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

Been hunting since my mid to late 20s so probably 20 years because some years I didn't get to hunt at all and most years I got to hunt maybe one weekend due to family and work commitments I guess you could say I've never understood where folks get the time to hunt multiple deer per year and in truth have probably been a bit envious.
Anyway for years it was bucks only and one deer per year here in KY. Buddy and I hunted about 4- 5 years before either of us saw a shoot able buck while carrying a rifle. Buddy then moved away and We didn't hunt for several years before reconnecting. Today deer are much more common here in KY but still if you only get out 2-3 days a year getting skunked is not uncommon. So in all I have taken 18 deer 10 bucks and 8 does all rifle or ML . The most I have ever taken is two in one year. Family won't eat venison so to kill more would be way more than I can eat myself or give away. I do enjoy it but at 18 even though that's not many to some of you I feel like the novelty is waning and I am not that worried anymore if I get one or not. I really can't relate to ever wanting to kill the quantities I see quoted here. That's a lot of killing.

I have taken nothing like the numbers some folks report. Especially in parts of the east.

I have taken over 100 deer though.

I got my first buck and a doe when I was 12. I am 68 now. in the 60's and early 70's, tags were plentiful and cheap so we got a lot of deer in Eastern Oregon including Agricultural hunts. Idaho was an easy tag and Montanna had a license/tag that covered all the major species.

Also, for a time Western Oregon, especially near the Tillamook Burn had phenomonal hunting.

I am back to Eastern Oregon for most of my hunting now. With our tag draws it is hard to manage more than two bucks every three years and a doe every other year. I got a five point last year but none this year. I also took a doe each year.

You sound like someone that's ready to start specializing in big, mature deer. Kentucky has some whoppers, I hear. Also elk. Either one of those ought to get your juices flowing again.

I really take my meat hunting seriously these days. My ex wouldn't eat venison except in chili, but the current Mrs. Pappy likes it just fine, especially in stir-fry dishes. Beef is so dang high these days and lots of stores don't have much of a selection. I love good beef, but I've gotten pretty good at butchering and cooking venison, so most of the red meat that goes on our table is from the woods. We also catch and eat a fair amount of fish and have a freezer full of stuff from the garden and orchard. I guess we've turned into
hunter-gatherers er, gardeners.

I seldom fill all of my tags, here in Arkansas, even though I could most years. I am allowed 2 bucks and 2 does and if I hunted some of the other zones, I could kill 2 bucks and 4 does, but I just kill what I want to eat and sometimes 1 for a close friend. I had a neighbor that I used to kill 1 for but he has passed on. I have always been a kill what you want to eat kind of guy, except for varmints and I am not as mad at them as I once was, since I have no livestock of any kind, except for the dogs. miles

I have no desire to ever shoot more than I'll eat in a year and I can't stand the thought of hunting somewhere and not being able to bring the meat home.

I have been hunting since I was a kid(about 25 years) and have probably shot around 25 bucks, whitetail and mule deer combined.

In MT you can shoot 1 buck/year and that's about what I've averaged.

Several years ago we had way too many whitetail so I shot a couple does. Never have shot a mule deer doe and more than likely never will.

Grand total less than 30 deer.

Starting my 44 yr of deer hunting....I'm still addicted to it, especially mule deer. I've been lucky to have killed north of 100 deer, with that number rising drastically since several of my buddies have MLD ground here in TX, and there's a program called Hunters for the Hungry that is always happy to take my deer. It also affords me the luxury of having a bullet proving ground, like when Mule Deer and a couple of others (Steve Timm) talked about how tough the .284 Nosler 120 BT was a few years ago.....I had to see for myself.....and they work great on deer out of 7mm-08

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I've been deer hunting for 21 years, and have killed around 70 between gun and bow seasons. For about 10 of those years doe tags were unlimited at $7 each, and there were a few seasons that I went above and beyond what I needed personally. I generally don't do that any more, and stick with 2-3 per year now.

Now that's freakin truck load of deer......you da man.

