Marion County deer hunters bagged another 407 deer during the second shotgun deer hunting season last weekend. That brings the total for both shotgun deer hunting seasons to 1,429. The total is down 55 from the 2020 total.
Statewide, hunters took 71,675 deer, down more than 5,200 from last year. State Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Tim Schweizer says the biggest declines were during the second half of the season.
“We did hear from some of our sites around the state that said some of our hunters at some of the state parks and fish and wildlife areas during the 2nd weekend weren’t seeing many deer. Not sure of the reasons but harvest was down a bit.”
A slow second weekend also resulted in other area counties turning in an overall lower total of deer taken. In Clay County, 348 more deer were taken in the second weekend for a total take of 1,130. In Clinton County, 176 more deer were taken for a yearly total of 674. and Wayne County with 443 deer taken in the 2nd season for a total of 1,414.
The deer take was up this year in Jefferson County, with 620 more deer taken in the second season for a total of 1,913 deer harvested. Fayette County had 478 deer taken in the second season for a total of 1,632.
Washington County saw their harvest up five deer for the year at 965 after 268 deer were harvested in the second weekend.
There are more deer hunting opportunities, including muzzleloader only season this weekend and late winter antlerless-only season beginning December 30th.
