Deer harvest totals

This season, Kentucky deer hunters harvested 132,302 deer. It’s the lowest deer harvest total since 2012, when hunters bagged 131,395. This season’s total is down 23,432 from the all-time high of 155,734 in 2015. Since then, this is the third time the season total has dipped below 140,000.

Analyzing the harvest by weapon type, this season statewide archery hunters bagged 14,852 deer. Crossbow hunters tagged 12,193 deer. Firearm hunters shot 96,011 deer. And muzzleloader hunters downed 9,246 deer.

While a nine-year low might seem like a really bad thing, it isn’t. Historically speaking, it’s much better than the 1990s and 2000s. In 1999, hunters took only 95,229 deer. And the harvest fluctuated between 103,000 and 125,000 from 2000 to 2011. Since then, the season average is 141,398, and we were only 9,096 below that this year. That’s only a 6.43% decrease.

Still, if the statewide numbers bother you, things aren’t as bleak on the local level. Drilling down on Warren County, the total harvest was 1,253 deer, which is the lowest since 2017, but wasn’t much below the historical average. This season, the county ranked 39th in the state, which is about par for the past decade, too. This year, in Warren County, archery hunters harvested 164 deer, crossbow hunters tagged 163 deer, firearm hunters shot 870 deer and muzzleloader hunters downed 56 deer.

All said, if the decreased numbers aren’t terrible news, what are they? Neither good nor bad. It just is. And it’s a result of decreased hunter participation and/or lower success rates. If more the latter than the former, these are likely attributable to poorer weather (a warmer deer season), habitat degradation (in the form of lost CREP acreage), people spending more time amongst crowds again and much more. It’s not one single factor, and more likely a culmination of things.

What the decreased deer harvest total doesn’t translate to is a damaged deer herd, though. The harvest total would have to drop much lower to signal any true concerns. For now, it’s just a blip in the overall chart. In summary, the Kentucky deer herd is still in great shape, and continues to thrive.

As we move ahead into the offseason, deer and deer hunters alike now have a chance to rest, recover and recuperate. There’s much for deer hunters to do between now and next fall, though. And we’ll bring you the best of it right here in our periodical hunting column.