Hunted DMAP in Mississippi for years. Most in one season was 15, 9 with bow that year. Quit counting when I hit 100. My 17 year old son has killed around 60.
Never had a problem giving away meat to those who wanted or needed it.

I started deer hunting in 1978. Back then, we could only take 1 (doe or buck). In 1990 they raised it to 2. By 1999, we were allowed 2 bucks and 10 does with shotgun and ML each and 2 bucks and unlimited does with bow. Now they've cut us back to only 1 buck with each weapon plus 1 bonus buck overall.

After doing the math, my estimated grand total to date is a little over 200. With that said, I've never killed any pigs, mule deer, elk, prong horn, or any other large game. Hopefully I can get some of those under my belt before I die.

I used to be able to tell you specifics - date, location, weapon, size of deer etc. lost track of the details about 10 years ago and if I recall the total was around 100 white tails.

Killed 11 does one weekend in a cull hunt. Shot 10 deer another season when I had depredation permits. This is my 30th year in the woods

Now I focus on quality and getting my son out there. We have a buck and a doe in the freezer already this year so anything else we shoot this year will be a mature buck (though I may let my son shoot a smaller buck if he wants to, but I think he will hold out for a good one after shooting the doe last weekend)

You guys are giving me blood lust! My eyes keep squinting and my trigger finger keeps twitching! I could totally dig traveling someplace to be a bunch of deer on the ground in a short time. While we have pretty liberal bag limits here, the size of parcels I have access too keep me in check.

since 11-17-2001 up to last sat eve 209 deer 207 in TN 2 in Cando ND

For a number of years we counted only what we shot with bow. I got to over 100 when I realized who really cares.

Have NO idea at all, I could probably sit down and do the math, but have shot a few anyway.

Typically we butcher between 4-10 deer a year just depending. I"m 50. I've been killing deer since 3rd grade.

When I was young, I was a red hot woodchuck hunter, but have pretty much called a truce now. I spent about half a day on my deer stand watching one prepare his den for winter by carrying big mouthfuls of leaves and stuffing them in the various openings. Now my varmint of choice is a coyote but so far they've plumb evaded me. They're one critter that you can whack at will here, even during the first three days of deer season when everything else is off the table.

I am not exactly sure, but I hunted Md for about 20 years. Got 2 or 3 a year for the first couple of years, and then got onto some private land, where I got between 7 and 15 a year, for the last 15 years I was there.. I imagine around 100 - 120 or so. I DID know a guy that was a deer hunting machine, and almost always got around 30 a year, in Md. Just moved to Pa., and am needing to scout a lot before I can become effective. Actually a lot of fun to put it together, as long as you are not too hungry....

It is a running joke on me here in my family and in laws
my getting skunked EVERY year but it is what it is!
Been hunting here in Alabama since the late 1960`s to now
and in ALL that time just 3 deer total to show for it.
But I still love just to go and be out in the Woods and
enjoy the peace and quiet.

I kill on average 10 per year in Maryland.My best year was 15.I keep 4-5 and process them my self and give away the rest or donate it.I also usually go out west or Canada for moose,elk or mule deer. My lifetime total is 200-250,I stopped counting years ago.

I don't have a clue, and I doubt even with a lot of work that make a reasonable guess. I killed two this year and have a couple more to go. I killed four last year. four the year before. three the year before that and mostly 1-4 all the years before that. I started killing them in the fifties. A few years I didn't hunt deer and while I was away over in Viet Nam I didn't shoot any deer. Never kept a total, and now I am too old to remember.

7 multiple years and IIRC one year 8. That'd be NY & PA.....

Typically 5-6.

With a rifle, I am not sure. Didn't hunt for a number of years because of time constraints, kids, business etc.

But I do know I've killed around a dozen with trucks.

I got 23 or 24 in 40 yrs of hunting with gun and bow. Some does, mostly bucks though. Not many but here in Wis. if you are stuck on public land you really need to hunt to see a deer. Some guys have a lot of private land and that makes a huge difference. Not me , I am too cheap to spend money on land for some deer. Oh well.

Private land makes a big difference here as well. And by private I mean exclusive hunting rights.


