11-11-2024 4:19am

County Leads State In

Maryland Reports 2024 Early Deer Season Results

Deer hunters enjoy successful early season with increased harvest compared to 2023

Photo by Mary Pat Bozel, submitted to the Maryland DNR Photo Contest

Maryland hunters harvested 20,592 deer during the early portion of the 2024 archery and muzzleloader seasons. The harvest was a 24% increase from last year’s official harvest of 16,631 deer for the same period.

The annual deer harvest fluctuates from year to year for a number of reasons, including hunter effort, weather conditions, availability of natural foods like acorns, and current population size of the herd. Good weather conditions and increased hunter effort were primarily responsible for the increased harvest this year, according to Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service Associate Director Brian Eyler.

Along with the annual deer firearm season, archery and muzzleloader deer hunting are essential components of the state’s deer management program and assist with controlling abundant deer populations across Maryland.

The two-month harvest included 12,281 deer taken during the archery season and 8,144 harvested during the October muzzleloader season. An additional 167 deer were reported during managed hunts. The archery harvest increased 21% while the muzzleloader harvest increased 29% compared to the previous year. The sika deer harvest increased 19% from 1,477 deer to 1,764 deer.

Hunters harvested 984 deer on Sundays that were open to archery hunting, accounting for 8% of the total archery harvest.

Maryland Early Season Deer Harvest Through October 31, 2024
	Antlered		Antlerless	Total
	2023	2024	%Change	2023	2024	%Change	2023	2024	%Change
Allegany	433	465	7.4	278	404	45.3	711	869	22.2
Anne Arundel	176	253	43.8	284	399	40.5	460	652	41.7
Baltimore	548	609	11.1	795	970	22.0	1,343	1,579	17.6
Calvert	139	163	17.3	189	284	50.3	328	447	36.3
Caroline
whitetail	151	167	10.6	248	393	58.5	399	560	40.4
sika	0	0	*	1	0	*	1	0	*
Carroll	473	517	9.3	678	845	24.6	1,151	1,362	18.3
Cecil	303	345	13.9	457	546	19.5	760	891	17.2
Charles	221	340	53.8	319	490	53.6	540	830	53.7
Dorchester
whitetail	133	110	-17.3	138	242	75.4	271	352	29.9
sika	676	805	19.1	637	732	14.9	1,313	1,537	17.1
Frederick	561	692	23.4	777	856	10.2	1,338	1,548	15.7
Garrett	770	807	4.8	523	563	7.6	1,293	1,370	6.0
Harford	289	392	35.6	476	644	35.3	765	1,036	35.4
Howard	215	222	3.3	398	429	7.8	613	651	6.2
Kent	288	268	-6.9	259	412	59.1	547	680	24.3
Montgomery	330	371	12.4	605	624	3.1	935	995	6.4
Prince George’s	156	203	30.1	218	318	45.9	374	521	39.3
Queen Anne’s	184	213	15.8	300	501	67.0	484	714	47.5
St. Mary’s	232	290	25.0	304	479	57.6	536	769	43.5
Somerset
whitetail	120	135	12.5	169	244	44.4	289	379	31.1
sika	2	9	*	3	4	*	5	13	*
Talbot	145	142	-2.1	149	254	70.5	294	396	34.7
Washington	509	626	23.0	529	650	22.9	1,038	1,276	22.9
Wicomico
whitetail	150	185	23.3	220	357	62.3	370	542	46.5
sika	53	94	*	57	65	*	110	159	*
Worcester
whitetail	129	171	32.6	186	238	28.0	315	409	29.8
sika	28	25	*	20	30	*	48	55	*
Total	7,414	8,619	16.3	9,217	11,973	29.9	16,631	20,592	23.8
*Small sample size