DEC reports 227K deer taken in 2025, including 4,494 in Orleans County

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 May 2026 at 9:25 am

Robbie Weit took this photo of a deer. This image was the November cover in Orleans County’s 2026 calendar put together by the county tourism department.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is reporting hunters harvested 227,032 white-tailed deer during the 2025-26 hunting seasons, 2 percent more than the 2024 season and within 1 percent of the 5-year average.

The DEC recorded 4,494 deer taken in Orleans County in 2025, including 1,911 adult male, 232 male fawn, 2,087 adult female, and 264 female fawn.

The DEC documented widespread adoption of crossbows following an amendment to the Environmental Conservation Law in 2025 that allowed deer hunters to use a crossbow in the same seasons, places, and manner as a vertical bow.

In 2025, crossbows accounted for 55% of the total archery season deer harvest. For comparison, in 2024, crossbows accounted for 33% of the total archery harvest, the DEC reported.

“It is clear that deer hunters took advantage of expanded crossbow hunting opportunities this past season,” said DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton. “We are pleased that more hunters can participate in New York’s archery deer seasons and contribute to effective deer management into the future. The results from this past season continue to demonstrate that New York has much to offer for deer hunters.”

NYS calculated deer take in recent year:

2025 – 227,032
2024 – 223,304
2023 – 209,781
2022 – 231,961
2021 – 211,269
2020 – 253,990
2019 – 224,190

The biggest year in recorded history is 2002 with 308,216 deer harvested.

Other highlights from the 2025 report include:

The 2025 antlered buck harvest of 120,909 was 1% less than 2024, but finally passed a landmark in buck age structure. For the first time in modern history, New York hunters harvested as many 3.5-year-old or older bucks (28.1%) as yearling bucks (28.0%). For comparison, 25 years ago only 10% of harvested bucks in New York were 3.5 years old or older and 67% were 1.5 years old.
The 2025 antlerless deer harvest of 106,123 was up 5% from 2024. However, antlerless deer harvest throughout much of New York was still below what is necessary to achieve deer population objectives, the DEC said.
No wild deer tested positive out of 3,050 tests for Chronic Wasting Disease, as efforts continue to “Keep NY’s wild deer CWD-free.”
530,808: The number of licensed NY hunters during the 2025 deer hunting seasons, an estimated 85% of whom actively participated in deer hunting.
11%: The estimated percentage of hunters who used the newly-offered E-tags for all of their 2025 deer hunting. An additional 19% of hunters used a combination of E-tags and paper tags throughout the hunting seasons.
63%: The portion of successful deer hunters reporting their harvest as required by law. This is well above the five-year average of 49%.
2,567: The estimated deer harvest by 12–15-year-old hunters during the Youth Firearms Season.