Can be tough to find a really nice buck on public ground(here locally northeast MT). Especially with limited time.

Seems like it gets harder every year.

Where I hunt the number of deer taken annually per square mile is .1 to 1.1. I have kept a detailed journal of the details of each of my days in the woods since 1989. I average just over one a year, mostly bucks. Some years I have not taken a shot, and many times have shot 2-3 in a year.

After two consecutive years not shooting a deer, the 1994 season was going poorly for me seeing any bucks, then on 11/14 I walked out the backdoor of our home heading into the breeze at about 1:30 PM after a trip to town with my wife. I hadn't gone a half mile when I spotted movement coming through the woods just to my left. I shot the 8 point buck which was right on a doe.

The very next morning I was hunting in the opposite direction at the house and about a mile in. Just as I was getting ready to settle down for a seat on a log, another 8 pointer walked in through the balsams just as the sun was getting above the trees. The morning light illuminating his head and antlers as he was peaking around the trees was a peak hunting experience I can picture like it was yesterday. In that instant he ended up affording me a shot through his neck at about 30 feet.

Many years we lose 30-50% of the fawn crop to winter kill. I only see one or two deer some seasons, and may only need to take one shot. Last year I didn't see a deer until day 3, and then saw 7 inside of an hour, the last one being the buck I shot.

I can walk miles in almost any direction and not cross a road, see another boot track, and never see another hunter.

The experiences afforded from this type of hunting situation have been incredible, and are among my most cherished memories. I have had a wolf come in to a can call, had some dandy bucks come in at almost a charge to grunt calls, and noisily cross a beaver pond, breaking ice, to a can call. I have shot deer from tree stands, homemade ground blinds, tracking in snow, and just ambling around and being in the right place at the right time. Some days finding a deer seems like finding a needle in a hay stack, and other days they are found regularly in a particular area, only to have a pack of wolves move in to make them scarce again.

30. I killed one a year in PA. Here I just hope to be able to do that. In PA I saw deer daily year round. Here I seldom ever see a deer and when I scout gamelands I see very little sign.

If you ain't seeing more deer in NC than you did in PA, you're either blind or living/hunting in ENTIRELY the wrong places. Catawba is either sex for deer hunting with firearms from Nov. 21-Jan.2. Counting archery and BP, you can start killing deer in Sept and not stop until the second of January. There's no daily bag limit, and you can keep buying and filling bonus tags (2x) as long as you want to keep spending the cash and killing deer.

There are reasons for that, and it starts with the fact that there are a metric schit ton of deer there.

Well, Mike is seeing the metro Charlotte/Lake Norman hunting crowd effects there on public land.

I finished a job in Maiden a couple months ago on private property that we had to beat the deer back with cattle prods they were so thick.

I deal with a lot of guys in North East PA, near Scranton. Those guys think it's crazy how many deer we kill here. They're only allowed 1 buck and 1 doe and they're lucky if they can do that. They claim the bears and coyotes have hurt the population. Years ago, we used to think PA was the place to go to shoot deer, but NOT. Now if you want to kill turkeys, that's the place to be. They've got hurds of them grazing like cattle up there.

I asked my 95 year od granddad the same question shortly before he passed (we loved to talk hunting). He thought for a minute and said "80 or 81 - just a few more bucks than does" that was from the 1930s up through 2005 in NY state.

Here in NY state we are allowed one "regular" buck tag, one over the counter muzzle loading tag. And you can apply for a doe tag which in my experience you get about 50% of the time. So if you muzzle load you can get about 2 and a half deer a year. The muzzle loading season in recent years is only open in December (after the regular season!) so the deer are very wary by then. Some years I get 2 deer. Some years 1. There have been years I did not fill a tag despite my best efforts. It is not unusual to hunt for days without seeing a single deer, let alone one with antlers.

I started hunting 25 years ago but didn't kill a deer until the 4th year. In the last 21 years I have killed 20 whitetail. If any of you guys have too many deer or extra tags I'd be happy to help!

They tell me EHD took a large bite out of the herd here a few years ago. And in PA, I lived next to Ft. Indiantown Gap military base which was loaded with deer. So that is why they were such an everyday part of life for me before.

