Photo by BillKinney.com

By Javier Serna

Indiana's deer harvest hardly changes from year to year. It did, however, increase slightly from the previous season, which is a trend that has continued for many seasons. In 2003, hunters took home 106,986 deer, a 2.5 percent increase from the 2002 season's 104,428. The 2002 season's harvest produced a 1 percent increase from the previous year. Last season's mark was the highest since 1996, when hunters harvested a whopping 123,086 deer.

Indiana deer biologist Jim Mitchell said that the state's population has stabilized over the past several years. In some areas, like state parks, there were too many deer. But in other regions, the reduction hunts at state parks aren't needed as often.

As usual, Indiana's deer management zones hardly change from one year to the next, though they sometimes fluctuate slightly. Some counties decrease a little, while others might report slight increases. Rarely, like in Jasper County's case, does a county's harvest change drastically. Not so in Jasper County, where it increased from 1,138 deer taken in 2002 to 2003's harvest of 2,272.

A slight change occurred in the top five counties statewide in 2003. The top four remained the same with Steuben (2,735) being the top dog, followed by Switzerland (2,556), Franklin (2,412) and Washington (2,398). But Parke County (2,379) bumped Dearborn County (2,331) from the No. 5 spot. Dearborn, though, moved down to No. 6.

There was no change, however, to the counties reporting the lowest harvest numbers. The smallest harvest was Tipton's 68 deer followed by Benton County (143), Hancock (244), Rush (254) and Marion (264).

Another slight change was seen in the buck harvest. While 2002 was the first year of a new one-buck rule, that year the buck harvest decreased by just more than 1,000 bucks. In 2003, however, the buck harvest jumped to just more than 1,000 bucks, more than were taken the last year multiple bucks could be harvested per hunter. In fact, 2003's 49,533 bucks were the highest total since hunters bagged 50,182 in 1994.

But still, the number is comparable to recent years. The one-buck rule was implemented due to public demand, not for biological reasons. And biologist Mitchell contends that the rule won't, by the end of its five-year trial period, result in larger antlered bucks. And while one segment of the public demanded the rule be in place, now that it is in place, the other half who doesn't like the rule is now the vocal majority.

"Of course, the other side has come out of the woodwork," Mitchell said. "Now we're hearing from them. Before the one-buck rule was in place, hunters could take two bucks per year, one with a firearm and one with a bow. But now they can take only one between both weapon types."

The thought that more bucks would survive from one season to the next seems to be nullified, since there's actually been an increase in the bucks harvested. The rule is just spreading the bucks around to more hunters, which isn't such a bad thing.

The numbers may redeem Mitchell, who was never for the one-buck rule. He originally said that the buck harvest would remain constant over the five years of the experiment. Unlike 2002, when fewer bucks were taken during the archery season, more were taken during those same periods last year.

In 2002, the first year of the one-buck rule, hunters took their 7,397 bucks in the early archery season, which was a drop from 12,016 in the season before the one-buck rule was put in place. Mitchell believed it was because hunters were passing on bucks early in the season in hopes of a larger one later. But in 2003, the early archery harvest went up to 9,084.

Conversely, 2003's buck harvest was 46.3 percent of the total harvest, up only 1 percent from 2002's buck harvest. That's pretty close to Indiana's five-year average of about 45 percent.

On the hornless side, the state continues issuing antlerless permits with bonus county antlerless permits in addition to the above bag limits. While the program was limited to a specific quota for specified counties when it started 20 years ago, the program was "liberalized" in 1996 so that hunters didn't have to apply for these permits through a drawing.

In 1993, the permits were opened up further to include muzzleloader and late archery seasons, if the quotas weren't filled during the firearms season, Mitchell said. This has helped get the statewide harvest over 100,000 deer in recent years.

The firearms season remains the largest harvest period, though it dropped by 3 percent. The harvest was 71,597 last year. For the seventh consecutive year, no counties have exceeded 3,000 deer. The antlered buck harvest exceeded 1,000 deer in five counties, which was up from four counties in 2002. There were 16 counties with antlerless harvests of over 1,000 deer, which is up from 14 counties the previous season.

Zone 1's mix of agricultural and woodlands have kept it a top producer for years. Noble County, again, came in second place in the zone with a harvest of 2,310. That's an increase from the previous season's 2,207, which was also an increase from the previous year. However, Noble County's buck harvest decreased slightly from 970 in 2002 to 958 in 2003. This, considering the overall harvest is up, continues a trend of the antlerless harvest increasing. Last year, a total of 1,352 antlerless deer were taken, an increase from 1,237 in 2002 and 1,173 in 2001.

A portion of Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area (FWA) lies in Noble County - offering a great public hunting opportunity.

LaGrange County remains in third place with another harvest increase from the previous year. LaGrange added 2,213 to the statewide numbers, an increase from 1,954. The buck harvest increased to 820, a three-year high, after dropping to 665 in 2002. In 2001, the buck harvest was 715.

A great public land option for LaGrange County is Pigeon River FWA in Mongo.

