Hunting Season Wrap-up:
Deer Numbers Way Down

Numbers for the regular rifle deer hunting season are down appreciably over last year, say area reporting stations, and so far, muzzle loader season, which ends Dec. 14, doesn’t look like it will be any better. The news isn’t all bad, though.

"This area we did decrease in total number of deer taken during the regular season, which lasted Nov. 15-30," noted game warden Keith Gallant, "but the deer taken were larger and healthier than average."

Gallant speculates that "perhaps last year’s long, harsh winter with consistent snows had an effect on the number of deer, and so did coyotes killing some of the smaller deer. In a really bad year, deer will naturally abort their young to ensure their own survival."

Gallant also noted that the heavy snows of this past weekend will play a role in making numbers for muzzle loader season lower, too.

At Locust Creek Outfitters in Bethel, manager Don Stewart said he felt there were "a lot of variable factors. I know a lot of people who said they were just too busy working to go hunting." He reports just 52 deer during the regular rifle season, less than half of the 109 reported last year. There was only one reported for muzzle loader season when he spoke with the Herald Dec. 8.

At the Skip Mart in Rochester, owner Peter Parrish said he’d only had 19 deer reported during the regular season (only about a third from the usual count of about 60), two on youth day and none during muzzle loader season.

"Their food sources are different this year, too," Parrish said. "There were no beechnuts, acorns or wild apples this year. I do think the deer are still there, they’re just in different places than they were last year."

In Randolph, Tewksbury’s owner Joe Vince said the 26 deer reported at his store during the regular season (and three during youth day) represented about "a third of what we had last year. I sold about the same number of hunting licenses, though," he said.

The following are results (as of Dec. 8) from other reporting stations in the Herald’s coverage area:

•Uphams in Chelsea: 78 during the regular season and nine during muzzle loader season, "down about 20% from last year," according to store owner Richard Upham.

•Snowsville General Store in East Braintree: 49 during the regular season, 18 on youth day, and two during muzzle loader season. Owner Gene Booska is the only one to report an increase in numbers (up from 42 last year).

•Messier’s General Store in East Randolph: 38 during the regular season and four during muzzle loader season.

•North Tunbridge General Store: 20 during the regular season and two during muzzle loader season. Owner Eric Flanders says that’s "only about a third of what we normally have."

•Tunbridge Village Store: 13 during the regular season and none during muzzle loader, "way down from last year," says owner Shari Murawski, who notes that "there aren’t as many out-of-state hunters coming up any more either."

•Coburn’s General Store in Strafford: 48 during the regular season and eight during muzzle loader, "the lowest in the 25 years we’ve been checking deer," according to owner Mel Coburn. "We used to always have between 75-90 in years past."

•Tracy’s Midway Station in Sharon: 54 during the regular season and three during muzzle loader. "That’s a lot less than last year," says Phil Pomerville.

By Martha Slater