionally, hunters harvested more deer from public land than any previous year. The percentage of antlered deer taken this past season also set a record.

“We’re very pleased with harvest results,” Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Deer Program Coordinator Joe McDermott said. “We had a great season, even with subpar weather at times.”

The 2024-25 deer hunting season closed on Jan. 20. The season’s harvest is second only to 2015, when hunters took 155,730 deer. The recently completed season’s total is more than 6,000 higher than the 10-year average of 143,442. Kentucky also saw its highest buck, or male deer, harvest on record at 86,071 deer (57.4%), including buck fawns.

A breakdown of harvest by permit type shows 76% of deer were harvested on a statewide or youth deer permit; 16% were landowner permits; and 7% were with senior or disabled permits. The remaining deer were harvested during public land quota hunts or through deer control damage permits.

Kentucky residents accounted for 80% of the deer harvested.

Statewide deer hunting season kicks off annually in Kentucky with archery season in early September. Modern gun season for deer, which runs for three weeks in November, generally accounts for more than two-thirds of the annual overall harvest each year. For the 2024-25 season, 107,392 (71.6%) deer were taken by firearm, 16,662 (11.1%) were taken by bow, 14,020 (9.4%) were taken with crossbows and 11,794 (7.9%) were taken using muzzle-loading firearms.

Poor weather during the opening weekend of modern gun season didn’t lend the most desirable hunting conditions in the field, but harvest data shows it didn’t prevent hunters from getting outside.

“The opening weekend of modern gun is traditionally responsible for our largest percentage of Kentucky’s overall deer harvest each year, so we’re very glad that hunters stuck with it despite the weird weather,” McDermott said. “We had a great turnout for modern gun season.”

“We can see evidence of hunters doing a good job of being selective and avoiding taking young deer,” McDermott said, noting that 71% of harvested bucks were at least 2½ years old.

The age composition of the buck harvest has remained stable since the department began tracking this metric through the department’s “Telecheck” big game check-in system in 2016. Telecheck helps ensure lawful harvests and records important biological data for monitoring harvest trends.

The harvest of female deer remained below the 10-year average for a second straight year, with 63,797 does reported. Five percent of deer taken this season were buck fawns (7,503 deer).

Biologists hope to see the harvest rate between adult male and female deer level out more in the future.

Biologists divide the state into six regions. The harvest percentage in the Green River Region was the highest with 29% of the overall state harvest, followed by the Bluegrass (27%), Southeast (18%), Purchase (14%) and Northeast (12%) regions.

Kentucky’s public lands also produced higher deer harvests in the 2024-25 season. The top wildlife management areas (WMAs) for deer harvests included Peabody (616 deer), Taylorsville Lake (264), Barren River Lake (198), Green River Lake (184) and Clay (174) WMAs.

Hardin County yielded the highest deer harvest of any county in the state this past season with 3,228 deer, followed by Christian (3,092), Breckinridge (2,916), Grayson (2,834) and Hart (2,816) counties. Hardin and Breckinridge reported high harvests even with a baiting ban implemented as a response to a positive Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) detection in a captive deer facility in Breckinridge County.

Though it is not known to affect people, CWD is a highly transmissible, fatal neurological disease affecting white-tailed deer, elk and other members of the deer family. Kentucky has established two surveillance zones to monitor for the presence of CWD, located across eight counties in western Kentucky and three counties in north-central Kentucky. Special regulations apply to these areas, including a ban on baiting. Hunting is the department’s primary method for monitoring and managing the spread of CWD in Kentucky through donated deer and elk samples for testing.

At this time, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has not detected further occurrences of CWD. The department has currently tested 8,465 samples with additional test results pending. Hunters are encouraged to follow the department’s website at fw.ky.gov/cwd for updates pertaining to CWD in Kentucky, especially as the next deer season approaches in the fall. The department will continue monitoring the condition of Kentucky’s deer and assessing samples for detection of CWD.

More than a quarter-million people hunt deer in Kentucky each year. Venison is an important and healthy source of protein for these hunters and their families, as well as many food banks and shelters which help to support through donating venison or making charitable contributions to Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry. Deer hunting also contributes an estimated $800 million to Kentucky’s economy annually.

Hunters can view the online Harvest Results page for in-depth statistics based on county, hunting method, year and more.

As a reminder, the new license year starts March 1. Access the MyProfile online portal to purchase hunting licenses and permits, view personal telecheck history, submit quota hunt applications and more.