Most whitetails are harvested on private lands, report finds
An overwhelming majority of whitetail deer harvests happen on private hunting land, according to the National Deer Association’s latest Deer Report. In fact, 88% of the harvests recorded around the country during the 2021-22 deer season occurred on privately-owned property.
The report has a wide range of interesting facts about U.S. deer hunting. But the private-land statistic stands out, showing that while it’s certainly advantageous to be near public lands, most hunters focus on having access to private property for their hunts.
“This new data underscores the conservation importance of habitat management and deer hunting on private land,” said NDA Chief Conservation Officer Kip Adams, one of the report’s authors.
PotlatchDeltic currently sells recreational properties in six states, and several of our Southeastern states figured prominently in the statistics.
Louisiana and Alabama were the top states for the greatest increase in antlered buck harvests vs. the previous five-year average, reflecting the growing popularity of deer hunting in those two states. Also, Louisiana and Mississippi ranked among the top five states in the percentage of deer hunters who bagged a buck during the 2021-22 season.
The report is worth diving into for a statistical look at what deer hunting looks like in different states, including in PotlatchDeltic’s other states for recreational property sales – Idaho, Arkansas and Texas.
We find that many of our recreational land buyers have a keen desire to own a quality hunting property, and the experts in PotlatchDeltic’s Preferred Broker Network are the perfect place to start for your search. Now is a good time to start the process, since you could have your own hunting property by this fall’s deer season.
Good afternoon,
While that may be great for “managed” deer, it’s sad for Public Land as numbers in the East will diminish or be extinct in the future. Deer are now lured in by feeders, food plots, artificial water supplies. Deer have forgotten how to forage wildly. In West Virginia, the size of Deer on Public land are small compared to West Public Land. On private land they have been so genetically manipulated that the “score” is all that matters. I hope that Deer harvest requirements by DNR is lowered to allow Deer Populations to flourish. I’m not a biologist but seeing is believeing Best Wishes