By Louie Stout

Early Deer Harvest Up 20 Percent as Hunters Eye Gun Season

Indiana’s firearms season opens Saturday while Michigan opens next Sunday.

In the interim, bow hunters continue to rack up kills. Newly-appointed Indiana Deer Biologist Moriah Boggess said the statewide harvest is up 20 percent over the five-year average.

“And it’s probably higher than that in your area (St. Joseph, LaPorte, Marshall, Elkhart and Kosciusko counties),” he said. “The harvest this far into the season is even higher than it was in 2015, which is pretty incredible.”

Indiana keeps real-time stats on the harvest through its mandatory online deer check-in program. At mid-week, St. Joseph County hunters had taken 271 deer compared to 229 over the same period last year.

Harvest was up in all area counties, including Elkhart, up 48, Marshall, up 20 and LaPorte 30 deer.

Michigan doesn’t require deer kills to be reported but Southwest District Wildlife Biologist Ken Kesson said he suspects the numbers are up in his region as well.

Both biologists say an increase in deer hunting licenses has sent more hunters into the field and attributed to the increased harvest. Of course, the weather thus far has been more conducive for sitting in the woods.

“I have no reason to doubt that the trend (harvest increase) will continue into the firearms season,” said Boggess.

The biologist noted that the EHD virus that hit Michiana hard earlier this season, especially St. Joseph County, has passed when frost killed the tiny virus-carrying midges that infect the deer.

Ammo shortage

If you haven’t bought your ammunition for the deer firearms season, good luck finding it.

It’s become the toilet paper of hunting season. Readers have contacted us to say they are having trouble finding deer slugs and rifle rounds both locally and online.

Manufacturers are having trouble keeping up with demand due to the rising interest in hunting during the covid issue, plus there is a good possibility people are hoarding rounds.

CWD sampling

Indiana continues its surveillance of CWD, a deadly disease that impacts the deer herd and has been confirmed in central Michigan and in Illinois.

There have been no cases of CWD in Indiana but biologists are taking extra precautions and seek northern hunters’ help.

You can voluntarily drop off your deer heads at selected locations. Those in this area include the Bodine and Fawn River fish hatcheries and Kingsbury, Kankakee, Tri-County, Winamac, Jasper-Pulaski and Pigeon River fish and wildlife areas. They will have sampling coolers placed there.

If you don’t want to give up the head, call the property to set up an appointment to have a DNR official gather the information he or she needs.

There is no charge.

“We really need hunters to cooperate with us for this to be successful and allow us to monitor any outbreaks,” said Boggess.