50+

All killed in various parts of NY with rifle, shotgun, pistol, bow, and muzzleloader. Hoping to add PA hunting to my bag of tricks. This is my 21st year of deer hunting.

Looking at everybody who has responded and their location will give a clue as to why you see some of what I consider to be large numbers of deer taken in a lifetime.

Most of the respondents are from the East, Midwest, South. Amazing to hear that some have "unlimited" take for does or even limits that are greater than 1

I would say that in the Western states, and I'm speaking of NM, the limit is 1 mature buck. And that's considering if you are even lucky enough to be drawn for a tag in the lottery system we have. We just don't have the deer numbers that you see in the east and south. I'm always amazed at the number of deer I see as road kill in those areas.

Unless you are very lucky in our draw, own some or have access to private land, or have a boatload of cash to buy a mule deer tag on private land, the number killed will be less than 1 per year as my guess. That's what it is for me.

Hell, I've been on deer hunts where no one even sees a buck to shoot in a short 3 to 5 day season...another issue.

Maybe I misunderstood the OP's question......in my lifetime I've killed around 125. 75 buck and 50 doe +/-

Glad you said that Sam, especially from a guy from Montana. Now I dont feel like as bad of a hunter. On public land in northern WIs. you can go several days without seeing a deer. Last weekend I saw a doe and a small buck on Saturday evening. As I though about it, I realized it has been 6 years since I've seen a buck on public land up here. That is sad. Even though I dont hunt it as much anymore, it's sad none the less. I bet you fair much better than me. It sucks here , really bad. Southern WIs. where I hunt public land has more deer, but the human activity is incredible and keeps them from moving till night time most days.

7 mulies from 3 states in the 42 years that I could have hunted. 2 from Washington state, 2 from Montana, 3 from Idaho. One with a Mossberg 880B in 243 Win, two with a Ruger M77 in 300 Win Mag, one with a Weatherby Accumark in 280 Rem, two with a Model 70 in 7mm Rem Mag, one with a Model 70 in 270 Win. I've bagged maybe twice that number of Antelope.

Obviously I haven't been in areas where multiple tags per year are available, and I was unable to hunt every year due to various circumstances. Finally, over the last 10 years I have passed up on several bucks looking for better horns. I could have run my total to maybe a dozen or so if I hadn't passed looking for a better one, and then ended up with tag soup.

Work has kept me from even getting out deer hunting this year. I hope to get two days of elk season.

I will say that whitetail are coming on stronger in parts of Idaho, so maybe my count will grow some.....

In general western deer hunting is more restricted than eastern, but here in Montana we can not only buy one general over-the-counter "A" tag (normally good for either a mule deer or whitetail buck in most parts of the state, or a doe in some places), plus one OTC "B" tag for whitetails does in about 2/3 of the state. Plus we can apply for another doe tag in some areas. This year I have my A-tag and drew a whitetail B-tag, and can still buy at least one more OTC whitetail doe tag. A friend owns a ranch in an area where you can buy up to 4, but they can only be used on private land. Dunno if he needs any help with thining his does this year or not.

Right now Montana's overall deer populations are down from historic highs due to hard winters and EHD, but are coming back. In the past we've even been able to draw an additional whitetail buck tag, or buy up to 6-7 doe tags, for both species, in various parts of the state.

I've also hunted deer in at least a dozen other states, plus three Canadian provinces, one state in Old Mexico (twice), and in Ireland, New Zealand and the Czech Republic. Some of the hunts in both North America and elsewhere have been partially cull hunts, and as a result I've taken a bunch of deer. Don't know the total over 40 years, but in some years it's been 10-12.

