Maryland Muzzleloader Harvest down 17% YOY
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is reporting that hunters took 16,607 deer during the early 2023 archery and muzzleloader seasons. The harvest was an 18% decrease from last year’s official harvest of 20,267 deer for the same period.
The two-month harvest included 10,140 deer taken during the archery season and 6,299 harvested during the October muzzleloader season. An additional 168 deer were reported during managed hunts. The archery harvest decreased 19% while the muzzleloader harvest decreased 17% compared to the previous year. The sika deer harvest decreased 9% from 1,624 deer to 1,476 deer.
Hunters harvested 911 deer on Sundays that were open to archery hunting, accounting for 9% of the total archery harvest.
Understandably, deer harvest numbers can and will fluctuate from year to year. Weather, hunter effort, food availability and herd size are all major factors contributing to the harvest numbers. As of writing, several states are reporting their “early muzzleloader season” harvest numbers, with a slight downward trend across the board. We’ll continue to publish updates as they become available.