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DEER HARVEST DOWN 11 PERCENT FROM LAST YEAR
by Steve McCadams
www.stevemccadams.com
January 26th, 2008

    Tennessee's 2007-2008 deer harvest ended up 11 percent lower than the previous year.
    Daryl Ratajcak, TWRA Big Game Coordinator, reported that various portions of the state were affected greater by the Epizootic Hemorraghic Disease (EHD) outbreak. Some counties experienced little or no outbreak of EHD while others, particularly several in western portions of Middle Tennessee seemed to be affected the most.

     Tennessee was one of several states in the southeast that was hit hard by EHD and the drought conditions of this past summer.

    A total of almost 163,000 deer were harvested during this year’s deer hunting season. The number is about 19,000 less or 11 percent lower than the 182,000 harvested in the 2006-07 season.

    An 11 percent decline is actually better than it appeared the harvest would end up earlier in the season. For a long time the statewide take was 20 percent off pace, but apparently there was some recovery in latter part of the season.

    How did Henry County rank this year among the state’s 95 counties? After the youth deer hunt TWRA compiled totals of the entire season for each county and this year Henry County deer hunters checked in a total of 4,942. This year Henry County ranked fourth.

    For years we’ve made the top ten list and sometimes commanded the top spot or very close to the top.

    The county sporting the top harvest in Tennessee this year was Hardeman where hunters checked in a total of 5,740. Second place went to Giles County where a total of 5,076 deer were taken.

    Just ahead of Henry County was Fayette as hunters there managed to take 5,061 to command third place.

    Locally, several hunters seemed to report seeing fewer deer at times, especially during the archery season. However, late September and early October were warm and dry for the area.

    There were several reports across the county from both hunters and landowners who said they had witnessed dead dear on their property and around ponds back during the late summer when hot and dry weather was present. And, no doubt EHD was present here as local wildlife officers reported several instances.

    Still, it was a pretty good season overall for not only this county but many others as well. While records weren’t broken, 163,000 is still a lot of deer!

Steve McCadams is a professional hunting and fishing guide here in the Paris Landing area. He has also contributed many outdoor oriented articles to various national publications.

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