FARGO (KFGO/KVRR) — North Dakota Game and Fish has finished its post-season survey of the 2024 deer hunting season.
Over 50,000 deer gun licenses were available and gun hunters had a success rate of 55%. Of the 27,000 bow hunters, 22,000 harvested deer last season, leading to a 26% success rate. Out of the less than 1,000 muzzleloader licenses available, 790 muzzle-load hunters had success equating to a 29% success rate.
Game and Fish staff also use hunter observations and public input to determine license numbers.
While the department is happy with the numbers, overall deer numbers are down compared to years past.
“We’ve seen a dramatic loss in habitat,” said North Dakota Game and Fish Outreach Biologist Doug Leier. “And along with that, hunters and biologists and wildlife managers shouldn’t be shocked or surprised to see a deer population, or a pheasant population, that isn’t nearly at the level that it was during, really, the good old days or the heyday of CRP and habitat that we had in North Dakota.”
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