# Record Number of Deer Taken During 2006 Deer Gun Season



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Record Number of Deer Taken During 2006 Deer Gun Season

While the number of deer gun licenses issued in 2006 was not a record,
more deer than ever were taken during last fall's season, according to
the North Dakota Game and Fish Department's annual harvest survey.

The department allocated 143,500 deer gun licenses in 2006. Survey data
reveals more than 100,000 deer were taken during the gun season, and
combined with bow, muzzleloader and youth seasons, the harvest was more
than 110,000 deer, according to Randy Kreil, wildlife chief.

The overall hunter success rate of 76 percent was the same as in 2005
and about average over the past 15 years.

Hunter success for antlered and antlerless white-tailed deer was
approximately 76 percent each.

Mule deer buck success was 82 percent, while mule deer doe hunters had a
success rate of 86 percent.

Bow hunters had a success rate of 42 percent, and 75 percent of the deer
harvested by bow hunters were adult bucks.

Muzzleloader season hunters had a success rate of 44 percent.

The success rate by young hunters during the nine-and-a-half day youth
season increased slightly to 53 percent.

Department biologists are in the process of determining the number of
deer licenses that will be recommended in the 2007 deer proclamation,
which will be sent to the governor's office for approval the end of
April.


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