DELAWARE- Delaware hunters harvested 16,746 deer during the 2025-’26 hunting season, an 11% decrease from the record-setting season the year before, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Data released by the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife shows hunters reported 11,907 antlerless deer and 4,839 antlered deer during the season. The total is down from the 18,823 deer harvested during the 2024-’25 season, but still ranks among the five highest harvest totals since Delaware’s modern deer hunting season began in 1954.
“The slight decline in harvest compared to last season is likely influenced by several factors,” DNREC Deer Biologist Sam Millman said. “Reduced hunter participation, weather conditions during key portions of the season, and high acorn production across much of the state likely affected deer movement and hunter success.”
To help hunters explore harvest data in more detail, DNREC has launched a new online Deer and Wild Turkey Harvest Dashboard. The program allows users to view harvest trends by season, county and wildlife management zone through a map-based interface.
Delaware is divided into 18 deer management zones to help wildlife biologists track harvest patterns and manage the deer population more precisely. Sussex County again recorded the highest number of harvested deer during the season, with 8,594 reported. In Kent County, Zone 7 produced one of the highest totals statewide with 1,397 deer taken.
Among lands managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife, Midlands Wildlife Area near Laurel had the highest harvest with 168 deer reported during the season.
The Game Harvest Dashboard will be updated each year and may be expanded with additional features, according to DNREC.