Kosciusko County sportsmen harvested 2,131 deer, with 1,047 of those being bucks. Marshall County hunters tagged 1,848 deer, while DeKalb County sportsmen harvested 1,507 deer.

LaPorte County, while falling to second place in the zone, continues its upward trend with 1,941 deer in 2003, up from 1,837 in 2002. That number was up from 1,699 in 2001. LaPorte County's harvest has now increased for four consecutive years. The county's buck harvest also increased to 826 from 764 in 2002 and 687 in 2001.

Two public hunting opportunities exist in LaPorte County: Kingsbury and Kankakee FWAs.

Fulton County, while not making the 1,500 club, also increased its overall harvest. Last year, its hunters logged 1,368 deer, while 1,267 deer were taken in 2002. The buck harvest also increased to 588 from 567 in 2002.

Allen County increased its total harvest to 1,233 after 2002's harvest of 1,157 deer. The previous year, in 2001, only three more deer than in 2002 were taken. Allen County's buck total also moved up to 592 from 521 in 2002 and 525 in 2001.

Whitley County's arrival at second place was welcome, as Huntington County had slipped in recent years. Of the 1,111 deer, 495 made up the buck total, while 615 were antlerless.

Wabash County sat pat in third place with 1,041 deer, up from 988 in 2002. The buck harvest increased from 563 in 2002 to 573 in 2003. The antlerless total, which had fallen slightly the year before, was up to 469.

Adams County, which had nearly doubled its harvest in 2001, fell only slightly from the previous year. Last year, 469 deer were taken, which is down slightly from 2002's 480.

Fountain County, once again, is the top county with 1,237 deer harvested. That number is slightly up from the 1,232 taken in 2002. In fact, the county's harvest has hardly moved since 2001, when 1,235 deer were taken. The buck harvest sat still at 573, the exact number of bucks that were knocked down in 2002. So the county's antlerless harvest naturally increased to 664, five more than in 2002, but still down from the 687 in 2001.

Tippecanoe County is still in second place after 1,179 in 2003. That bested its 2002 harvest total by 10 deer. The buck harvest bounced back to 561 after heading on a downward spiral in 2002, when 455 bucks were taken as opposed to 481 in 2001.

Miami County's 1,106 deer harvest moved it into third place. It replaces Warren County as the third 1,000-plus harvest county in the zone. Warren's harvest had already been declining in 2002. Miami, however, had 548 bucks, which was only 10 fewer than its antlerless deer harvest total.

Switzerland County, with 2,556 deer killed in 2003, took second place honors statewide and is No. 1 in the zone, surpassing Franklin County. Switzerland's harvest total was up from the previous season's total of 2,404.

Franklin County, which had only surpassed Dearborn County the year before, slipped slightly in its total. Franklin County dropped to 2,412 deer in 2003 from 2,423 in 2002. That's still better than the 2,305 taken in 2001, though. And statewide, Franklin County ranks No. 3.

Dearborn County continues to see its harvest drop. The county had 2,331 deer harvested in 2003 compared to the 2,404 in 2002. In 2001, Dearborn County was ranked No. 2 in the state with 2,510 deer.

Zone 5 also had three more counties in the 1,500-harvest club. Jefferson County hunters logged 2,216 deer, Ripley County counted 1,602 deer and Jennings County sportsmen checked in 1,561 deer.

Washington County continues its No. 1 ranking with 2,398 deer being harvested in 2003, down only three deer from 2002. There were 2,426 deer taken in 2001. The buck harvest rose to 1,149 from 1,071 in 2002 and 1,075 in 2001.

Parke County stayed in second place in the zone with 2,379, which was only up two deer from 2002. Jackson County also didn't budge from third place with 2,272 deer taken, though that was down from 2002's harvest of 2,362.

Orange County, while No. 4 in the zone, still had 2,401 deer harvested, of which 817 were bucks. Other counties that shouldn't be overlooked are Greene (1,961), Harrison (1,944), Perry County (1,896), Putnam (1,780) and Dubois (1,673). The counties of Brown, Clark, Lawrence and Martin reported harvests in the 1,500s.

Pike County continues to lead the zone, though it dropped from its 1,716 harvest in 2002 to 1,642 in 2003, which was also lower than 2001's 1,678. Pike County is the zone's only county to exceed the 1,500 mark. Pike County's buck harvest was 742, which continues a downward trend. In 2002, 753 were harvested and in 2001, the number was 776.

Daviess County moves into the No. 2 spot in this zone with 1,405 deer being harvested, a drop from 1,433 in 2002. But it was at least able to stay in the 1,400s. Daviess County's buck harvest also increased to 585 in 2003 from 569 in 2002.

Sullivan County, which had a decrease in harvest in 2002, continues the trend, dropping its harvest to 1,373 in 2003 from 1,487 in 2002. In 2001, Sullivan County sportsmen took 1,528 deer. The county's buck total stood still at 753, which in 2002 was down from 2001's buck harvest of 820.

In fourth place, Spencer County increased its harvest total to 1,336 in 2003 from 1,293 in 2002. Also, Spencer's buck harvest at 699 exceeds the county's antlerless total of 637.

Next month's deer section will highlight our state's top trophy buck counties.