First Time in Modern New York History that Mature Buck Harvest Exceeds Yearling Buck Harvest 

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton today announced that hunters harvested an estimated 227,032 white-tailed deer during the 2025-26 hunting seasons, approximately 2% more than the 2024 season and within 1% of the 5-year average. 

“It is clear that deer hunters took advantage of expanded crossbow hunting opportunities this past season,” said Commissioner Lefton. “We are pleased that more hunters can participate in New York’s archery deer seasons and contribute to effective deer management into the future. The results from this past season continue to demonstrate that New York has much to offer for deer hunters.” 

Following an amendment to the Environmental Conservation Law in 2025 that allowed deer hunters to use a crossbow in the same seasons, places, and manner as a vertical bow, DEC documented widespread adoption of crossbows. In 2025, crossbows accounted for 55% of the total archery season deer harvest. For comparison, in 2024, crossbows accounted for 33% of the total archery harvest. Crossbows are a more approachable hunting implement for hunters who are new to archery or have difficulty drawing a vertical bow. In 2025, archery hunters who harvested a deer using a crossbow were on average 9 years older and were more than twice as likely to be female than those who harvested a deer with a vertical bow. 

The 2025 antlered buck harvest of 120,909 was 1% less than 2024, but finally passed a landmark in buck age structure. For the first time in modern history, New York hunters harvested as many 3.5-year-old or older bucks (28.1%) as yearling bucks (28.0%). For comparison, 25 years ago only 10% of harvested bucks in New York were 3.5 years old or older and 67% were 1.5 years old.  

The 2025 antlerless deer harvest of 106,123 was up 5% from 2024. However, antlerless deer harvest throughout much of New York was still below what is necessary to achieve deer population objectives. Sufficient harvest of antlerless deer is necessary to keep deer populations in balance with available habitat and at levels that are acceptable to all members of the public. To encourage hunters to harvest more antlerless deer in future seasons, DEC recently proposed Changes to Hunting Regulations to Increase Harvest of Antlerless Deer. 

Notable Numbers from the 2025 Deer Seasons: 

• 0: The number of positive results from 3,050 wild deer tested for Chronic Wasting Disease, as efforts continue to “Keep NY’s wild deer CWD-free.”
• 530,808: The number of licensed NY hunters during the 2025 deer hunting seasons, an estimated 85% of whom actively participated in deer hunting.
• 11%: The estimated percentage of hunters who used the newly-offered E-tags for all of their 2025 deer hunting. An additional 19% of hunters used a combination of E-tags and paper tags throughout the hunting seasons.
• 63%: The portion of successful deer hunters reporting their harvest as required by law. This is well above the five-year average of 49%. Harvest reporting was likely increased through hunters adopting E-tagging, which requires immediate reporting as part of the tagging process.
• 2,567: The estimated deer harvest by 12–15-year-old hunters during the Youth Firearms Season.
• 17.1 and 0.7: The estimated number of deer harvested per square mile in the Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) with the highest (WMU 8R) and lowest (WMU 5F) harvest density.
• 12,385: The number of harvested deer checked by DEC field staff to gather data such as deer age, sex, and hunter reporting This check data, along with hunter harvest reports, allows DEC to estimate the total deer harvest and monitor trends in deer populations. 

DEC’s 2025 Deer Harvest Summary report provides tables, figures, and maps detailing the deer harvest around the state. Past harvest summaries are also available on DEC’s website. DEC’s White-tailed deer Management Plan provides information on how DEC determines deer population objectives throughout the state.