Deer hunting opportunities still abound for the rest of the year

Photo by Reinhardt Sahmel, submitted to the 2017 Maryland DNR Photo Contest.

Maryland hunters harvested 18,930 deer during the early portion of the 2025 archery and muzzleloader seasons. The harvest was an 8.1% decrease from last year’s official harvest of 20,592 deer for the same period.

The annual deer harvest fluctuates from year to year for a number of reasons, including hunter effort, weather conditions, availability of natural foods like acorns, disease outbreaks, and current population size of the herd. 

“Many areas saw an abundant acorn crop, which likely reduced deer movements, making deer less visible and harder to hunt,” said Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife and Heritage Service Director, Karina Stonesifer. “Though harvest is down compared to 2024, our 2025 harvest seems to be tracking close to what we have experienced in past seasons.”

Along with the annual deer firearm season, archery and muzzleloader deer hunting are essential components of the state’s deer management program and assist with controlling abundant deer populations across Maryland.

The two-month harvest included 9,984 deer taken during the archery season and 8,947 harvested during the October muzzleloader season. The archery harvest decreased by 19%, while the muzzleloader harvest increased 9% compared to the previous year. The sika deer harvest decreased 8% from 1,764 deer to 1,616 deer.

Multiple central and southern Maryland counties experienced significant outbreaks of epizootic hemorrhagic disease this summer and fall. As a result, the disease likely reduced local deer populations and may have contributed to the lower harvests in those areas.

Hunters harvested 793 deer on Sundays that were open to archery hunting, accounting for 8% of the total archery harvest.

Below are the total harvests for deer seasons from Sept. 5 through Oct. 31.: