MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - It’s been a good deer hunting season in Vermont.
The state Fish and Wildlife Department says preliminary numbers show 16,160 deer were taken last year. That’s the second-highest harvest since 2002.
Deer project leader Nick Fortin says the legal buck harvest of 9,968 was 19 percent more than the previous three-year average of 8,372. It’s also the highest buck harvest since 2002.
The high numbers were primarily due to a very mild winter, allowing more deer to survive. The department also issued nearly twice as many muzzleloader antlerless deer permits to provide more harvest opportunity and to limit population growth in some parts of the state.
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