I haven't taken many deer compared to a lot of hunters on here. We are also on the northern fringe of deer habitat, and our populations are low compared to many areas further south. Big deer though. I have kept track of each animal I have killed, but i'm not about to go through my journals and figure it out for this post. I know that I've taken about 130 head of big game, but whitetail deer are a sort of consolation prize around here. I hunt locally for elk, moose, mule deer, and the odd bear. and our waterfowl hunting is some of the best in the world. So if my freezer has an elk and maybe a moose and a few dozen geese in it I just don't bother with deer. But I've probably shot 60 or so, mostly whitetails. 1-2 per year on average over 40 years. Last year I took three mule deer. I haven't shot a whitetail for three years, they have had some bad winters here. I might change that this year, but since I have an elk and a moose in the freezer already, I'm going to make it hard on myself, rattling/calling only and hunting with an open sight .44 mag carbine. It's fun to have options with a full freezer.

I started deer hunting in '89. Killed first deer in '93 and have not gone a year without since. First killed more than 2 in '01, and have not killed less than 4 since. Most is 10, but 5-10 every year. Just under a 100 right now.

The deer population in my area seems to have dropped in the last few years, so I will probably be killing less. I live an earn a buck area so passing does is not an option, unless I just give it all up.

18 seasons in a row now for me striking out but thats why
it is called hunting!
Been hunting since the late 1960`s to now
and in ALL that time just 3 deer total to show for it.

Interesting totals.. I suppose over the 56 years I have hunted the total is well over 200.. Not counting antelope, elk, and mic. game.. Have notes on all of the game taken, need to look them up some time.. My favorite game next to deer is the old coyote.. No limit, no closed season, no tags, and most are happy to see them shot..

300-400 deer allowed a year?! Holy Smacks Batman!

Here's how it works in Northern California (Formerly called Oregon)

Oregonians (California transplants and homegrown granola-munching tree-hugger hippies) outlaw hunting cougars with hounds in 1993-4? An estimated 6200 cougars now each eat 1 deer (or sometimes elk) per week. that's 6200 cats eating 52 deer a year. Minus a few for elk calves and lets call it 45 deer a year, X 6200 cats= 279,000 deer killed each year by cats. With a deer population of about 500,000, and factoring in reproduction, car kills, habitat loss (thanks California transplants), deer in Oregon are pretty much screwed.

We get one buck tag a year on the west side (east side is lottery only) and a doe tag or two if you're inclined and lucky. Actually tagging a buck is another story altogether as most guys don't get one due to low populations.

So the average guy here gets one every two or three years.

That's pretty good actually. The average PA deer hunter doesn't even get a buck every 2-3 years. They have 800,000 deer hunters and kill about 150,000 buck a year.

I have shot one California black tail deer, that's it. Been deer hunting many times, but never had much luck. Hopefully that number increases this year.

Having grown up out west in CA, can't even fathom shooting 10, or 40 or 400 deer per year (even 3 seems crazy to me). If I was actually able to find and shoot that many deer, I'd probably jump off the deep end the first year and fill every tag I could just because I've never had an opportunity to do so.

I've been told Columbian blacktail hunting is the hardest deer hunting there is. I'm eager to try it. Maybe next year.

The high desert and conifer forests of the mountain states can't support even a fraction of the deer number that the wetter hardwood forests of the midwest and east. Most western states have 1 deer a year limits. Idaho's limit is 1/yr with a few exceptions where a 2d deer can be taken. In the south half of the states, mule deer are much more common while in the north, whitetails are more common...with a lot of overlap. The mule deer seasons are short, only 3 weeks. If the weather doesn't cooperate, you can't wait for it to improve.

Over 55 years, I've shot maybe 40 to 45. Some years the numbers have been down and bucks were very hard to find. This is a good year following 2 mild winters. I've seen 11 bucks in 2 weeks of hunting.

Ihookem iam surprised to hear you say that about Wisconsin. We went to Canada fishing a couple of years in a row back in the 90s and found ourselves driving up thru EuClair area and at night it seemed the roads were lined with reflectors every 300 yds turned out to be deer eyes, it was to the point we stopped for the night rather than hit one . Left me with the impression Wisconsin was louse you with deer. Go figure

CWD changed a lot of things in Wisconsin. They completely wiped the deer out of a few counties fifteen years ago and started handing out doe tags like crack for the rest of the state.

Luckily, CWD hasn't been found in Idaho yet. We do have a deadly disease, though, that really cuts into the deer and elk populations...called wolves.

