Regular Firearms Deer Season Opens Soon

With the recent influx of chilly weather, many sportsmen and women are anxious for the opening of the regular firearms deer season. The gunning season opens just eight days after the national election takes place, November 12th through December 7th, except in Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) A, where it closes on November 30. My trusty old .30/40 Krag rifle can hardly wait. Do I expect to be successful this season? That is not important to me. If I am, I am. If I’m not, I’m not. What is most important is being able to get out and enjoy the challenges of the hunt. 

According to Kent Gustafson, New Hampshire Fish and Game’s Deer Project Leader, the 2007 deer season was a great year for deer hunters with a total harvest of13,599 deer, a 15% increase over 2006 and the second highest harvest New Hampshire has ever had. Kent says that the mild to average winter in 2006 and 2007 resulted in good winter survival and fawn production in the spring of 2007. The past few years have seen considerable progress made in increasing deer numbers in many of the state’s Wildlife Management Areas (WMUs) where the objective, based on the Big Game Management Plan, has been to increase the deer population. According to Kent, many WMUs are now at or close to that objective.

The 2007 statewide adult (age 1.5+) buck kill was 7,667, a 15% increase from 2006 and a new state record, surpassing the previous high of 6,855 set in 2002. The statewide female kill in 2007 was 4,735 deer. The archery, muzzleloader and regular firearm seasons all saw harvest increases in 2007. The 2007 special Youth Weekend resulted in a statewide kill of 642 deer. This was the one season which saw a slight decrease in the number of deer taken, down from 668 in 2006. Gustafson says that this reduction was most likely the result of the weather on the Saturday of Youth Weekend when heavy rains covered much of the state for most of the day.

The winter of 2007-08, as you may recall, was a long one in much of the state. Central, eastern and northern areas experienced a winter of considerably above average severity with snow coming early and lasting well into April as repeated storms followed similar tracks. Winter in southern and western portions of the state was of average to below average severity. Those WMUs with substantially above average winter severity saw above average winter mortality and reductions in fawn production and survival in the spring of 2008.
Many WMUs in central, eastern and northern New Hampshire, which experienced a bad winter, will see reductions in either-sex day hunting opportunities for the 2008 season. This is in Fish and Game’s effort to mitigate some of the winter effects. Reducing doe kills in these areas will allow deer numbers to recover more quickly. In southern and western WMUs, where deer populations are generally close to the objective and winter was not as severe, either-sex day hunting opportunities will be increased for the 2008 season. In other ways, the 2008 season remains similar to last year. A 2-point minimum antler point restriction and somewhat shortened seasons remain in effect in WMU-A to help address concerns over the buck age structure and 6,000 antlerless only permits are available for use in WMU-M

Kent Gustafson says, "While the winter of 2007-08 was more severe than those in recent years, deer numbers in the state, as a whole, remain good. Reductions in either hunting days in those WMUs most impacted by winter will reduce doe kills and allow for faster population recovery. Other WMUs should see harvests remain the same or increase in 2008. This fall has also been a good year for fall mast production with acorns, beechnuts and other fall foods being more plentiful than in recent years."

If you’ll be hunting deer during the regular firearms season, be safe and wear Hunter Orange clothing. It’s important that you can easily been seen and identified by other hunters as well as they should be seen by you. Also, be sure to obtain the 2008-2009 copy of the New Hampshire Hunting Digest and become aware of new regulations for deer hunting, etc. Good luck.

Bob Harris can be reached via e-mail at: outwriter2@aol.com

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DISCLAIMER:  The opinions expressed by Mr. Harris are not necessarily those of the Goffstown Residents Association or its members

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