MONROE - The number of deer harvested in Green and Lafayette counties in this year's nine-day gun deer season was down considerably from 2008, according to state Department of Natural Resources preliminary statistics released Tuesday.
Green County hunters registered 273 fewer deer in 2009, from 1,767 to 1,494, about 15 percent, in the season that ended Sunday.
In Lafayette County, deer registration stations experienced an even more significant drop of about 41 percent from last year.
Hunters registered about 1,093 fewer deer. In 2008, hunters took 2,651, compared to 1,558 this year.
Statewide, hunters killed about 29 percent fewer deer during this year's traditional gun hunt than last year.
The DNR estimates hunters killed about 195,650 deer. They took 276,895 deer in the 2008 hunt.
The DNR sold about 638,000 licenses, down slightly from the 642,000 or so it sold last year.
Officials at the DNR had predicted a smaller harvest this year after suspending earn-a-buck requirements, a herd control method that required hunters to kill an antlerless deer before they could take a buck.
Green County hunters registered 273 fewer deer in 2009, from 1,767 to 1,494, about 15 percent, in the season that ended Sunday.
In Lafayette County, deer registration stations experienced an even more significant drop of about 41 percent from last year.
Hunters registered about 1,093 fewer deer. In 2008, hunters took 2,651, compared to 1,558 this year.
Statewide, hunters killed about 29 percent fewer deer during this year's traditional gun hunt than last year.
The DNR estimates hunters killed about 195,650 deer. They took 276,895 deer in the 2008 hunt.
The DNR sold about 638,000 licenses, down slightly from the 642,000 or so it sold last year.
Officials at the DNR had predicted a smaller harvest this year after suspending earn-a-buck requirements, a herd control method that required hunters to kill an antlerless deer before they could take a buck.