Politics & Government

In Stratford, 4 Deer Hunted and Killed in 2013

In all, more than 4,000 deer were hunted and killed in Connecticut in 2013, state officials report. In Fairfield County, Newtown led all municipalities by far with 67.

By Patch Editor Michael Dinan

More than 4,000 deer were hunted and killed in Connecticut in 2013, with about 84 percent of those on private land, according to the latest tally from state officials.

In total, 4,339 deer were hunted and killed here through Dec. 12, the Connecticut Department of Energey and Environmental Protection reports.

Search through the interactive map above to get town-by-town information, including what types of deer were hunted and whether the kill happened on public or private land. (Two notes on the data: a "button buck" is a young male deer, typically six months old, that has hubs where antlers will grow, and "points" are the individual tines on a buck's antlers.)

In Fairfield County, the highest tally of any single municipality by far is Newtown, where 67 deer were hunted and killed. No deer were hunted and killed in Bridgeport, Norwalk, Trumbull, or Westport. Here’s a breakdown of Fairfield County towns: 
  1. Newtown—67
  2. Redding—40
  3. Easton—36
  4. Ridgefield—33
  5. Wilton—29
  6. Sherman—27
  7. Weston—25
  8. Danbury—15
  9. New Fairfield—14
  10. Brookfield—12
  11. Monroe—11
  12. Fairfield—10
  13. Greenwich—10
  14. Bethel—9
  15. Shelton—8
  16. Stratford—4
  17. Darien—3
  18. Stamford—2
  19. New Canaan—1
  20. Bridgeport—0
  21. Norwalk—0
  22. Trumbull—0
  23. Westport—0

According to the latest figures, the municipality where the most deer have been killed (110) is Ashford, a 40-square-mile town of 4,000 people in northeastern Connecticut that includes part of Natchaug State Forest, a public hunting area.

The state laws that regulate deer hunting are complex and situation-specific. Open season generally is open for a period of several weeks between September and December, and depends largely on what types of weapons are used and whether land is public or private. Deer hunting regulations for Connecticut, updated in September 2011, can be found here.

On Tuesday, the DEEP reported that no hunting-related injuries occurred (among sportsmen) in 2013—the third consecutive year where no one was hurt by a discharged firearm or bow.

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What did happen in 2013 was one hunter wearing a safety harness fell from a tree, the state reported.

“This level of safety is remarkable in light of more than 300,000 deer hunting permits issued and hunters spending, a cumulative total nearly six million days afield over that period,” the DEEP said.

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Rick Jacobson, director of the DEEP Wildlife Division, described Connecticut hunters are safety leaders, “due in large part to mandatory firearms and archery education programs, which have produced a safety-conscious generation of hunters.”

“Although deer hunters enjoyed a near perfect safety record during the past six seasons, our goal has always been to have no injuries of any kind, period,” he said.


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