Zone 4B led Connecticut's 2025 deer harvest per square mile

IWhat the count is

Reported deer and a survey of where hunters sat

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Wildlife Division published the 2025 Connecticut Deer Program Summary in August 2026. LaBonte prepared it. The regulated harvest is deer that were legally taken and reported. During the 2025 hunting season that total was 10,027 deer, a 17.8% increase from 8,514 in 2024.

The season table splits that total. Archery was 4,828 deer and 48.1%. Shotgun and rifle was 3,539 deer and 35.3%. The landowner season was 1,099 deer and 11.0%. Muzzleloader was 561 deer and 5.6%. Crossbow, youth, and revolver rows already sit inside those season lines.

DEEP estimates statewide success by dividing harvest by permits and multiplying by 100. In 2025 archery success was 32.7%. Landowner success was 30.6%. Private-land shotgun and rifle success was 29.8%. The summary says the 2025 increase may be partially due to a slight increase in permit sales, better weather during the firearms season, and fewer acorns. Permits totaled 41,415 in 2025, up 2.4% from 40,462 in 2024.

Zone hunter counts come from an online Deer Hunter Survey. In 2025, 4,577 hunters responded. The response rate was 38% among hunters who received and opened the email. For shotgun and rifle, DEEP multiplied each zone's share of respondents by the private-land shotgun and rifle permits issued in 2025. Zone success uses that estimate and the reported private-land harvest. DEEP states that higher success rates suggest higher deer density. That is their reading of this survey. It does not estimate the deer on one farm.

Table 11 is private land for all seasons and leaves out the landowner season. It totals 7,521 deer. The all-season reported total is 10,027. The difference is 2,506 deer. Landowner harvest is 1,099 of the season table. State-land seasons sit outside Table 11. The summary does not print one line that closes the rest of the gap.

IIShotgun zones

Zone 4B led per square mile and zone 5 led the count

Table 5 is private land only for the 2025 shotgun and rifle season. Reported harvest there is 2,946 deer, the same figure as the private-land shotgun and rifle line in the season table. Printed area is 3,785 square miles. Estimated hunters are 9,890, matching those permits. The zone rows of estimated hunters add to 9,889. The summary does not explain that one-hunter difference. Our check of 2,946 divided by 9,890 is 29.8%, the rate Table 4 prints. Table 5 prints 30% on its total row.

DEEP reports that most firearms hunting (44%) was in zones 1, 2, 5, and 9. The highest harvests were in zones 5, 9, 10, and 12. Zone 8 had the most hunters per square mile at 4.1. Lowest success was in zones 2, 4A, and 8 at 12%, 17%, and 24%.

Hunters in the table are survey expansions. Harvest is reported deer. Table 6 rounds the areas. Zone 4B is 120.7 square miles there and 120.66 in Table 5. Total success moved from 23% in 2024 to 30% in 2025. Zone 8 moved from 11% to 24%. Zone 3 moved from 22% to 35%. Zone 4B moved from 38% to 46%. Zone 1 stayed at 25%. Zone 2 moved from 13% to 12%.

Our rule is to use the zone row before treating the statewide shotgun and rifle jump as your season. The shotgun and rifle subtotal rose 28.7% from 2,750 deer in 2024 to 3,539 in 2025. That subtotal includes state land. Zone 2 did not show that jump. Zone 2 and zone 4A still cannot use the antlerless-only tag on a two-tag firearms permit. DEEP says the restriction stays until a clear increasing trend shows in those zones. Zone 2 success has shown little change, and the summary says other restrictions may be considered there later. That sentence describes the zone. It does not forecast one hunter's season.

IIIBow zones

The 2025 success column ranks zone 5 first

DEEP expanded the archery survey with the 14,746 archery permits issued in 2025. Table 7 prints 14,746 estimated archery hunters. The zone rows add to 14,744. Reported harvest by zone totals 4,673 deer. The season-table archery subtotal is 4,828, including 170 deer taken in January 2026 on private land in zones 11 and 12 only. Removing those 170 leaves 4,658. Table 7 sits 15 deer above that figure. Our check of 4,673 divided by 14,746 is 31.7%, the Table 7 total success rate. Our check of 4,828 divided by 14,746 is 32.7%, the Table 4 archery rate. Use 32.7% for all reported archery deer per permit. Use 31.7% for the zone table.

The summary says 2025 bow success was highest in zones 4B, 5, and 11 and lowest in zones 1, 2, and 4A. The printed column ranks zone 5 at 42.8%, zone 11 at 36.8%, zone 12 at 35.1%, and zone 4B at 34.7%. Zone 2 is 15.9%. Zone 8 is 25.1%. Zones 1 and 4A are both 25.5%. Our read is to follow the column when the sentence and the cells disagree.

Private land in all seasons except the landowner season was led by zones 5, 11, and 12 at 1,206, 1,012, and 734 deer. The total was 7,521, up 15.9% from 6,488 in 2024. DEEP notes that zone 5 has exceeded zone 11 in the past several years. This table has no square miles and no hunter estimate.

IVSunday hunting

Firearms Sundays were new on private land

In 2025, Sunday hunting was permitted on all private land in all zones during all seasons. Archery Sundays on private land had covered every zone since 2018. Firearms weekends before 2025 were Saturday only. In June 2025 the Connecticut State Senate passed HB 7231. The summary says the bill allows firearms hunting on private land on Sundays except within 40 yards of a blue-blazed or federally designated hiking trail, and that it prohibits migratory bird hunting on Sundays. Confirm the current DEEP hunting guide before you hunt. This paper uses the deer summary. The statute page was not opened for this run.

The two-day weekend share of the private-land firearms harvest was 28% in 2025. That line covers shotgun and rifle plus muzzleloader. When only Saturday was open, that share on the same table ran from 21% to 26%. The summary points to weather, acorns, and permits for the larger kill. It does not credit the new Sundays.

Successful archers reported hours and deer seen on the day they killed a deer. For September 15 to October 15 in 2025 the statewide line is 1,280 successful hunters, 1.19 deer seen per hour, 0.50 fawns per doe, and 0.38 deer harvested per hour. Those rates are from hunters who already killed a deer that day. Checked rows were zone 1, zone 3, zone 6, and zone 10. In those rows the printed change equals the 2024 rate minus the 2025 rate. A negative number means the 2025 rate was higher.

If you hunt one zone, write that zone's Table 5 success rate and deer per square mile on the season card. Compare next year with that row. Leave 10,027 on the statewide season table.