Posted: 04.28.2011

State wildlife officials have agreed to scale back their contentious antlerless deer hunts.

The Department of Natural Resources board voted 7-0 to approve a fall season structure that eliminates the four-day October antlerless gun hunt in 74 herd control zones, areas where the deer population is above the agency's goal.

The October hunts have long been a point of contention with hunters. Bow hunters say the hunts stress deer so much they take to moving only at night. Other hunters have complained the hunts leave deer so skittish by the time the traditional November hunt rolls around they're harder to find and kill.

Other changes in the season structure include allowing hunters to kill their first buck in chronic wasting disease zones without taking an antlerless deer first.

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