ANNAPOLIS — Hunters reported harvesting 27,620 deer during the two-week firearms season in Maryland, which ran from Nov. 29 to Dec. 13.
This is a decrease of 10.4% over last year’s count of 30,833, but only 3% lower than the five-year average of 28,467, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
The deer harvest fluctuates from year to year due to a variety of factors that include weather, natural food availability, diseases, hunter effort and overall deer population size.
Every county in the state reported a lower total harvest in 2025, and more than half of the counties reported double-digit decreases, according to data that the DNR released on Monday, Dec. 22.
Wicomico bucked the trend with an increase of 1.9% in whitetails, from 1,172 in 2024 to 1,194 this year, but that was negated by a 26.6% decrease in the sika deer harvest.
Prince George’s County reported the biggest drop, 34.9%, from a harvest of 504 in 2024 to 328 this year.
In Kent County, the decrease was 5.6%, from 1,425 in 2024 to 1,345 this year.
The drop was 6.5% in Queen Anne’s and 8.0% in Cecil.
Hunters reported taking 10,938 antlered deer during the two-week season, a 6.6% decrease compared to last year’s official total of 11,709.
The antlerless harvest decreased 12.8% from 19,124 last year to 16,682 this year.
Sika deer represented 499 of the total antlered harvest and 607 of the total antlerless harvest.
The total sika deer harvest was exactly the same as last year.
More than 3,080 deer were taken on the two Sundays during the season, representing just over 11% of the total harvest.
Hunters bagged 2,085 deer on the Sunday of the opening weekend.
Deer hunting is currently permitted on select Sundays in 20 of 23 counties.
Hunters in Region A — Allegany County, Garrett County and western Washington County — reported taking 2,308 antlered and 1,671 antlerless deer, down 12.3% and 20.7%, respectively.
In the remainder of the state [Region B], hunters reported taking 8,630 antlered and 15,011 antlerless deer. The antlered harvest decreased 4.9% while the antlerless harvest decreased 11.8%.
The winter firearms deer season is Jan. 9-11, 2026 in deer management Region B.
Maryland’s muzzleloader deer hunting season opened Dec. 20 and will run through Jan 3.
