Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting how many deer have you gotten

I ask because I see statements like "a truck load", etc., but here in Maryland we're allowed to kill 40 deer a year, and in some counties, if does, unlimited with a bow. But I don't know anyone, well maybe one, who's killed that many altogether. Back when I started hunting deer, 1959, there were only 1200 deer killed in the whole state. I got one of them. Back then HAD to be a buck and only one a year. Over time the herd built and are almost considered vermin now.

So, anyway, am wondering where guys are hunting and how well they've done, and how many deer/elk, etc. are you allowed there. PA, just north of us has a 350,000 deer killed, and about 3000 bear. The 3000 bear killed in 3 day bear season, but some also killed during deer season. Baiting, running with dogs, etc., illegal up there. Indeed, PA says to shoot any dog(s) you see chasing game. PA also has 60,000 deer a year killed on the roads.

Some of us are old enough that 40 could still be less than one per year.

I've killed well over 40, probably a multiple or two of that. In my state, I could legally kill over 400 per year, and that's without going into any damage or DMAP tags.

In NC, many zones have a no-daily, no-season limit on deer; shoot as many as you want (extra "bonus" tags are cheap). I've hunted there as well, and killed a pile.

Most ever in one year? 17. That's hunting and not depredation work. Killing deer on depredation tags? I have no idea how many, but it was a lot and anywhere from 25-40 or more per season of "work".

Ghost,

I most I have ever heard of a Maryland hunter killing in one
season was 17, my best year was 8 and that was enough.

I had friends that did a cull hunt during the January 2 day firearms season that killed 42 deer in one morning in Montgomery County. They stopped shooting at 11:00 am and took the rest of the day to get all the deer out of the woods. They donated all the deer to feed the hungry,

Doc

Ghost: I am not into "quantity" I am much more interested in "quality" Hunting!
I have a nice Antelope in my freezer already and have about 5 more weeks to harvest a Deer and/or an Elk in Montana here.
That will be at least "enough" meat in our freezers for the next years useages.
I hold no quarrel with those that can shoot and eat 40 Deer per year.
If Deer are so prevalent that the limits are at 40 per year per Hunter then I say get after'em and make sure the herds stay within bounds and healthy.
I love venison but to eat 40+ Deer per year I don't think that fits into my lifestyle/needs/wants.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The most deer I've ever shot in one year was 5. Where I currently live I believe you could legally kill about 300 between bow/ML/rifle season (3 doe a day, 3 bucks per season).

I'm not big on donating game meat to anyone that I don't know and only to those that I do know will eat it.

Last year was my biggest yet with 5. I average 2-3 and been deer hunting about 8 seasons now. I figure around 20 total for me. We're bad overpopulated around here too so limits aren't really enforced.

I consider myself more of a shooter than hunter. I don't get excited about putting out the game cameras and food plots and such. Chasing after the big bucks isn't really my thing, although I'll gladly shoot a big one if he shows up. I love venison and I hunt for that purpose and to test my shooting skills that I've worked on the rest of the year.

I usually have just one, sometimes two tags per year and generally fill that first tag, but not always the second. That puts me way down on the list of total deer taken, but I always seem to have plenty of venison in the freezer and not wanting more.

Some good responses here and glad to see them. I have one or two guys who shoot quite a few deer, or last time I talked to them did, and donate them to Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry. I knew the Carolinas had a long season and had seen pretty much 1 a day for 3 months, that's a bunch of deer. One of the guys I know would love to get into the cull hunting, as we hunt over in the Montgomery county area at times. I don't see trail cameras and food plots as being part of hunting, just like shooting from trees. But I guess some do.

Steelhead, do they have a Farmers and Hunters organization where you live? they're a good organization, and happy to get the meat.

VarmintGuy, I knew a guy who moved out there, but up north, forget the name, darn, something Falls, and he took out all the tickets he could for several years, and shot deer that he then donated to the Social Services people to give to needy families. I'm like you, prefer a challenging hunt to quantity, I've sure not killed any 40 deer a year, or anywhere near that. Haven't killed 40 in my whole life.

Will be coming back to see the answers. A friend in Nevada said they can only get a deer tag, every third year there.

The most I have killed while hunting in a year was 13. I have killed 125 in the 41 years I have been deer hunting.

Perry

At one time I was a member of clubs in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas at the same time. Went from lease to lease as I filled my tags in each state.

All this meat went to family and friends. I worked at hemodialysis clinics at this time and also passed out meat to the patients and employees.

Have no idea how many I killed. Stopped counting sometime in the early '90s at 100. Hunted deer until 2011.

