By Nick Simonson

With firearms deer hunting seasons opening across the country, the state of the nation’s herd and the hunt is good, according to Kip Adams, Chief Conservation Officer for the National Deer Association (NDA).  This position is based on some of the best science available to state agencies and involvement from non-governmental organizations such as NDA and hunters across the country.

“Deer herds are very strong in most areas.  We have the best age structure of bucks that we’ve had in at least the last 100 years. So healthy numbers and good age structures mean a lot of optimism for hunters out there this year,” Adams states.

According to the NDA’s most recent annual deer report, hunters harvested more mature bucks than ever before, based on the tallies the organization received from the 2023 season from management agencies throughout the country.  At no other time in U.S. history have more bucks aged 3.5 years or older been tagged by sportsmen and women; an incredible statistic when one considers the vast differences between hunters, hunting opportunities, and deer densities throughout America.

“Hunters want opportunities to be afield to hunt older deer.  That is a good thing because if we have better age structure in our deer herds, that means they are healthy situations.  The sentiment is a little different across the country in large part just due to different hunter densities,” Adams details, “our state wildlife agencies have to have different rules and regulations to keep deer herds healthy, so as much as anything, folks just want to have access to deer herds and they want to chase some bigger bucks,” he concludes.

While things have remained generally good for deer hunting throughout the country, challenges such as disease and limited habitat remain on the landscape in some areas.  With drier conditions again in the summer of 2024, especially in the western third of the country, epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) popped up in a number of states, impacting herds as it did in North Dakota in 2021 and 2022, and to a lesser extent this past summer in the Peace Garden State. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) also remains an ongoing threat to herds, especially in areas where the prion-based illness is prevalent and significantly shortens the lifespan of deer, limiting the number of bucks that can reach ages of 2.5 years or older. Perhaps the biggest challenge for hunters and NDA remains keeping quality deer habitat in the ground, a situation the organization looks to turn with a goal of improving more than one million acres of deer habitat in the next two years.

“We work with hunters and state wildlife agencies to make sure that we have good, healthy deer populations. We teach people how to enhance habitat for deer, so we have better food and cover.  We teach people deer biology, so they learn more about the animal and how to get closer to them in the fall,” Adams explains of he organizations core efforts, adding, “we have a public lands initiative with a goal of enhancing one million acres of public land by 2026, and we do that by working with National Forests and others to make that public land better. Because there’s a lot of hunters that can only hunt public land, so we don’t want them to be left out.”

More information on NDA’s efforts to recruit new hunters, provide education on managing land for deer habitat and herd health, and information on the science and biology surrounding deer across the country, visit deerassociation.com.

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

Featured Photo: Deer herds remain strong throughout much of the United States, and while management plans vary based on deer and hunter densities, at no other time in the country’s history have hunters harvested more mature bucks, according to NDA research. Simonson Photo.

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

Featured Photo: Deer herds remain strong throughout much of the United States, and while management plans vary based on deer and hunter densities, at no other time in the country’s history have hunters harvested more mature bucks, according to NDA research. Simonson Photo.