By Louie Stout
Hunters took more bucks last fall. - Photo credit - Bob Robertson
If you thought there were fewer bucks to shoot last falls deer season in Indiana, think again.
In fact, the buck harvest was up statewide and Michiana was no exception. St. Joseph and adjoining counties all saw slight increases in the buck harvest.
Apparently Michiana hunters were more interested in shooting bucks than does because the antlerless harvest was down.
The statewide harvest was similar. The buck kill was up 10 percent while the antlerless harvest was down 1 percent compared to 2014.
You could probably attribute the higher buck harvest to better hunting conditions than what we saw the previous year. A reduction in antlerless permits in some counties may account for the drop, or it could be that there simply werent as many does available for shooters.
Indiana hunters harvested 123,664 deer during the 2015 season, a 3 percent increase from the 120,073 deer taken during the 2014 season. Interestingly, 2,000 fewer deer were taken with a bow than the previous year, while those using shotgun, muzzleloader, handgun, rifle and crossbow all showed increases.
The overall 2015 deer harvest ranks as the 10th highest in Indiana history. The 2015 antlerless deer harvest ranks 11th highest.
Firearms season was the most productive, accounting for 72,555 deer, or 59 percent of the total harvest. More than one-third of the firearm harvest was taken opening day and 51 percent were killed the first two days of the gun season.
Archery season accounted for 32,753 deer, or 26 percent, followed by the muzzleloader season with 10,784 (9 percent), special antlerless firearms season with 5,105 (4 percent) and youth season with 2,467 (2 percent).
The total number of deer taken with a firearm during the deer reduction zone season was incorporated with the firearms season total, while the total taken with archery equipment was included in the archery season total.
Harvest exceeded 1,000 deer in 58 counties, 2,000 in 17 counties and 3,000 in one county. St. Joseph hunters took 1,132 deer, Elkhart 1,308, Marshall 2043, and LaPorte 1,666.
Harrison County was the top producer for the third season, with 3,227 deer taken. Benton County had the fewest deer taken (90), followed by Tipton County (114).
The nine counties after Harrison with the greatest harvest in descending order were: Washington (2,891), Franklin (2,890), Switzerland (2,653), Noble (2,624), Dearborn (2,559), Steuben (2,523), Lawrence (2,502), Parke (2,390) and Crawford (2,370).
Three counties set unofficial record harvests in 2015. They were Dubois (2,040), Henry (601) and Lawrence (2,502).
For the first time, all harvested deer were checked in electronically.
Hunters have harvested approximately 3.5 million deer during 64 hunting seasons in Indiana.
To view the full report, go to widlife.IN.gov and locate 2015 Deer Report in the Hunting and Trapping panel.