The Indiana state deer harvest record total was set during the 2008-09 season in which 129,752 animals were harvested statewide. Going into the 2009-10 season, a similar amount of deer was expected to fall to the bows, crossbows, guns and muzzleloaders of Hoosier hunters.

When the smoke cleared from last fall’s season, a new record of 132, 752 whitetails had been checked into the state’s many certified deer check-in stations. Chad Stewart, Indiana’s head deer research biologist weighed in with his thoughts on the new record number and where he thinks this coming season’s harvest numbers may fall.

“It’s probably too soon to make a prediction. The state herd can definitely support another record year, but whether or not we actually reach that number will still depend on factors yet to be seen, like whether or not we’ll have a bad year of EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease) like we did in 2007. Everything else equal, though, it’s safe to assume the deer harvest for 2010 will exceed 125,000, and will probably come close to or exceed 130,000. When there is no significant change to the season it is unrealistic to expect changes in harvest numbers,” Stewart said.

One harvest trend Stewart has observed is that the past two years have been the first two years in recent history, and maybe ever, where hunters actually harvested more female deer than male deer.

“Our antlerless harvest has exceeded our antlered harvest for 20 years now, but the 2008 and 2009 seasons were the first time when our hunters actually harvested more female deer than male deer (antlered and button bucks combined).

The top overall harvest county in the state was once again Steuben County with 4,102 deer, followed by Kosciusko (3,652), Switzerland (3,223), Noble (3,063) and Franklin (3,063). Dearborn County came in at No. 6 for the year with 2,981, and Marshall (2,936), Parke (2,881), Harrison (2,776) and Washington (2,626) rounded out the Top 10.

In the past this special Indiana GAME & FISH feature article has shown that Indiana was broken up into a total of seven Deer Zones. In this latest installment we’ll catch up with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), as they’ve since broken up the state into 15 separate Wildlife Management Districts.

DISTRICT 1
District 1 is a seven-county area in extreme northwest Indiana. The district is bordered by Lake Michigan to the north and the Wabash River to the south. With sandy soils in the northern portion, and more traditional farm ground in the southern portion, it offers a variety of habitat types, from dune-like areas along Lake Michigan to heavily timbered areas in the east to a more traditional plains-type farm ground in the south.

District 1 produced a total of 7,901 deer in 2009 with Jasper County leading the way with its 1,601 tally. Following Jasper County was Porter with 1,487 deer.

LaSalle Fish and Wildlife Area (FWA) is an almost-4,000-acre public land option that lies in Newton and Lake counties, and Jasper-Pulaski FWA is another bet in nearby Jasper County.

DISTRICT 2
District 2 is a seven-county area in the extreme north-central part of the state. The northern tier counties also offer a more sandy type soil with a more traditional woodlot and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) mixture in the southern areas. There are also several natural lakes and their respective watersheds mixed into this array of habitats.

District 2 produced a total of 15,282 deer last year. Kosciusko County led the way, with 3,652 animals, followed by Marshall County with 2,936. District 2 has a high deer density overall.

A public land opportunity in this district is 4,095-acre Kankakee FWA in Starke County, and another option here is Tri-County FWA in nearby Kosciusko County.

DISTRICT 3
District 3 is located in extreme northeast Indiana and encompasses much of the Natural Lakes Region of the state. Again the soils in the northern section of the district are more sandy/loamy, with a more traditional clay-dominated soil in the southern portions. There is a very diverse mixture of rolling hills in the northern part of the district and more traditional flat areas close to the Ohio state line.

The area is best described as woodlot country, but there is quite a bit of CRP land mixed in as well. Some areas in the district are heavily timbered, and there is a multitude of swamps, creeks, marshes and lakes.

This five-county district produced 13,557 whitetails last year with Steuben County leading the way with 4, 102 total deer taken.

Pigeon River FWA is a nearly 12,000-acre public hunting area in Steuben and LaGrange counties.

DISTRICT 4
District 4 is located just south of District 2 in north-central Indiana. The northern part of this six-county area lies partially in the Wabash Valley, while the southern portion dips into the Tipton Till plains. Woodlots are again the dominant landscape feature with some thick river bottom sections of timber mixed in. This is also home to a couple of the Army Corp of Engineers manmade reservoirs in Salamonie and Mississinewa.

A total of 8,291 deer were harvested in this district last year. Leading the way was Fulton County with a total of 2,130 whitetails, followed by Wabash with 1,742.

Mississinewa Lake is a 14,386-acre public land opportunity in this zone.DISTRICT 5
District 5 lies in the northeast area of the state as well, just south of District 3. Ft. Wayne’s urban sprawl is the dominant feature in the northern portion, with gently rolling valleys and hills in the western portion, and giving way to the bigger agricultural plains of the south. There is plenty of timber in portions of this district, and there is also plenty of flat woodlot habitat as well.

This seven-county district produced a total of 6,236 deer for the year. Allen County led the group with 1,781 deer taken.

A public land opportunity exists in Huntington Coun
ty in J. Edward Roush Lake, with its 8,217-acre hunting and fishing area.

DISTRICT 6
District 6 is a six-county area in the west-central part of the state. A big part of this district is comprised of the thickly timbered Wabash Valley. The dominant river system in this district is the Wabash, along with Sugar Creek. The southern portion of the district gives way to some timbered hills and ridges that are mixed in with abundant farm ground. It is a very diverse habitat mix that supports good numbers of deer.

Leading the district was Parke County with 2,881 deer, followed by Putnam with 2,059.

Raccoon State Recreation Area offers nearly 5,000 acres of public land deer hunting in District 6.