By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The 2024-25 hunting season has come and gone, and it broke records.
Hunters took 149,868 deer, which is Kentucky’s second-highest harvest ever recorded, took more from public land, and broke the record on the percentage of antlered deer killed, according to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“A breakdown of harvest by permit type shows 76 percent of deer were harvested on a statewide or youth deer permit; 16 percent were landowner permits; and 7 percent were with senior or disabled permits,” a press release states. “The remaining deer were harvested during public land quota hunts or through deer control damage permits.”
The department reported modern gun season — which traditionally garners two-thirds of the total each year — amounted to 107,392 deer, 16,662 deer were killed by bows, 14,020 by crossbows and 11,794 by muzzle-loaded firearms.
Hardin County yielded the highest deer harvest of any county this past season with 3,228 deer, followed by Christian County with 3,092, Breckinridge County at 2,916, Grayson County with 2,834 and Hart County at 2,816. There were no numbers available for Barren County.
Since the department began tracking the metric in 2016, the age composition of the buck harvest remained stable, which Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Deer Program Coordinator Joe McDermott said he was pleased to see.
“We can see evidence of hunters doing a good job of being selective and avoiding taking young deer,” McDermott said, noting that 71% of harvested bucks were at least 2.5 years old.
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