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Maryland Reports 2023 Early Deer Season Results

Deer hunting opportunities still abound for the rest of the year

Photo of deer in woods

Photo by Rida Allen, submitted to Maryland DNR Photo Contest.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reports that hunters harvested 16,607 deer during the early portion of the 2023 archery and muzzleloader seasons. The harvest was an 18% decrease from last year’s official harvest of 20,267 deer for the same period.

The annual deer harvest fluctuates from year to year for a number of reasons, including hunter effort, weather conditions, availability of natural foods like acorns, and current population size of the herd. Less than ideal weather conditions for part of the early season and abundant acorns in many areas, which reduces deer mobility making them harder to hunt, contributed to the decline this year.

The two-month harvest included 10,140 deer taken during the archery season and 6,299 harvested during the October muzzleloader season. An additional 168 deer were reported during managed hunts. The archery harvest decreased 19% while the muzzleloader harvest decreased 17% compared to the previous year. The sika deer harvest decreased 9% from 1,624 deer to 1,476 deer.

Hunters harvested 911 deer on Sundays that were open to archery hunting, accounting for 9% of the total archery harvest.

Maryland Early Season Deer Harvest Through October 31, 2023
  Antlered Antlerless Total
  2023 2022 % Change 2023 2022 % Change 2023 2022 % Change
Allegany 433 430 0.7 277 417 -33.6 710 847 -16.2
Anne Arundel 177 234 -24.4 284 364 -22.0 461 598 -22.9
Baltimore 547 533 2.6 794 1,080 -26.5 1,341 1,613 -16.9
Calvert 139 175 -20.6 189 280 -32.5 328 455 -27.9
Caroline                  
whitetail 151 184 -17.9 248 393 -36.9 399 577 -30.8
sika 0 0 * 1 1 * 1 1 *
Carroll 472 520 -9.2 677 892 -24.1 1,149 1,412 -18.6
Cecil 303 346 -12.4 456 635 -28.2 759 981 -22.6
Charles 220 304 -27.6 317 382 -17.0 537 686 -21.7
Dorchester                  
whitetail 133 133 0 138 274 -49.6 271 407 -33.4
sika 675 745 -9.4 637 738 -13.7 1,312 1,483 -11.5
Frederick 560 633 -11.5 777 1,127 -31.1 1,337 1,760 -24.0
Garrett 770 893 -13.8 523 552 -5.3 1,293 1,445 -10.5
Harford 288 325 -11.4 476 682 -30.2 764 1,007 -24.1
Howard 215 200 7.5 397 471 -15.7 612 671 -8.8
Kent 286 257 11.3 259 439 -41.0 545 696 -21.7
Montgomery 328 323 1.5 605 657 -7.9 933 980 -4.8
Prince George’s 156 205 -23.9 217 285 -23.9 373 490 -23.9
Queen Anne’s 183 235 -22.1 300 431 -30.4 483 666 -27.5
St. Mary’s 230 267 -13.9 302 383 -21.1 532 650 -18.2
Somerset                  
whitetail 120 101 18.8 169 216 -21.8 289 317 -8.8
sika 2 15 * 3 1 * 5 16 *
Talbot 144 149 -3.4 149 198 -24.7 293 347 -15.6
Washington 508 570 -10.9 529 698 -24.2 1,037 1,268 -18.2
Wicomico                  
whitetail 150 133 12.8 220 282 -22.0 370 415 -10.8
sika 53 47 * 57 41 * 110 88 *
Worcester                  
whitetail 129 129 0 186 226 -17.7 315 355 -11.3
sika 28 17 * 20 19 * 48 36 *
Total 7,400 8,103 -8.7 9,207 12,164 -24.3 16,607 20,267 -18.1
*Small sample size

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