Hunters harvest 10% more deer in Orleans County, statewide in 2022
File photo by Tom Rivers: These deer are pictured on Nov. 20, 2014 when they were close to the road on the west side of Route 279 in Gaines, just south of Route 104.
The number of deer harvested in New York State increased 10 percent in 2022 to an estimated 231,961, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation reported.
The deer harvested in Orleans County followed the statewide trend with Orleans seeing a 9.7 percent increase, from 4,103 in 2021 to 4,503 in 2022, according to DEC data.
The harvest numbers among nearby counties for 2022 includes:
Total includes 4,503 in Orleans County 4,103
- Orleans, 4,503
- Genesee, 5,769
- Erie, 6,182
- Niagara, 3,430
- Livingston, 7,378
- Monroe, 5,157
- Wyoming, 5,295
“DEC established several new deer hunting opportunities in 2021 and hunters took greater advantage of these opportunities during the 2022 season, including another safe, successful youth hunt,” said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. “Increased hunter success combined with recovering deer populations contributed to an overall increase in total deer harvest.”
The 2022-23 estimated deer take included 116,425 antlered bucks and 115,536 antlerless deer. Statewide, this represents a 5 percent increase in antlered buck harvest and a 15 percent increase in antlerless deer harvest from last season, the DEC reported.
In the press release, the DEC said Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) affected areas of the Hudson Valley and eastern shores of Lake Ontario in 2020 and 2021, resulting in reduced deer hunting success in these areas. Increases in buck harvest, which DEC tracks as an index of deer population abundance, during the 2022-23 seasons indicate that deer populations in affected areas are recovering.
The DEC also said hunters took greater advantage of several new deer hunting opportunities established in 2021. More than 2,000 antlerless deer were taken during the mid-September antlerless-only season, a 9 percent increase from 2021. This season was established to increase harvest of antlerless deer in wildlife management units where deer populations need to be reduced based on DEC’s deer population objectives.
Nearly 2,300 deer, a 38-percent increase from 2021, were harvested by youth hunters during the Youth Hunt Weekend, the DEC said. The increase was due in part to increased success of 12- and 13-year old hunters participating in the second year of a pilot program established by the State Legislature that allows hunters aged 12-13 to hunt deer with a firearm, the DEC said.
