Photo by Kenny Bahr.

The 2005 total deer harvest of 125,529 set a new single season record, and followed a span of seven years where the annual harvest increased over the previous year. This possibly indicates a growth in the overall statewide herd. Going into the 2006 season, Indiana again seemed poised to perhaps break that record number as well, continuing the trend of an increased annual harvest.

The total number of whitetails taken statewide last year was 125,381 animals. While this number is very close to the previous season's mark, and might point to herd stabilization, but that isn't necessarily the case. As many of you are aware, a widespread case of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) hit west-central Indiana pretty hard last fall. This, no doubt, affected the overall total harvest figure, as several counties in the EHD zone posted harvest figures below their seasonal averages. If not for the disease and subsequent deer deaths, the final harvest figure would most likely have surpassed that of the 2005 season. District 6 biologist Dean Zimmerman addressed the concerns of local hunters.

"It was probably the largest outbreak of EHD in Indiana to date." However, while the disease did take its share of animals in the area, Zimmerman doesn't feel that the outbreak will negatively affect the herd there in the long-term. "Based on this fall's harvest, EHD might not have impacted the herd in west-central Indiana as much as I had expected."

Zimmerman feels that the disease may have affected the herd in a more localized fashion. In other words, while one farm might have been hit pretty hard in the zone, another farm up the road may not have seen as much damage. Some localized areas in the outbreak zone may have experienced a loss of 50 to 60 percent of the resident deer. Because of this, he has some advice for concerned landowners and hunters in those areas.

"Hunters and landowners should evaluate deer numbers on the land they hunt. If they aren't seeing the number of deer they normally see or would like to see, then I'd be conservative in the harvesting of does in those areas. We are going to drop our antlerless harvest in some of those counties that were hit harder."

Zimmerman reports that the counties of Parke, Putnam, Fountain and Vermillion were hit the hardest in that area. According to District 9 biologist Roger Stonebraker, the counties hit hardest in his district are Sullivan, Clay, Owen, Greene and Vigo.

Of the total number of deer killed last year, approximately 49,097 (39 percent) were considered adult bucks by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The number of adult females taken was approximately 45,257 (36 percent) animals. The number of fawns was estimated at 13,688 (11 percent) males and 17,339 (14 percent) females.

Of these totals, 1,175 antlerless deer were taken during the inaugural youth antlerless-only season, and 25,962 deer of both sexes were harvested during the early archery season. A total of 80,661 were taken during the firearms season, along with 16,127 taken during the December muzzleloader season, and 1,456 during the late archery season. Crossbows accounted for 721 animals compared with 520 the previous year.

The firearms season harvest of 80,661 was 5 percent lower than the 84,664 animals harvested in 2005. Of those totals, 36,095 were antlered bucks, which was a 10 percent drop from the 40,014 taken the year before. The antlerless harvest of 44,566 was nearly identical to the 2005 antlerless harvest of 44,560.

The early archery total of 25,962 represents 21 percent of the total harvest for the year and is 14 percent greater than the previous take of 22,844 (the early-season totals include those from the early Urban Deer Zone totals). The late archery harvest comprised 1 percent of the year's total, similar to the previous total. The combined archery seasons yielded 27,418 deer, an increase of 13 percent from the 24,210 harvested in 2005. Antlerless deer included 65 percent of the total archery harvest, a slight increase from the 62 percent from the year before.

The number of deer harvested in individual counties ranged from 82 in Tipton County to 3,287 in Steuben County. Harvests exceeded 1,000 deer in 62 counties, and 3,000 deer in two counties. The antlered buck harvest exceeded 1,000 in four counties last year versus seven in 2005. Antlerless deer comprised at least half of the total harvest in 89 of the state's 92 counties in 2006 versus 83 counties the previous season.

The seven northeastern counties that make up Zone 1 produce plenty of deer. This seven-county zone has one of the highest deer densities of any area in Indiana.

ZONE 1
The seven northeastern counties that make up Zone 1 produce plenty of deer. This seven-county zone has one of the highest deer densities of any area in Indiana. Zone 1 produced 17,559 whitetails last year, up just slightly from the 17,495 deer from the previous season. Every county in the zone, with the exception of Elkhart, produced at least 1,500 animals.