Deer season to open

With deer hunting season set to begin Saturday, the outlook appears good for hunters.

Not so much for the deer. “The outlook is good because mild winters and abundant acorn crops over the past two years have made it easy on deer and challenging for hunters as harvest numbers have been low,” said Andy LaBonte, a Wildlife Division biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

“It’s expected that acorn production will be lower this year due to gypsy moth infestation, so if pending weather conditions are favorable, harvest numbers this fall should increase from 2017.”

Why does a successful deerhunting season hinge on acorns?

In a nutshell, it’s because acorns are the prime source of food for white-tailed deer in fall and winter.

Twenty-four years of data show during years when acorns were abundant, hunter success was low. That’s because with fewer acorns, deer have to travel farther to browse for other foods in fields, orchards and suburban backyards.

Their movement, according to the 2017 Connecticut Deer Program Summary, “increases their vulnerability to hunters.”

On average, the acorn crop in Connecticut has been moderate most years, scarce about every five to six years and abundant every four years.

“The best hunting opportunities are in the southwest corner of the state and many of the shoreline towns, especially for bow hunters,” LaBonte said. “Many landowners use the archery deer hunting season as a safe and effective means of reducing deer populations, especially in the more developed areas of the state where firearms hunting may not be feasible.”

Last year in Fairfield County, 1,666 deer were harvested from private land, including 94 from Greenwich’s backcountry. Fairfield County led the state with the highest number of deer harvests by bowhunters.

The 2018 fall archery hunting season for deer opens Saturday and extends to the end of December on private lands and state land bow-hunting only areas, and to the end of January on private lands in Deer Management 11 (Fairfield County) and 12 (southeast Connecticut).

State lands are also open to firearms hunting, with the archery season running from Sept. 15 to Nov. 13 and from Dec. 19 through the end of the month.

And, starting Oct. 1, archery deer hunting will be allowed on private lands on Sundays.

Each year, DEEP compiles an extensive report on the prior hunting season and Connecticut’s deer population — the Connecticut Deer Program Summary.

DEEP uses the word “harvested,” instead of killed.

Last year’s deer harvest was 12,080 deer or 13.3 percent more than the previous season when 10,662 deer were taken by hunters.

For the fifth consecutive year, more deer were taken down by bowhunters than by hunters with shotguns or rifles.

Deer harvest totals last year included 294 in Newtown, 197 in Ridgefield, 155 in Easton, 149 in New Milford, 100 in Danbury, 96 in Fairfield, 58 in Stamford, 53 in Torrington and seven in New Haven.

The bow harvest totaled 5,910; the shotgun/rifle harvest, 3,529.

Last year, 687 deer were killed in collisions with motor vehicles.

But the actual number of deer roadkill is likely, much higher. It’s estimated the actual number of road kills in 2017 — most unreported — was 4,122.

Nearly 16 percent (106) of deer roadkills were in Fairfield County (Deer Management Zone 11).

Permits to hunt deer with shotguns and rifles have been steadily declining for several years. In 2017, archery permits, however, increased to a record high of 17,029.