Deer hunters in Victoria had a bumper harvest in 2024, shooting 22% more deer than they did the year before, according to the latest figures from the state’s Game Management Authority (GMA) which show an estimated 167,600 deer were harvested, up considerably from the 137,100 taken in 2023.
It is the second largest estimated harvest since the count was initiated in 2009, only slightly less than the peak of 173,800 in 2019.
The year set a new record for the total number of days hunters spent in pursuit of deer, at 354,500, or about 10,000 more days than in 2019.
Meanwhile, the number of deer hunting licenses remained at near record levels, falling fractionally from last year’s high of 52,321 to 52,098.
The GMA has released the annual GMA Estimates of the Deer Harvest in Victoria report, which is in collaboration with the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research.
According to the report, there are 52,098 licensed deer hunters in Victoria, half of whom went hunting at some point during the 2024 — each spending an average of 13.5 days in the field, harvesting an average of 6.4 deer each.
Sambar were harvested in the largest numbers, with around 128,000 deer taken, of which 60% were female.
Fallow came in a distant second, with an estimated harvest of 35,400 deer (58% of those being female) and red deer trailing even further behind in third place with 3255 estimated as harvested.
Respondents to the survey reported harvesting the highest number of deer in August 2024, with 118 deer taken by the 62 licence holders who went hunting that month. (Note that these are actual reported figures from the survey sample, as opposed to the extrapolated figures of the overall report.)
The GMA report the highest number of harvested deer came from the region around the towns of Mansfield, Bairnsdale, Benalla, Yarram and Omeo, while the most most popular hunting areas were around Mansfield, Bairnsdale, Omeo, Benalla and Eildon.
GMA research principal Dr Jason Flesch said the research was based on information gathered from randomly selected licensed deer hunters who voluntarily participated in the phone surveys.
“Throughout 2024, approximately 2400 licensed deer hunters were surveyed about their hunting activity, including how many deer were harvested, where hunting occurred, hunting methods used and the species of deer harvested,” he said.
A full copy of the GMA Estimates of the 2024 Deer Harvest in Victoria report is available here: https://www.gma.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1148803/Victorian-deer-harvest-Estimates-2024-Final-1610.pdf
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