California Herd Population and Management News and Information Archive
See the California page for the most current information
Reported Annual Deer Hunt 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: 18,883 1999: 18,059 2000: 21,934 2001: 18,494 2002: 17,878 2003: 15,816 2004: 20,402 2005: 15,910 2006: 15,670 2007: 18,381 2008: 16,312 2009: 15,466 2010: 14,817 2011: 10,892 2012: 12,526 2013: 14,159 CDFG "The (2011) decline in harvest is a reflectrion of ALDS tag changes and a corresponding increase of nearly 20% in the state wide non-reporting rate." Big Game Digest | About 489,000 deer are estimated to be in California as of 2012, slightly above the estimate provided by California Fish and Game in 2011, although this estimate does not track with the declining harvest data. [research] The harvest data for 2011 shows a steep decline, but this is explained as an result of tag changes and non-reporting. An increase in the buck harvest is reported in 2012 and 2013, after a long decline. In 2013 the harvest of bucks by age class was: 50.1% 2 Point Bucks, 31.4% 3 Point Bucks, 15.3% 4 Point Bucks, and 3.0% 5 Point or Greater. In 2011 the harvest of bucks by age class were: Two point bucks: 51.2%; Three point bucks: 29.9%; Four point bucks: 15.4%; Four point plus bucks: 2.7%. The very high proportion of immature bucks taken as harvest and the very low buck to doe ratio contrasts with the efforts of deer management that many states have enacted since 2000 where some balance age distributions and of the buck to doe ratio have been implemented. Related News and InformationThe 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 | More Deer Management and Population News by State |