How many deer? Well.....if you mean both sexes....not many!

If you mean BUCKS.....near 500! I quit keeping a record 25 years back...at a count of 427!

There is some fine print in the Penna law you should be aware of before you pull the trigger.


"§ 2384. Declaring dogs public nuisances

Any dog pursuing or following upon the track of any big game animal in such close pursuit as to endanger the big game animal or to be in the act of attacking the big game animal at any time is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and may be destroyed as provided in this title.

CREDIT(S)
1986, July 8, P.L. 442, No. 93, § 1, effective July 1, 1987.



§ 2385. Destruction of dogs declared public nuisances

(a) General rule.--A dog declared a public nuisance pursuant to section 2384 (relating to declaring dogs public nuisances) may be killed by any commission officer at any time or by any person when the dog is found to be in the act of attacking a big game animal.

(b) Reports after killing dog.--Any person who kills a licensed dog pursuant to subsection (a) and section 2384 shall notify the owner or a commission officer within 48 hours after the dog was killed. The person who killed the dog or the commission officer who receives the report shall disclose to the owner of the dog the time, place, circumstances relating to the death of the dog and the location of the dog's remains. All equipment found on the dog, including collar, name tag, license tag or any other personal property, shall be returned to the owner of the dog within ten days after conclusion of any prosecution or immediately if no prosecution is contemplated."




Just because someones-lets say Bird Dog-gives a short chase and you happen to see it, is not justification for shooting the Dog. Bird hunting coincides with different Big Games seasons.

2005 zero deer
2006 zero deer
2007 zero deer
2008 5 deer [finally scored at age 57]
2009 4 deer
2010 3 deer
2011 1 deer 1 antelope
2012 4 deer
2013 1 deer
2014 1 deer 1 antelope
2015 3 deer
___________
22 deer 2 antelope

I don't know exactly how many I have killed. I killed my first deer at 9 years old on my first bow hunt. Killed 5 deer that year before dad made me stop shooting every deer I saw. Until I was 16 I literally shot every deer that gave me a shot. Now I mainly shoot a couple does a year and pass young bucks. Some years I get a nice one. Some I don't even see a nice one. Here in East Tennessee we don't have the deer densities or size of most states

ghost;
Good morning to you sir, thanks for posing the interesting question and thanks to those who've responded and made for some equally fascinating reading.

We're allowed 3 deer a year here province wide, excluding the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii zone with is 15.

I was and remain a man most blessed in that at one time or another I was able to hunt with my good wife, two daughters, my late father and the best hunting partner a person could imagine - and during that time I served as official "hunt evisceration specialist".

Rather than stating how many I've shot, if I can be allowed I'll simply say that I did sit down one day and count how many deer I've removed the entrails from and it passed 100 many seasons back.

As we've cut and wrapped our own game as well as helped friends and family do that since '89, I'd estimate that number to be between 175 and 200 deer, maybe 20 black bears, a couple moose and that many California bighorn rams. I've added that information because I'd opine we've learned as much or more about cartridge/bullet performance processing the carcass as we did from shooting it.

Thanks again for the thread all, all the best to all respondents and good luck on all your remaining hunts.

Dwayne

Between depredation permits and regular permits, I killed 124 in three years. Besides that, probably another 50ish over the years. 12 last years alone.

well i stopped counting decades ago, several hundred i guess

One of my rifles has done better than me. A 1956 Win M70


The previous owner shot:
2 grizzlies
6 moose
10 mountain goats
6 sheep
109 Sitka Black tailed deer
16 black bear
2 caribou

Then he died, and his nephew sold it to me.

I have shot 9 mule deer with it.
4 in 2008 and 5 in 2009.

Yikes, for some that is a weekend...

Awesome tally. I'd love having a rifle with a history like that.

bangeye,
That neck of the woods has a lot of deer - as does most of the state.
Get into the northern region - particularly the national forests - not so much.

Many people prefer to point out the ever-growing wolf population, and there is some validity to it. And many more will point at the DNR in their mismanagement of the northern zone - even more validity still.

