By Nick Simonson

The number of deer tags and the size of North Dakota’s deer herd is down following a tough winter season of 2022-23, but those who were lucky enough to pull a license for the upcoming firearms deer season opener at noon on Fri. Nov. 10 are staring down the square on their calendar with excitement.  While the number of deer hunters taking to the field this fall across the country will also likely be off from the highs seen during the pandemic autumns of 2020 and 2021, the pastime as a whole is still the best the nation has ever had thanks to a number of factors according to Kip Adams, Chief Conservation Officer of the National Deer Association (NDA).

“Hunters are very lucky.  We have really strong deer populations across much of their range and tremendous age structure on both the buck and doe sides, so hunters have a lot to be looking forward to this year,” Adams states.

What’s more, hunters nationwide are taking a sharper look at letting younger bucks go, and resultantly, harvesting more mature deer than ever before.  As part of NDA’s annual surveys that go into their Deer Report publication each January, an average of 41 percent of the bucks harvested across America last fall were aged 3.5 years old or older, where such data is available.  In the 34 years of surveys conducted by the organization, no season has been higher than that ratio reported in the fall of 2022.  This is evidence that more and more hunters are passing on younger bucks and letting them grow to provide better hunting down the road.

“This has really changed over the last couple of decades. Coming out of last season, more than 40 percent of the bucks that we shot across the United States were at least 3.5 years old – that means three, four or five years or old.  It’s the highest percentage of all time.  So, hunters regardless of if they’re in Maine, or Florida, or the Dakotas or anywhere in between, they understand the benefit of protecting some of those younger bucks.  What we have today is arguably the best age structure in the buck side of the population than we’ve had in 150 years,” Adams explains.

Also, as part of those surveys NDA discovered that 90 percent of all deer harvested come from private lands.  This further correlates with the fact that North Dakota is more than 93 percent privately owned, and ties hand-in-hand with recent efforts by wildlife management agencies such as the North Dakota Game & Fish Department and non-government organizations such as NDA to help preserve, protect and promote new habitat on private acres, whether they are conservation lands, pastures or working parcels.  Through those efforts, herds which move from parcel to parcel and onto public land and public access areas provide hunting opportunities for all.

“Public land is very important, and we need to do everything we can to get more of it for people, but we also need to understand that most deer are going to be shot on private land.  So, it’s a good thing that you see more state wildlife agencies today doing more engagement with private landowners. They have private landowner programs for both access and enhancing habitat,” Adams relates.

With improvement on the habitat front through these private land initiatives, Adams is also confident that hunters, biologists, and management agencies can stem the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) and hold the prion-based deer illness at bay, as promising control and cure options are just over the horizon.  Through the efforts of sportsmen, their vigilance and obeyance of laws and restrictions play a vital role in limiting the transmission of the disease.

“I fully believe that CWD is one of the greatest threats to the future of deer hunting, and a vast majority of wildlife professionals agree with that.  I think the good part of this is that we’re starting to see some successes on the CWD  front, relative to learning new things to keep it from spreading,” Adams explains, adding that hunters play a big part in that, “every single day that we go hunting, hunters can engage in that fight: they cannot move high-risk parts out of disease zones, they can make sure that they get deer sampled, they can talk to their buddies so they know not to move things where they’re not supposed to.  There’s a lot that hunters can do in this fight,” he concludes.

Following the fall hunting season, NDA will publish the 2023 Deer Report in January of 2024.  Therein hunters can see how things compare with last season and begin the process of planning their hunts for next fall based on the statistics, information and results that drive deer hunting.  More information on the national deer association can be found at deerassociation.com.

Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.

Featured Photo: Getting Older Never Gets Old.  Hunters are finding more mature bucks thanks to a selective mindset that, as NDA surveys suggest, is becoming the norm. Simonson Photo.