Doug Leier: The balance of managing deer and deer hunting in North Dakota

North Dakota’s 2026 deer season began on Friday, Nov. 6, at noon. From a management perspective, the season is a continuation of the Game and Fish Department’s goal of herd recovery with conservative management. In numbers, 39,100 licenses were made available to hunters this year, down 3,200 from last year, marking it the lowest allocation total in over half a century. These conservative license allocations are designed to balance hunting opportunities with essential population growth. The statewide deer herd is still actively recovering from the severe impacts of winter 2022-23 and epizootic hemorrhagic disease outbreaks. Compounding these weather and disease issues is an increasingly limited amount of habitat across the state landscape. Bill Haase, department wildlife division chief, noted that the agency will continue to engage stakeholders on additional herd-growth measures, including discussions around limiting future adult archery tags to antlered-only deer.

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