New Hampshire Deer Population An estimated population of 100,000 deer in 2023 and 2021. At least 120,000 pre-hunt in 2019, and 100,000 pre-hunt in 2017 after two mild winters. Estimated at 85,000 deer pre-hunt in 2015 and 2016, down from 100,000 in 2014.
New Hampshire Deer News
Something Wild: The fragile balance of deer and coyotes in late winter March 7, 2025 New Hampshire Public Radio
... New Hampshire Fish and Game suggests there are close to 100,000 white-tailed deer in the state... in March ... Limited by deep snow, the deer travel back and forth on well-packed deer trails and settle into the relatively cozy “deer yards” where they’re also easy pickings for hungry coyotes..,
Wildlife Rule Proposal Hearings Set March 6, 2025 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... The rules proposals call for increased hunting opportunity in 16 of the 20 Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) in the state... Proposed changes also expand the areas where crossbows may be used during the archery season for deer ..,
The 2026–2035 Big Game Management Plan Update Process Has Begun December 4, 2024 New Hampshire Game and Parks
... will establish population goals and objectives for deer, moose, bear, and turkey for the period 2026–2035. The current plan expires at the end of 2025. Recently, over 30,000 New Hampshire residents received surveys to record and measure public opinion on the management of these species...
N.H. hunting has lost its COVID-era boost November 14, 2024 Concord Monitor
... Through Aug. 31, New Hampshire sold 31,266 hunting licenses, according to the Department of Fish and Game. That’s 14% fewer licenses than were sold during the first eight months of 2020 and 2021 when the pandemic sent everybody scurrying outdoors, including would-be hunters..,
Research finds coyotes thriving despite human and predator pressures November 6, 2024 New Hampshire, EurekAlert!
... Published in the journal Ecography, the study, one of the largest-scale studies of coyote populations to date ... used data from over 4,500 cameras set up across the country by the Snapshot USA project ...“Intensive coyote removal can obviously reduce populations in the short-term, but removal can also result in younger coyote populations with higher reproduction and immigration rates,” ...
NH Hunters Must Now Follow Carcass Importation Regulations When Returning from New York State October 29, 2024 New Hampshire Fish and Game Department
... New York State has detected chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a captive cervid facility in Region 6, which includes St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, and Herkimer Counties. To protect New Hampshire’s deer herd, hunters returning from the Empire State must follow existing state carcass importation regulations. For more details on importation regulations visit www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/wildlife-related-diseases/deer-diseases...
'Operation Night Cat' takes down large NH poaching ring October 28, 2024 New Hampshire Public Radio
... It started with a tip about a Gilmanton man baiting deer out of season. It turned into a multi-agency investigation that revealed one of the largest illegal poaching rings in recent state history...
Hunters Preparing for 2024 Muzzleloader Season October 18, 2024 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... In New Hampshire, muzzleloader hunters are given 11 days prior to the opening day of the regular firearms season to hunt deer. Hunters must obtain a regular hunting license ($32 for residents; $113 for nonresidents) and a muzzleloader license ($16 for residents; $41 for nonresidents)...
New Hampshire’s 2024 Moose Hunt Is October 19–27 September 26, 2024 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... Thirty-three permit holders were drawn in this year’s lottery, randomly selected by computer from a pool of more than 6,100 applicants... The state’s first modern-day moose hunt took place in 1988, with 75 permits issued in the North Country. At that time, New Hampshire was home to about 1,600 moose. Today, New Hampshire has about 3,300 moose..,
Help Prevent Chronic Wasting Disease in New Hampshire September 26, 2024 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... In 2018, a red deer from a captive facility in Quebec tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). This remains the closest confirmed case of CWD to the New Hampshire border. Movement of captive cervids (members of the deer family including moose, deer, elk, and caribou, as well as any species of captive deer) remains the number one threat in the spread of CWD ...
New Hampshire Deer 2023-24 Hunting Results May 7, 2024 New Hampshire Fish and Game
New Hampshire’s 2023 deer season resulted in a total harvest of 13,136 deer, and represented the fifth-highest harvest in the state’s history going back to 1922. This was a decrease of 7% from 14,082 in 2022. The adult buck (antlered males age 1.5+) kill decreased slightly from 8,339 in 2022 to 8,295 in 2023. This total represents the secondhighest adult buck harvest the state has seen. The antlerless harvest (does and fawns) decreased 16% from 5,743 in 2022 to 4,841 in 2023..,
Help Keep New Hampshire CWD-Free April 16, 2024 New Hampshire Fish and Game
...New Hampshire’s white-tailed deer population once again showed no evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD), based on monitoring data gathered during the 2023 hunting season ... all 390 deer sampled during the 2023 deer season tested negative ..,
Gilmanton firefighters save 'exhausted' deer that fell through Crystal Lake ice March 25, 2024 New Hampshire, Concord Monitor
... “The deer was rescued, tired, exhausted and shivering but it was last seen up and walking around,” firefighters said in a Facebook post...
