Despite unseasonable weather and a big mast crop, Kentucky’s 2014-15 deer season ended with hunters posting the second-highest harvest total ever.
“It was a great season,” said Gabe Jenkins, deer biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “With the hunting conditions we had there’s usually a decline in harvest, but it didn’t happen. The harvest started slow, but really picked up in late October and November.”
Hunters checked in 138,886 deer, second only to last season’s record kill of 144,409. It was the third season in a row that hunters checked in over 130,000 deer.
In the past decade, there has been a 23.4 percent increase in the number of deer taken, based on harvest figures posted on the department’s website.
“We’ve been setting records in recent years for the archery harvest in September,” said Jenkins. “That didn’t happen this season.”
Here’s some deer harvest highlights from the 2014-15 season:
* Archers took 18,366 deer, second only to last season’s record kill of 20,835. Ten seasons ago, bow hunters bagged just 11,636 deer. The harvest total from this season represents a 57.8 percent increase in the past decade.
* The harvest by gun hunters continues to grow, too. Gun hunters killed 102,885 deer, second only to last season’s record of 104,621. Ten seasons ago, gun hunters took 84,298 deer. The harvest total from this season represents a 22 percent increase in the past decade.
“I think our hunters relished the opportunity to hunt in the snow during gun season,” said Jenkins.
* The harvest trend by muzzleloader hunters is flat to decreasing, perhaps indicating that hunting with black powder rifles is not as popular as it once was. Fifteen seasons ago, in 2000, hunters bagged 14,986 deer with muzzleloading firearms. This season the harvest total was 14,673.
During the past 15 seasons, the highest number of deer taken with muzzleloading firearms occurred in 2004 (19,918) and the lowest number was in 2010 (13,179).
* The harvest by crossbow hunters has risen slowly since the first season in 2004, but remains statistically insignificant. In 2004, hunters bagged 561 deer with crossbows. This season the harvest total was 2,962, which represents just 2.1 percent of the overall harvest total of 138,886.
* More than 1,000 deer were taken in 55 Kentucky counties. More than 2,000 deer were taken in 15 Kentucky counties and more than 3,000 deer were taken in four Kentucky counties.
* The top five counties in deer harvest were: Owen, 3,470 deer; Pendleton, 3,305; Crittenden, 3,224 and Christian, 3,062, and Graves, 2,964.
Jenkins, was hired to replace Tina Brunjes, who left to take a position with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. He became the department’s deer and elk program coordinator on Oct. 1, 2014.
“The Zone 1 and Zone 4 counties are my priority now,” said Jenkins. “We need to find ways to continue to grow the herds in the Zone 4 counties and increase the harvest of antlerless deer in the Zone 1 counties.”
Jenkins said he will be investigating the options. “I’ve got some ideas. I’m planning some surveys and public meetings,” said Jenkins. “I need to get our hunter’s opinions.”
In the Green River counties, Jenkins said herds have rebounded from the die-off caused by an outbreak of EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease), and are ready for a zone change to more liberal harvest regulations.
“Way more deer are being taken than in past years,” said Jenkins. “And we have a lot of deer in some areas.”
Jenkins singled out Central Kentucky, where there’s a lot of growth in deer herds, specifically in the area north of Lexington, to the southern suburbs of Cincinnati.
“It’s a fertile area for deer with lots of agriculture, limestone soils, and rolling hills,” he said.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.