Across 24 States, Hunters Are Killing About 200,000 Fewer Yearling Bucks Each Year

IYoung Buck Decline

Hunters' Annual Yearling Kill Is Down About 200,000

Using comparable age data from 24 states, we multiplied each season's yearling share by that season's buck harvest for 2008 to 2010 and for 2021 to 2023. In the first period those states averaged about 686,000 yearlings killed annually compared with about 485,000 in the second. That works out to about 200,000 fewer a year, a 29% decline. Over those years the annual kill of bucks aged 2½ and up climbed from about 1,246,000 to about 1,599,000. Their buck harvest overall increased 8%.

Both changes showed up. Yearling kills declined in 19 states out of the 24 while kills of bucks aged 2½ and up rose in 21. Weighting each state by its buck harvest puts the yearling share at 36% in the early period and 23% in the later one. The decline is not riding on one large state, since excluding Texas still leaves the other 23 states killing about 171,000 fewer yearlings annually. In 2021 to 2023 the 24 comparison states accounted for about 69% of all bucks killed across the 37 states NDA follows.

Eleven states in that group supplied both measures in every season spanning 2008 through 2023, allowing Figure 1 to track annual changes. Their annual yearling kill went from about 441,000 down to 303,000, while kills of bucks aged 2½ and up climbed from about 572,000 to 788,000. The biggest part of that shift followed the 2017 season.

IINDA State Averages

Yearling Share Went From 40% Down to 26%

In NDA's Deer Report 2025 the average share for 1½-year-olds is 26% for the 2023 season among states that age their buck harvest. For 2008 the average was 40%, and over the same span the share aged 3½ and up climbed from 27% to 43%. NDA identifies 26% as a tie for its smallest reported yearling share and 43% as its largest recorded share for the oldest age class. The historical chart NDA publishes reaches back to 1989, when yearlings accounted for 62% of the antlered buck harvest.

Our data come from the age and buck harvest tables in each NDA edition published from 2011 through 2025. Because agencies update their figures, we use the newest edition listing a given season.

IIIComparable State Results

22 of 24 Showed a Lower Yearling Share

For each state we required a yearling share in at least two seasons among 2008, 2009 and 2010 plus two among 2021, 2022 and 2023. We averaged each period for the 24 states that qualified, finding declines in 22.

The largest move belonged to New York, where the share went from 59% down to 36%. Georgia's share dropped from 43% to 22% while Tennessee's went from 41% to 23%. Oklahoma, Maryland and New Jersey each lost 16 to 17 points. Maine's share went up from 43% to 49%, and Arkansas barely changed from 11% to 12% after beginning with the lowest share in this group.

Larger buck harvests accompanied most of the steep share declines. Fourteen states lost at least 10 points from their yearling share. Across those 14 states the median change in buck harvest was a rise of 9%, and 9 of them killed more bucks during 2021 to 2023 compared with 2008 to 2010. Pennsylvania's yearling share dropped 14 points as its buck harvest increased 36%. Texas saw a 12 point decline alongside a 25% harvest increase. Each year it killed about 30,000 fewer yearlings and about 98,000 more bucks aged 2½ and up.

Georgia breaks that pattern most clearly. With its buck harvest down 30%, the state killed about 42,000 fewer yearlings annually, a larger drop than in any other state. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, buck harvests grew 55% and 35%, fast enough that the yearling kill rose a little despite the lower share.

IVWhere Older Bucks Fall

Southeast States Lead in Older Bucks Killed per Square Mile

Yearling shares declined in all regions, with the Southeast and Midwest each down 16 points. NDA's regional averages place the Southeast's yearling share at 31% for 2008 and at 15% for 2023 compared with the Northeast's 45% to 34% and the Midwest's 44% to 28%. NDA also points out that Southeast deer seasons average 151 days, far longer than in the other regions.

For 2023 we also converted the share aged 3½ and up into a number of bucks killed. The 24 states supplying that age class for 2023 differ from the group used in our state comparison. We multiplied buck harvest by the reported share aged 3½ and up for each state to estimate about 1,010,000 bucks killed at 3½ or older, making up 52% of their buck harvest. Texas contributed about 322,900 of those bucks on its own.

For its land area Louisiana killed the most older bucks in 2023, an estimated 2.44 per square mile, followed by Mississippi with 2.11 and Texas with 1.24. Among reporting states, Oklahoma has the largest share aged 3½ and up at 85%, but its older buck kill per square mile ranks 8th at 0.87 because all bucks killed there total just 1.02 per square mile. A large share of older bucks does not mean a large number of them.

VBehind the Shift

NDA's Explanation and the Limits of These Figures

NDA points to hunter choices and regulations. In the 2012 Whitetail Report NDA wrote that "Hunters in these states are obviously benefitting from passing yearling bucks," and added that "at least 22 states implemented some form of antler restriction to protect yearling bucks in 2011." In its 2025 edition NDA says hunters are benefiting from "more naturally balanced age structures."

The figures cannot separate voluntary choices to pass bucks from antler regulations, season changes or changes in which states report. Each agency estimated ages for the bucks killed, so these data give no direct account of ages in the herd. NDA's averages give every state equal weight, which puts Rhode Island on equal footing with Texas. Weighted by buck harvest our 24 states go from 36% yearlings to 23%, against 39% to 28% when every state counts the same.

Agencies do not all count harvest the same way. NDA asked about counting methods for its 2016 Whitetail Report and found that "Twenty-one of 33 states (66 percent) produced a total harvest estimate while 12 states reported a minimum harvest number." If a state changes its counting method the harvest figure can move, and our calculations carry that change as well as any bias in the age sampling. In each of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia, at least one age figure came only from check stations or DMAP areas. Missouri and Vermont do not enter our state comparison because their early figures did not represent the statewide buck harvest. Missouri supplied only its antler point restriction county figures, and NDA said the Vermont figure for 2010 came mainly from the youth hunt and "likely is not representative of their overall antlered buck harvest." The counts, comparisons and estimates for older bucks are our own arithmetic using NDA figures and Census land area. They are a first pass and have not been peer reviewed.

VIState Level View

Judge Your State Across Three Seasons

We read these estimates as a decline in young bucks killed and an increase in older bucks killed across most of the 24 comparison states, though changes in counting and sampling could explain part of it. Your hunting plans still need to start with your own state. In Oklahoma or Mississippi a yearling makes up fewer than one in ten bucks killed. In Delaware the share is more than half, while Maine sits near half. For a sense of how many older bucks hunters in a state actually take, the count killed per square mile tells you more than the share.

We make it a rule to check three seasons before drawing much from a state's figure because individual seasons swing sharply. NDA recorded a jump in Maine's yearling share from 37% to 54% within one year and an increase in Vermont from 10% to 35% across two seasons. If your state is among the 37 NDA follows but not in the table below, it supplied NDA with no 2023 yearling share, so ask your agency if it ages the bucks killed and how it gathers its sample.