Coyote hunting season never ends in New Hampshire – and neither does the debate February 21, 2024 New Hampshire Bulletin
... Without offering specific numbers, Fish and Game biologists have said the state’s population has remained “stable.” Educated guesses put it between 4,500 to 5,000..,
Post-flight feast: Study suggests reindeer vision evolved to spot favorite food December 23, 2023 New Hampshire, CT Insider
... researchers from Dartmouth College ... report that reindeer eyes may have evolved to allow them to easily spot their preferred meal... They found reindeer moss absorbs UV light, meaning the white lichen that humans have trouble seeing against the snow stands out as dark patches to the animals...
Venison donations may come with a side of lead November 6, 2023 New Hampshire Bulletin
... “… As the bullet travels through the target it is shedding lead … now you have lead in your meat.” [Scott Mason, executive director of New Hampshire Fish and Game] ... Lead bullets fragment into hundreds of tiny pieces upon impact...
New Hampshire 2023 Moose Hunt Highlights October 31, 2023 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... New Hampshire’s 2023 moose hunting season ran from Saturday, October 21 through Sunday, October 29 with a total of 23 moose being taken—22 bulls and 1 cow. “This year was on par with previous years as far as hunter success rates,” according to Henry Jones, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Moose Project Leader...
Island deer are now open season September 29, 2023 New Hampshire, The Laconia Daily Sun
... the department was mandated to change by the state Legislature, and that the change to allow hunting on islands was in response to growing populations... "There were times, 20 years ago or so, when she would see six or eight deer in a herd together on the island, she said. Lately the groups have been only one or two..." [Muriel Robinette, an environmental consultant]
New Hampshire’s 2023 Moose Hunt Is October 21-29 September 27, 2023 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... he state’s first modern-day moose hunt took place in 1988, with 75 permits issued in the North Country. At that time, New Hampshire was home to about 1,600 moose. Today, New Hampshire has about 3,300 moose...
Law tweak makes it easier to sell deer, elk meat in New Hampshire August 2, 2023 Concord Monitor
... Gov. Sununu has signed HB119, which removes a state law that required U.S. Department of Agriculture certification for plants that process meat from red deer and elk...The only USDA-certified slaughterhouse and processing plant in New Hampshire is Lemay and Sons in Goffstown. ...
Granite Geek: Slash walls can keep deer from damaging young forests June 12, 2023 New Hampshire, Concord Monitor
... “Slash” is the forestry term for the parts of trees that aren’t worth the expense of removing after a timber harvest: limbs, tree tops, small trees that got in the way... the idea of slash walls is to pile up this material to build walls that keep out the deer while the forest regenerates...
Chronic Wasting Disease, It's not tech or medical magic that has kept a nasty deer disease out of New Hampshire May 8, 2023 Concord Monitor
... New Hampshire and many other states have stopped the old practice of moving deer around. Deer, elk and other cervids are kept in game preserves around the country for hunters who want to lessen the uncertainty of finding a target. These parks, where disease can more easily spread, often sell animals to each other and if the animal is infected but not showing symptoms then, bingo!, you’ve got a new location for CWD...
2022 New Hampshire Wildlife Harvest Summary Now Available May 4, 2023 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... New Hampshire’s 2022 deer season resulted in a total harvest of 14,082. The adult (antlered) buck harvest of 8,339 was the largest documented in the state since recordkeeping began in 1922. Archers took 4,498 deer, the youth weekend accounted for 387 deer harvested, and muzzleloader and regular firearm hunters took 2,133 and 7,064 deer, respectively...
Update on Chronic Wasting Disease in New Hampshire May 3, 2023 New Hampshire Fish and Game
... Hampshire’s white-tailed deer population has once again demonstrated no evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD), based on monitoring data gathered during the 2022 hunting season... biologists collected 385 samples from hunter-killed deer ... Since the monitoring program began in 2002, 7,787 deer have been tested...
Hound hunting is a time-honored tradition in NH. But not everyone likes it. March 25, 2023 New Hampshire, NHPR
... a centuries-old practice that’s facing increased opposition today...In Sandwich ... a nearly three-year campaign distributing signs throughout town for people to post on their properties, telling hunters and dogs they’re not welcome to hunt bears there... more than 300 signs have gone out ...
New Hampshire Wildlife Rule Proposal Hearings Set March 9, 2023 New Hampshire Fish and Game Department
... New Hampshire’s regional deer, bear, and turkey populations are stable or increasing. Thus, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department proposes additional hunting opportunities in various regions of the state... The complete rulemaking notice is available on the NH Fish and Game Department website’s Proposed Rules ...
