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2016 bear harvest up sharply, while deer, turkey stay steady

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CONCORD, N.H. - Harvesting numbers are in for the 2016 hunting season and the results are as follows, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game officials.

The unofficial deer kill for New Hampshire's 2016 hunting season was 10,702, down slightly (2%) from the 2015 final kill of 10,895. Based on this estimate, the 2016 total represents the 7th highest kill in the last 9 years and is very similar to the 20-year average of 10,912. Deer hunting seasons are now closed in the state.

"With nearly 11,000 deer taken by hunters, it has been another very good season overall in New Hampshire," said Dan Bergeron, a Fish and Game Department's deer biologist. He noted that the physical condition of deer was good again this year, and that quite a few very large bucks were harvested throughout the state, including a 266-lb. buck taken in Success which made the top 10 list of biggest bucks ever harvested in the state (for all hunting methods).

Bergeron also noted that "this season's estimated total harvest ranks among the top 25 total harvests going back 95 years to 1922. In fact, 21 of the top 25 years have taken place from 1995-2016 (during the last 22 years), and 9 of the top 10 years for adult buck harvests have taken place since 2000 (adult buck harvest numbers for 2016 have not yet been verified).

The unofficial deer kill for New Hampshire's 2016 season by county, with comparisons to previous years, can be viewed at www.huntnh.com/hunting/deer-harvest.html. Official harvest numbers will be made available after all deer registration data are entered and verified.

Bear Hunt Success: The 2016 New Hampshire bear season concluded at 898 bears, which was 34% above the preceding 5-year average of 668 bears. Additionally, this year's harvest was 19% above the 2015 level. The harvest consisted of 481 males and 417 females, resulting in an overall harvest sex ratio of 1.2 males per female. Method-specific harvest sex ratios included 1.3 males to females for bait hunters, and 1.0 males to females for both still and hound hunters.

A breakdown of bear hunting results by region and method may be viewed at www.huntnh.com/hunting/bear-harvest.html.

The increased bear harvest during 2016 was the result of several factors including a strong bear population that has recently experienced slight growth in select regions, a continued shift by hunters toward using methods that yield higher success rates, concentrated fall food sources (acorns) and extended hunting opportunities in select regions in 2016. Additionally, most Wildlife Management Units have bear hunting seasons that overlap with a significant portion of deer seasons, including both muzzleloader and firearms. This provides opportunity for opportunistic deer hunters to take a bear.

"The fact that the majority (64%) of the statewide harvest came from the White Mountains and Central regions dovetailed well with current bear population management goals," said Andrew Timmins, the N.H. Fish and Game Department's bear biologist. He noted that that those two management regions require a reduction in bear density to meet recently revised population management goals. Bear densities in the remaining four management regions are generally consistent with respective regional goals.

Fall Turkey Season: Preliminary figures show that New Hampshire hunters took a total of 1,047 turkeys this fall, just a few more than the total of 1,043 taken in 2015. The harvest was comprised of 553 hens and 514 gobblers. The breakdown for the fall season was: 370 (35.3%) adult hens, 163 (15.6%) immature hens, 109 (10.4%) jakes, and 405 (38.7%) adult gobblers.

The fall shotgun turkey season was lengthened by the addition of a weekend in 2016. Participants in the seven-day shotgun season in October recorded 763 turkeys (73%) of the harvest, up 8.4% from the 2015 total of 704, when the season was just five days. During the fall shotgun season, 227 (29.8%) turkeys were taken on opening day and 230 (30.2%) turkeys on the closing weekend.Archery hunters took 284 turkeys, or 27% of the 2016 fall total.

Towns (WMU) with greatest fall turkey harvests were:27 Bath (D2), 18 Barnstead (J2), 18 Deerfield (L), 17 Belmont (J2), 17 Freedom (J1), 16 Cornish (H1), 15 Charlestown (H1), 15 Claremont (H1), 15 Loudon (J2), 15 Weare (K), 15 Winchester (H2), 12 Alton (J2), 12 Gilmanton (J2), 11 Canaan (G), 11 Haverhill (D2), 10 Brentwood (M), 10 Enfield (G), 10 Epsom (L), 10 Farmington (J2), 10 Goffstown (K), 10 Jaffrey (H2), 10 Lebanon (G), 10 Lisbon (D2), 10 Newport (I2), 10 Plainfield (H1) and 10 Walpole (H2).

Once again, WMU J2 in eastern New Hampshire had the greatest harvest of all 18 units, with 187 (17.9%) turkeys. The second largest harvest was WMU K, with 118 (11.3%) turkeys.

Moose Season Summary: Preliminary figures for New Hampshire's 2016 moose season showed that 52 hunters succeeded in taking their moose during the 9-day season. See a summary of the moose season at www.wildnh.com/newsroom/news.html?news=519. Regional moose hunt success rate data is available at www.wildnh.com/hunting/moose-harvest.html

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