I've lived near the coast of California all of my life. You can get 2 tags per year. Been hunting over 50 years. In that time there were less than 5 years that I didn't get a deer, a few years only 1 and most years 2 deer. So I have tagged a little less than 100. Depredation I would take 15-20 in an afternoon so overall who knows?

I've killed 44 deer with rifle, 32 with bow, 15 with muzzleloader and 2 with pistol for a total of 93 deer in 31 years of hunting. The biggest year total for me was 8 deer in one year about 16-17 years ago. That year I got 4 deer with my bow, 2 with rifle and 2 with muzzleloader. These past couple of years we have been limited to one antlerless tag for rifle season and I usually end up with 3 or 4 deer total between rifle and bow.

I hunt in Montgomery Co. I haven't shot anything yet this year. I think I have a coyote problem. The does have kind of left the area I think. I've passed up 3 spikes, a 4 point, a 6 point and a couple of Bambie's. I had a coyote hanging around two weeks ago, but he disappeared and couldn't get a shot with the crossbow. I killed one last year and Saturday night I heard one making some really weird noises, but I never saw it.

Last year, I killed 11. For the past 15 years I've averaged about 12 per year. About five years ago, one of my employees killed 23. The most I've ever killed in one year was 16. I've gotten more selective, I get sick of cutting meat, then I just donate them.

For those of you that know him, Roof got a nice 10 point Saturday night. I got a text from him about 1/2 hour after I got in my stand.

Here in La we get 6 whitetail tags per season, 3 doe/3 buck or 2 buck/4 doe. In addition you can get deer management tags(doe tags) if your property is enrolled in the program. I hunt multiple properties, one of which is in DMAP, so I get 8 tags per season. Combine that with tags from other states and it's easy to get more than one needs for sure. I used to punch nearly all of my tags, but have gotten more selective in recent years. I don't keep count, but would have to guess I've killed 150 whitetail and probably over 100 of other species.

You have to consider season length in addition to tags. Here in La we can hunt from Oct 1 through Jan 31 and most of that is rifle. I wouldn't expect to kill near as many in states with short seasons.

Good luck this season,

loder

Iv been hunting 43 years, have taken about 100 deer, never kept count, took 5 one year and 4 a couple of times, now I try to take 2-3 as we eat vension most of the time!

I've been hunting 34 years this season. We can kill 9 a year plus what I've shot in Arkansas...so probably between 250-275.
The vast majority with a 308 and soft point cup and core bullets.
I've been slowing down though. Maybey 4-5 a year now days. My daughter just started so I'll just let her take up my slack.

no idea, probably only a 100 or so, but I've only been hunting 23 years. my "best" year was 13 deer. I've only killed 12 elk and probably 25-30 antelope. haven't really counted. as long as the freezer has meat in it year round I'm happy and mama's happy. we used to fill 2 frezers every fall and condense into 1 about july. since we started canning a lot of our game we only run 1 freezer, though we have probably 150 jars of meat on the shelf in the pantry. when you have 2 kids who love venison it goes quickly!

I started in MD a few years after you and remember the low kill totals and the old rules. Things are sure different now!

I stopped counting a while back, but figure it's somewhere between 40 and 50 or so. I started hunting in Charles County, prime territory, but I wasn't a very good hunter and made a lot of mistakes. Too bad really, as the deer there were bigger than in any place I've hunted since. As soon as we were able, my brother and I started hunting in PA so we could use rifles, but it wasn't until the 80s, when a family friend moved to a 18th century farm at Gettysburg that we started taking deer on a regular basis. That farm, just across the road from the Eisenhower farm, was a real packing plant. There were a lot of deer, and as a hobby farm, at least half of it was brush and hardwoods, divided by Marsh Creek. Great stuff.

Our friend had to sell the place in the early 90s, but immediately picked up another place in WV that was all woods, except for a couple acres around the house. Small deer, but lots of them and the place was a funnel for game movement. We really packed them in there, and both my sons killed their first deer there. He sold that place around 2009, but we were allowed to hunt there until 2011. Since then, I've hunted public land near my home in Jefferson County, WV and managed to take 3 does and a spike in 3 seasons. I shoot the first adult deer I see, because I may not see another one due to all the pressure. I see some decent rack bucks before the rifle season, but they beat it to the surrounding farms and residential properties pretty quick once the shootin' starts.

In my county, we can take, with proper tags, as best I can count, 9 deer combined in archery, rifle, ML, and antlerless season. No more than 3 can be antlered bucks. My goal is to take two, but if I do, I'll continue to hunt as long as there's an open season, just for the pleasure of it and to try out different stuff. The pressure lightens up a lot late in the season, and even with the deer making themselves pretty scarce, I enjoy sitting in the woods hoping.

killed my first deer 14 years ago. have averaged 3-4 a year since, one year only 1. so I guess my total is around 40ish mark