The 2023 New Hampshire Moose Hunt Lottery Is Open January 27, 2023 New Hampshire Game and Fish News
... The state’s current moose population is estimated to be about 3,000 animals. The availability of moose hunting permits is made possible by careful monitoring of moose populations...,
New Hampshire Deer News and Information Archive by Topic: Population and Management, Deer in the News, Disease, Suburban
New Hampshire data: A state website dated 2023 puts the deer population at "approximately 100,000" and a similar, perhaps the same number has been quoted by the press in 2025. For 2025, increased hunting is proposed in 16 of the 20 Wildlife Management Units. For 2024, deer license sales are down by about 14% from the increased sales during the covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The estimated 100,000 deer in 2021 comes after a record deer kill in 2020. The 2023 deer hunt fell by 7% from 2022. The adult buck harvest was about the same as in the previous year
The state owned more than 60,000 acres in over 100 Wildlife Management areas and over 25,000 acres in conservation easements in 2021. In 2020, license sales were up 10 percent but the deer kill was up only six percent suggesting a stable to lower population. The 2019 pre-hunt population was estimated at above 120,000 by New Hampshire Fish and Wildlife. Hunter success was high in 2018 with more deer from mild winters and a drought in the summer that forced deer to search more for food. An estimated 100,000 deer in 2017 pre-hunt after two mild winters. North of the White Mountains the estimated population was about half of the state's goal in 2017-18 and 5 to 14 percent above goal around Concord and Plymouth.
An estimated 85,000 deer in 2015 and about the same in 2016 based on hunting data. In 2016 an estimated 1,200 deer-vehicle collisions for a typical year. A mild 2015-16 winter; the 2016 drought reduced fawn survival, but a good fall mast crop. An estimated 100,000 deer pre-hunt in 2014, an increase from the state estimate of 87,000 deer in the herd pre-hunt in 2013. The deer harvest fell by about 9 percent in 2014 and by about 4 percent in 2015.
About 85,000 - 90,000 deer in the state in 2013 to 2011, pre-hunt. The 2014 food supply was about average with the population having recovered in some parts of the state from the recent low following the severe winters of 2007-08 with mild winters in 2010-11 to 2013-14. In 2014 about 40 percent of the deer taken were antlerless (does and fawns). In 2013 and 2014 roughly 1/3 of the deer taken were does and 2/3 were bucks. About 60,000 deer hunting licenses sold in 2013, down from a peak of 97,000 in 1988.
The goal of the wildlife agency is to increase the deer herd, except in southeastern New Hampshire where deer population control efforts are underway to reduce deer vehicle collisions and browsing on agriculture and ornamental plants. The hunt is taking about 11 to 14 percent of the herd each year. Stable population, significantly higher than in the 1980s. The herd was slow to recover from some severe winters beginning in 2007-08, the mild winters of 2010-12 reduced fawn mortality. Management was trying to improve the age structure of the northern deer herd, reducing the kill of young deer. A population estimate of 90,000 deer in 2009.
The herd population took a big drop in the 1980's. The population has been on a general upward trend following that die off. Bucks were about 65 percent of the harvest in 2013. About 1,300 deer are killed by cars every year in the state.
Peak of the rut is about November 15 to 20.
Deer are near the northern boundary of their range so a harsh winter can starve many deer.
Chronic Wasting Disease Testing began in 2002 with no positives after the 2022 season from 385 samples for the year and 390 samples in 2023. As of 2024.
History: In southern New Hampshire deer were plentiful up to about 1700. "The pre-colonial Indians of New Hampshire undoubtedly altered their environment and deer habitat through their removal of trees for agriculture and firewood. Some evidence exists that Native Americans cleared land specifically to improve habitat for deer." See more history starting on page 23 of the 2015 Deer Assessment and in the History of New Hampshire Game and Furbearers. Overhunting and habit loss reduced populations for two centuries. In 1923 there were an estimated 1,000 deer and the state was planning to buy 100 deer to expand the herd.
The graphs below shows the historic reported deer harvest for New Hampshire from NHFG.
The two year moving average of the buck harvest is often used to estimate deer populations because the doe harvest is changed more often to control population growth. Source of graph. NH Fish and Game Department
Moose In 2024 New Hampshire had about 3,300 moose. The population estimated at 3,000 in early 2023 up from 1,600 in 1988 when the state’s first modern-day moose hunt took place with 75 permits issued in the North Country. Nearly 3,800 in 2020, less than 3,500 in 2019, less than 4,000 in 2018, 3,500 in 2017, 4,000 2015 and 2016, down from about 4,500 in 2014 and 7,600 in 1996. By the mid-1800s there were fewer than 15 moose in the state. Moose hunting was banned in 1901. Logging created habitat that helped the herd recover. The herd began a major rebound in the 1970s. 1,600 animals in the state in 1988. The population peaked in the 1990s at about 7,500. About 4,000 in 2015. In 1988, about 1,600 moose, in 2022 about 3,300.
About 5,700 black bears in 2015.
Coyote A rough estimate of 4,000 to 5,000 in 2024 with a stable population.
Bobcats estimated at 1,400 in 2016, up from about 150 in 1985.
Cougar (Mountain Lion). The last cougar in New Hampshire was shot near the coast in 1857.
Moose Density Graph Below. Source NH Fish and Game Department.
