As New York gears up for the 2024-25 hunting season, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is putting out a call to hunters: focus on antlerless deer. The push comes as part of a larger effort to maintain healthy deer populations that align with available habitat and community standards, while also preventing issues like crop damage and deer-vehicle collisions.
Harvesting antlerless deer — adult females — plays a crucial role in managing population growth and ensuring that the remaining deer have sufficient resources to thrive. The process helps support nutritional needs for antler development, fawn recruitment, and overall health.
DEC is exploring various methods to encourage antlerless deer harvests, including regulatory changes and non-regulatory programs, for the upcoming hunting season. Hunters across Wildlife Management Units are encouraged to take at least one antlerless deer to help meet management goals.
By addressing the need to harvest antlerless deer, the DEC aims to not only reduce ecological strain but also improve the quality of the deer herd in New York. With hunters’ cooperation, the state can continue to balance deer populations with the habitat, ensuring a sustainable future for wildlife and communities alike.
Each year, DEC adjusts the number of antlerless deer tags that are available to hunters in each Wildlife Management Unit through allocations of Deer Management Permits (DMPs). Hunters possessing a DMP may take one additional antlerless deer.
DMPs may:
• Only be used for antlerless deer (have no antlers or antlers less than 3” long).
• Only be used in the WMU for which they are issued.
• Be used during any deer hunting season.
• Be used by youth bowhunters during the special archery seasons and the regular season; and
• Be transferred between hunters - each hunter can receive up to 2 DMPs from other hunters.
For more information visit: dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/hunting/deer-bear/antlerless-deer-hunting#:~:text=DEC%20strives%20to%20manage%20deer,population%20that%20drives%20population%20growth.