But the two main reasons are the lack of cutting in the national forests and a complete lack-of-sense/judgement by sportsman when the DNR was handing out tags like candy.

Yep, they absolutely will not cut in the NF. A number of years ago there was a tornado that came through out hunting area near park falls. It was in the NF, of course.

I talked to a forest ranger about the litterally $100k'S of timber laying just in our area to be easy pickings for loggers. She said that it will never be touched by loggers.

If it could be guaranteed that no one would be hurt a fire would do a lot of good in some of the NF's.

I wasn't going to respond not wanting to be seen as a braggart but...

I also haven't been counting for quite a while but I know it's North of 100. I began deer hunting in 1972 and have not missed a single season.

I also have hunted La, Miss, & Al where the yearly bag limit WAS 5-6 or more per year.


Jerry

these are pretty good guesses, I have most kill tags, just over 360 total in my life, approx 150 of those with a bow.

I shot numbers 88 and 89 this season. Most of my early hunting was done in CO and I was limited to 1 a season for a long time.

This certainly hugely effects the numbers for sure! Obviously.

YOu are not like us, I see legal shooter bucks almost every day out of my kitchen window. But I don't have big beautiful mountains to gaze at either...

we have pretty big limits in TX, especially after management came along. But never the numbers of other states that basically have one deer a day or so as a limit.

But then again, one big mule deer buck might give as much meat as 2 or more of ours. Maybe even 3-4 small does. And one elk.. well.. or one moose..

In the end its amazing, what numbers a hardcore hunter puts up.. Counting deer only I was over 100 with a bow only, when I decided keeping track was stupid. That wasn't counting pigs and javelina...

At last count, I have just gone over 5,000 deer.



I really love this Hunting Unlimited software app. I usually choose the .280 rifle option, but occasionally will use the bow or handgun. Most of what I shoot are in the upper echelon of trophy class, which really adds to the challenge of computer hunting.

It's about time for lunch now, I think we are having real venison roast today.....

Hunted deer for the first time in 1982 and shot my first the next year. I've shot 44 more since, not many compared to many other hunters, but I've been lucky enough to have hunted in four states. I didn't hunt a couple seasons and didn't score a few others, but I'm still averaging well over one per season over 3 decades + which means I've eaten a lot of venison

In 28 yrs of hunting, I've got to be nearing the century mark. I've killed most with a bow the last 10yrs, my favorite way to hunt. Killing just isn't what it's about any more...

Hmm how many deer....I can't count that high
Killed 6 this season and it was a down year

I killed my first deer 35 years ago and have killed from 2 to 5 every year since. I have stopped at 3 since the children grew up. 3 feeds us for a year.

my goal is to kill something with every weapon that i use.this year i've killed with my crossbow,50cal,45 cal and 270. i've killed 5 total.we used to get crop damage tags and each of use would kill a dozen or so on them,plus our regular tags. 15-20 a season was normal.

I'm on about a 5 year dry spell. I'd be happy just to take a deer-any legal deer.

In Missouri, there is an app now that shows checked deer back to 2009. I've checked 27 since then. Before that, I was averaging around 3 a year, so a conservative estimate is 75 or so.

This year I came up short.....4 (2b 2D) in NYS. Zip in PA.

Total in all my years, 75B and 76D (+/- 1 or 2)

I think I used to play Deer Hunter 2003 or something like that and I too preferred the .280 rifle.

Same here.

With several years of unlimited archery and rifle doe I'm actually embarrassed to say what my numbers could be.....but I have slowed down these past couple years

Maturing in my later years plus a massive die off a couple years ago has brought me down to normal pre unlimited numbers

I've hunted for 51 years now. Started out with a 30 carbine and shot my first one (a doe) that year at about 50 yards. I grew up hunting on a ranch just north of Austin that had a real problem with population. Local GW told the land owner he needed to take 200 doe a year off of the place and being a little kid, I was happy to help.
By the time I was 17, I had taken just over 200 deer. Most in one day was 15. I quit counting after that but I'd guess around 300-400 or so not counting Mulie's, elk etc.