2024 New Hampshire Wildlife Harvest Summary Now Available

CONTACT:
Dan Bergeron: (603) 271-2461
Andy Timmins: (603) 271-3211
May 8, 2025

Concord, NH – The 2024 New Hampshire Wildlife Harvest Summary is now available. The publication presents final data on the 2024 New Hampshire hunting seasons as summarized by New Hampshire Fish and Game Department wildlife biologists. This annual publication provides a complete analysis of hunting season statistics, including information organized by town and by Wildlife Management Unit (WMU).

The 2024 NH Wildlife Harvest Summary is now available online at www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/hunting-reports-harvest-summaries. A limited number of printed copies will be available in late May at New Hampshire Fish and Game Department headquarters in Concord and at regional Fish and Game offices in Durham, New Hampton, Lancaster, and Keene.

New Hampshire’s 2024 deer season resulted in harvest of 12,277 deer and was the 12th highest harvest in the state’s history going back to 1922. Similarly, the adult (antlered) buck harvest of 7,925 was the sixth highest documented in the state during that same time period. Archers took 3,530 deer, the youth weekend accounted for 361 animals, and muzzleloader and regular firearm hunters took 2,795 and 5,591 deer, respectively.

The Harvest Summary includes data from the NH Trophy Deer Program, run by the NH Antler and Skull Trophy Club, which annually recognizes hunters who harvest deer weighing 200 pounds or more, and taken by the three hunting methods: archery, muzzleloader, and regular firearms. The largest deer harvested in 2024, weighing 233 pounds, was taken by George Papadimatos of Littleton, NH, with a bow.

The 2024 bear take, totaling 1,195 bruins, represented a new record surpassing the previous record of 1,183 bears set in 2020. The spring turkey harvest totaled 4,562 birds signifying a decrease of 18% from the 2023 harvest (5,580 turkeys). The fall turkey harvest of 386 birds (archery and shotgun combined) represented a moderately low fall harvest. The reduction in harvest in 2024 was likely the result of poor reproduction during 2023 as indicated by brood survey data. Poult-per-hen ratios in 2023 (2.67) were among the lowest since 2011. Poor recruitment of young turkeys in that year resulted in a low percentage of jakes in the 2024 harvest, an age group that typically accounts for a notable percentage of the annual spring harvest. The 2024 NH Wildlife Harvest Summary also provides statistics for moose and furbearers.

Wildlife research and management activities in New Hampshire, including production of the annual NH Wildlife Harvest Summary, are funded through Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, a user-pay, user-benefit program supported by the purchase of firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment.

Learn more about hunting in New Hampshire at www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh.