Driftwood Outdoors: State's hunters bag record number of deer

Hunters killed 136,248 deer during the 2012 season. This number tops the record set in 2010 of 134,004 and is an 11 percent increase over the number killed in 2011.

A number of factors can be attributed to the increase, including additional weapon choice, new seasons and traditional seasons being extended.

“We started down the path to strategically reduce the deer herd in order to balance the ecological, recreational and economic needs of all Indiana citizens,” said Mitch Marcus, wildlife chief for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife. “To meet that strategy, we initiated several regulation changes to make it easier to take antlerless deer.

“It appears the regulations may be working.”

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