California Deer Population and Management News and Information Archive
See the California page for current news and a history. Information about the long term decline of the deer population in California. A research paper, Public Management Decisions Related to the Decline of California Deer Populations: A Comparative Management Approach (2016) Environment and Ecology
Estimated Annual Deer Kill (also below, reported kill, with links to data sources) 1998: 34,759 1999: 33,874 2000: 40,632 2001: 34,417 2002: 33,311 2003: 29,317 2004: 37,746 2005: 29,566 2006: 28,581 2007: 33,367 2008: 29,612 2009: 27,900 2010: 26,425 2011: 28,927 2012: 32,954 2013: 31,076 2014: 37,951 2015: 38,199 2016: 32,514 2017: 28,593 2018: 28,682 2019: 28,043 Reported Annual Deer Hunt and links to historic data 1911: 6,200 1912: 7,800 1913: 8,100 1914: 9,000 1915: 8,100 1916: 8,117 1917: Closed to 1927 to preserve herd 1927: 19,292 1928: 21,163 1929: 21,148 1930: 24,067 1931: 25,693 1932: 18,509 1933: 17,671 1934: 20,696 1935: 22,032 1936: 24,954 1937: 32,113 1938: 35,035 1939: 43,225 1940: 46,367 1941: 43,655 1942: 26,526 1943: 25,570 1944: 36,182 1945: 37,775 1946: 48,645 1947: 47,416 1948: 47,718 1949: 52,502 1950: 48,129 1951: 66,505 1952: 50,882 1953: 58,936 1954: 76,273 1955: 78,643 1956:102,636 1957: 68,262 1958: 62,251 1959: 75,460 1960: 82,182 1961: 72,540 1962: 59,813 1963: 60,167 1964: 71,126 1965: 66,627 1966: 75,954 1967: 46,006 1968: 54,468 1969: 51,290 1970: 40,115 1971: 41,218 1972: 38,569 1973: 31,300 1974: 23,810 1975: 26,679 1976: 29,875 1977: 37,062 1978: 31,516 1979: 36,321 1980: 32,899 1981: 42,586 1982: 31,963 1983: 26,524 1984: 32,659 1985: 32,798 1986: 31,067 1987: 26,580 1988: 25,986 1989: 28,399 1990: 26,454 1991: 25,853 1992: 29,192 1993: 23,406 1994: 23,773 1995: 17,230 1996: 23,658 1997: 20,937 1998: 18,755 1999: 18,639 2000: 22,508 2001: 18,900 2002: 18,315 2003: 16,288 2004: 20,925 2005: 16,430 2006: 16,240 2007: 18,978 2008: 16,941 2009: 16,088 2010: 14,817 2011: 10,892 2012: 12,526 2013: 14,733 2014: 14,243 2015: 19,639 * 2016: 27,608 * 2017: 21,749 * 2018: 22,029* 2019: 21,333* * Manadtory harvest reporting in 2015 increased the reporting rate. Recently, California also provides an estimated harvest. Since 2010 generally the number of deer killed for Private Land Management (PLM) are not included in totals. Decline of the North King herd, 1950s to 1976 | Archive.The pdf file at the bottom of the page labeled CaMuleDeerHabitatGuidelines provides a detailed explanation for some of the causes leading to the decline of California Deer Herds. The article in the PDF file below "More Questions than Answers" comes from the proceedings of the 1972 Mule Deer Working group and discusses the reasons for the causes of the decline in the California deer population beginning around the late 1950's and early 1960's. | More Deer Management and Population News by State |
