Tennessee deer hunters bagged a total of 166,379 deer during the 2005 deer seasons. This number represented a five percent drop from the 2004 total of 174,077, but was still higher than the 2003 total of 156,715 and ranks second all-time on the statewide harvest list. The substantial increase from 2003 to 2004 was accredited to the creation of Unit L, which has much more liberal bag limits than Units A or B. The decrease in 2005 could be attributed to a couple of factors, including inclement weather during parts of the season and a substantial mast crop, which limited deer movement.

Of the 166,000 deer killed, 160,096 were killed on statewide hunts, while 5,631 were killed on Wildlife Management Areas and 652 were killed at Ft. Campbell.

106,015 deer were killed during the gun season, while 33,935 were killed during muzzleloader season and 20,146 were killed during archery season. Of the archery season total, 16,346 were killed with traditional or compound bows, while 3,800 were killed with crossbows.

Region 2 led the kill totals across the state, with 60,664 deer harvested. Hunters in Region 1 harvested 52,298 deer, while hunters in Region 3 harvested 29,431 deer and hunters in Region 4 harvested only 17,703 deer.

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency data indicates that 49.4 percent of all antlered bucks harvested in 2005 were yearling (1.5-year-old) bucks, while 39.1 percent were 2.5-year-old bucks and only 11.5 percent were mature bucks of 3.5-years or older.

Data also indicates that 32 percent of all antlered bucks taken were either seven-point or eight-point deer, while only 16.09 percent were spikes. A total of 22.6 percent were five-point or six-point deer, while 19.7 percent were three-point or four-point deer, 7.5 percent were nine-point or 10-point deer and 1.3 percent had 11 or more points.

Hardeman County led the 2005 harvest total by county, with 5,904 deer tagged. Other counties tagging 5,000 or more deer included Henry (5,056) and Giles (5,012) counties.

At the bottom of the list, hunters in Polk County harvested only 61 deer.

Data also showed that more liberal antlerless bag limits may be helping the growing segment of the hunting population that wants to "balance the herd." In what might be a first for Tennessee, 21 counties harvested more does than bucks in 2005.

For complete kill data, including detailed county-by-county analysis, check out TnDeer.Com.