U.S. Hunters Killing More Mature Bucks Than Yearling Bucks
The Quality Deer Management Association reports U.S. whitetail hunters are taking more mature bucks than 1½-year-old or “yearling” bucks for the first time in modern history.
In the 2014-15 hunting season, the percentage of yearling bucks in the national buck harvest dropped to a new record low of 33 percent, falling below the harvest rate for 3½-year-old and older bucks – 34 percent – for the first time since whitetail populations were restored in the mid-1900s.
Of the 26 whitetail states that collect age data on older bucks, the top state in harvest of mature bucks for the 2014-15 season was Mississippi, where 74 percent of bucks killed were 3½ years old or older. Rounding out the Top-5 were Arkansas and Louisiana at 67 percent, Texas at 62 percent, and Oklahoma at 60 percent.
Not surprisingly, these same states achieved some of the lowest rates of yearling-buck harvest in the nation. In fact, for the third year in a row, Arkansas claimed the lowest rate at only 8 percent.
Read the QDMA report.
