Most deer harvest reports are funded in part by the purchase of hunting licenses and tags. A previous post on this blog showed the number, the types, and the revenue generated by various hunting and fishing licenses purchased in Herkimer and Oneida Counties during the 2010-2011 season. Funding that comes from other government resources that help to generate these harvest reports has been cut drastically or eliminated altogether in many states. As a result some states have not updated their deer harvest statistics for a couple of years due to a lack of funds.
Hunters provide an important service to the rest of the community by controlling the state's deer herd and by reporting information. Most states collect the information from ear tags on harvested deer. Other states may also require harvest report cards from hunters. Most hunters follow through with their responsibility to report deer they harvest, and they believe reporting is important. The harvest reports are reviewed by the state and used to access the impact of last years harvest. This helps them determine possible changes to next year's license allocation, bag limits, season lengths and policy changes.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has put out its Deer Harvest Summary and it contains some very interesting data. The information on harvests is available on a county basis, and in some cases by town. Below are tow maps from the NYS Report, showing the total deer harvest and the "take versus take objectives" for 2011.
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