The first shotgun deer season opened this past the weekend with fewer hunters purchasing permits. Department of Natural Resources communications director, Kevin Baskins detailed the numbers. “For that first shotgun season that started on Saturday, we had sold 52,527. That’s around 8,000 less tags than we sold a year ago,” according to Baskins.
There was a last minute on-line rush to buy deer tags before Saturday’s deadline. “Between the hours of 3 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday, we sold 16,000 deer tags,” Baskins says. He understands why there was a late rush of hunters. “Certainly they’re looking at a number of factors — what the weather conditions look like, their ability to have access to land, what the deer numbers are,” Basking says.
This first shotgun deer season closes this Wednesday (December 11th). The second nine-day season begins this Saturday December 14th.