U.S. hunters set record-low harvest rate of yearling bucks
By Quality Deer Management Association
More 1.5-year-old bucks (yearlings) are getting a pass from deer hunters than at any time in modern history, according to data gathered by QDMA for its 2014 Whitetail Report, now available free online.
In the 2012-13 season, the most recent season with complete deer harvest data available from all states, only 37 percent of antlered bucks killed by hunters in the United States were yearlings, down from over 62 percent in 1988, the year QDMA was founded. Antlered bucks do not include "button bucks," so this means that nearly two-thirds of antlered bucks killed by hunters in 2012-13 were 2.5 years or older.